The Story About Marshall Bruce Mathers

Marshall Bruce Mathers III, better known as Eminem, was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He was raised by his mother, splitting time between Kansas City and Detroit, Michigan. His childhood had its rough moments as he was repeatedly beaten up by a bully from school who eventually beat him up so bad that he was in a coma for 10 days. Marshall never had many friend but he did have a close relationship with his Uncle Ronnie Pollingharm, who shared Marshall's desire to rap. However, the two saw little of each other after Marshall's move to Detroit was more permanent.

When Marshall started high school, he met Kimberly and he formed a rap group. Just when things were going good for Marshall, he was devastated to hear that his uncle and best friend Ronnie had killed himself. Marshall was so distraught that he stopped rapping for over a year. Marshall switched schools every two to three months, making it difficult to make friends, graduate, and stay out of trouble. Marshall's career was reborn after his girlfriend, Kim, gave birth to Haile Jade, his daughter. In September of 1999, the two married. They divorced a year later; in December, 2002, they moved back into the same house.

Eminem began performing rap when he was 14. His first performances were in the basement of a high school friend. The two used the stage names of Manic and M&M, which evolved into Eminem. His name was based on his own initials. Due to the unavoidable racial boundaries that came with being a white rapper, Eminem decided the easiest way to win over underground hip-hop audiences was to become a battle rapper and improve his skills against other MC's in clubs.

The legend of Eminem's discovery says Dr. Dre discovered his demo tape on the floor of Interscope Records CEO Jimmy Lovine's garage. The reality isn't quite so exciting. Eminem took second place in the Freestyle Category at the 1997 Rap Olympics MC Battle in Los Angeles, California. His style caught Lovine's attention and he asked Eminem for a demo tape after the competition. It wasn't until two months later that Lovine played the tape for Dr. Dre who eagerly contacted Eminem, who was quickly signed to a contract.

Eminem made his film debut in November, 2002. Eminem is Jimmy "Rabbit" Smth, Jr., a down-on-his-luck rapper. 8 Miles, the film, brings us into Rabbit's life as he is about to take the stage in what you believe will be a crowning moment of hip-hop genius given what we know about the film's star's REAL life. "It's the exact same thing," Eminem said, comparing his early days to the battle scenes in 8 Miles. "It's how it used to be, all the battle rhyming. Everything. As serious as you see me take it in the movie is how serious it was in my real life." Some things in the movie are taken from Eminem's life and some are entirely fictional. "I'm not playing me in the movie but I'm playing somebody that's like me," Eminem said.