White
rapper burst onto the US charts in 1999 with a controversial take on the horrorcore
genre. Mathers endured an itinerant childhood, living with his mother in various
states before eventually ending up in Detroit at the age of 12. He took up rapping
in high school before dropping out in ninth grade, joining ad hoc groups Basement
Productions, the New Jacks, and D12. The newly named Eminem released a raw debut
album in 1997 through independent label FBT. Infinite was poorly received, however,
with Eminem earning unfavourable comparisons to leading rappers such as Nas
and AZ. His determination to succeed was given a boost by a prominent feature
in Source's Unsigned Hype column, and he gained revenge on his former critics
when he won the Wake Up
Show's
Freestyle Performer Of The Year award, and finished runner-up in Los Angeles'
annual Rap Olympics. The following year's The Slim Shady EP, named after his
sinister alter-ego, featured some vitriolic attacks on his detractors. The stand-out
track, "Just Don't Give A Fuck", became a highly popular underground
hit, and led to guest appearances on MC Shabaam Sahddeq's "Five Star Generals"
single and Kid Rock's Devil Without A Cause set.
As a result, Eminem was signed to Aftermath Records by label boss Dr. Dre, who
adopted the young rapper as his prot‚g‚ and acted as co-producer on
Eminem's full-length debut. Dre's beats featured prominently on The Slim Shady
LP, a provocative feast of violent, twisted lyrics, with a moral outlook partially
redeemed by Eminem's claim to be only "voicing" the thoughts of the
Slim Shady character. Parody or no parody, lyrics to tracks such as "97
Bonnie & Clyde" (which contained lines about killing the mother of
his child) and frequent verbal outbursts about his mother were held by many,
outside even the usual Christian moral majority, to be deeply irresponsible.
The album was buoyed by the commercial success of the singles "My Name
Is" and "Guilty Conscience' (the former helped by a striking, MTV-friendly
video), and climbed to number 2 on the US album chart in March 1999. Eminem
subsequently made high profile appearances on Rawkus Records" Soundbombing
Volume 2 compilation and Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott's Da Real World.He
was also in the news when his mother filed a lawsuit claiming that comments
made by the rapper during interviews and on the Slim Shady LP had caused, amongst
other things, emotional distress, damage to her reputation and loss of self-esteem.
None of which harmed the sales of Eminem's follow-up album, The Marshall Mathers
LP, which debuted at number 1 on the US album chart in May 2000 and established
him as the most successful rapper since the mid-90s heyday of 2Pac and Snoop
Doggy Dogg. By the end of the year, however, his troubled personal life and
a serious assault charge had removed the gloss from his phenomenal commercial
success. Despite criticism from gay rights groups, the rapper swept up three
Grammy Awards the following February. He also reunited with his D12 colleagues
to record the transatlantic chart-topping Devil's Night.Eminem's
new studio album, The Eminem Show, was premiered by single "Without Me".
The track, which debuted at UK number 1 in May 2002, featured a sample from
Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Girls" and was supported by a controversial
video which saw the rapper dressing up as Osama bin Laden. The album debuted
at number 1 on both sides of the Atlantic.
Infomation
provided by
MTV
