Biography of Eminem | A white among black rappers

International music sweeps with their controversial lyrics and has led his biography to the cinema in the film 8 mile.

Eminem is the artistic name of Marshall Bruce Mathers, born in Kansas City on October 17, 1973. Eminem name comes from the union of the two initial, M & M, pronounced in English. His childhood was not easy. He grew up in the absence of the father, who left home when he was six months old, and refused to meet once achieved celebrity. He lived in several States with his mother, Deborah Mathers-Briggs, until they settled in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, when he was twelve years old.

A life of film

The young Marshall grew very attached to his grandmother, Betty Kresin (today, regular commentator of the behaviour of her grandson in the press of the American Heart). The relationship with his mother has been a constant source of conflict: he accuses her of lying and drug addict, and blamed his constant removals to its inability to find steady work. For his part, Briggs told the BBC that «he coddled"to his son, who did not go home until the age of twenty-five.

Eminem

Eminem, who has a brother 15 years less, Nathan, had his close childhood friend at his uncle Ronnie, his age (his grandmother did the same year in which his mother did to him). At the beginning of the 1990s, Ronnie, of depressive tendencies, committed suicide. This episode led to the final rupture of Marshall's relationship with his mother, when it blamed the suicide.

At the age of fourteen, Marshall began dating Kimberley Anne Scott (who then had only twelve), another central character in the world of Eminem. The relationship of the two has always been stormy, plagued by fights and equally violent reconciliations: were married in June 1999; Eminem asked divorce in August 2000; They reconciled at the end of the same year, and Kim filed for divorce in March 2001. In 1996 they had the girl, Hailie Jade Mathers, the main object of worship of Eminem, whose custody has launched bitter legal battles with Kim.

All these familiar details that would serve to liven up his biography or to make a psychological analysis of his work, in any other artist, have a particular significance in the case of Eminem: these details 'are' his work. To each disk in each letter, it shreds his own experiences, from his childhood until the moment in which pisa Recording Studio. Many of their songs try to, for example, the experience of being a father, while in others he fantasizes about killing his mother or Kim (in 97 Bonnie and Clyde mixing the voice of his daughter Hailie with verses that speak of murdering her mother). However, it has insisted that many of their lyrics are humorous and should not be understood literally.

Eminem, a white among black rappers

Marshall began rapping during her school years, encouraged by his inseparable Ronnie. At the age of fourteen he left school and made his first steps with bands such as Basement Productions, The New Jacks or D12. He premiered his nom de guerre, Eminem, Infinitedisk, published in 1996 by an independent label. His debut received poor critical, of mere attempt to emulate the names of fashion in the scene hip hop at the time in Detroit, such as Nas and AZ. However, it did not scare and won the first prize in the annual festival of hip hop Wake Up Show, and finished second in the Olympic Games of Los Angeles of Rap, all a feat for a white.

Sales success

On his next album, The slim shady EP (1997), he developed his own personal style, and in his lyrics launched furious attacks on the music industry and opponents of Infinite. The theme Just don' give a fuck became a hit on alternative radio, and Eminem participated as a guest in the Five Star Generals, of MC Shabaam Sahdeq success, and discs of Kid Rock and Missy Elliott.

In The slim shady LP (1999), their first album released in a large company (Aftermath/Interscope), collaborated for the first time with producer star Dr. Dre. It was also his first great success of sales, accompanied by the scandal of the complaint that brought him his mother, who accused him of causing emotional disturbances and damage to its reputation by the offensive comments that he dedicated to the press. Deborah came to publish a CD-single called Set the record straight ('set the record straight'), and the case ended in settlement out of trial, when Eminem paid him $25,000.

Eminem and Kim Basinger in eight miles

Their following album, The Marshall Mathers LP, debuted in the number one sales in the United States in May 2000. But his personal life was so much more to talk about: at the end of that year, hit with the butt of a gun to a man who, apparently, was propasando Kim. He was sentenced to two years on probation, a strict control of drug use and the assistance of a psychologist.

The Eminem show (2002) debuted at number one in sales in the United States and Europe, launched by the controversial video clip of Without me, in that it appeared dressed as Osama bin Laden. The soundtrack of the blockbuster eight miles, directed by Curtis Hanson (director of l. a. Confidential, and young prodigious) was another success, and even won an Oscar for best song.

Eight miles tells the story of a young white man coming forward as a rap singer, and is in many ways an autobiography of Eminem: "8 Mile" is the name of the street that separates the rich and poor in the Detroit suburbs, and is where he lived. Of course, in the film also plays an important role the mother, tyrannical and unstable, played by Kim Basinger.

Eminem discography

In 2003, Eminem had sold 100 million records, and that did not begin to succeed until 1999 with The slim shady LP, his first big hit of sales. It has already won numerous Grammy Awards and does not seem to stop. Here is a review of their selected discography:

	Infinite (1996) It was published by an independent firm and not only not had less success, but it also was accused of imitating (bad) to important figures of the time, such as Nas and AZ.
	The slim shady EP (1997) Disk that starts his unique style. In the verses there cynical invectivas against multinational record companies and against those who criticized his first album. The song Just don' give a fuck was a great success in alternative markets.
	The slim shady LP (1999) It was his first best-seller and the first released by a major label. Scandalous confrontation with his mother, who claimed him in the courts, provided him with publicity.
	The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) The album which marked their first number 1 in the list of best sellers in the United States and its worldwide recognition. He won three Grammy Awards: best single, best duo and best disco rap.
	The Eminem show (2002) It reached number 1 in tops not only the United States, but also Europe. He accompanied its launch the controversial video of the subject Without me, in which showed Eminem crudely disguised as the terrorist bin Laden.
	8 mile (2002) Soundtrack of the movie eight mile, autobiographical film by himself and starring Kim Basinger, in the role of her mother. It includes among other new songs the famous Lose yourself, who won an Oscar for best song.

Eminem and The 8 Mile Road

Eminem single film so far is eight miles (8 mile, 2002). The film is virtually a biopic on the broken subject of self-improvement, in which fictitious elements become intertwined with the true, from the own Eminem biography.

The action of the film is situated in Detroit in 1995. Its title comes from by the name of one Street, the 8 Mile Road, which marks the border between wealthy neighbourhoods and the marginalized. In the latter the protagonist, the young Jimmy Smith Jr. (Eminem), which has its exhaust valve in hip hop and his friends lives: Future, with their charisma and their security in itself; Sun, dreamer and cheerful; DJ Iz, conscious, and Cheddar Bob. Jimmy and his group (the Three One Third) live in poor conditions of employments of seedy and coexist with difficulty in a grim society.

Poster of the film eight miles

In the evenings, they feed their hopes in Detroit hip-hop clubs. In them the best rappers gather and fight in rhymed and offensive verbal challenges to earn the respect of his comrades. Faster wit and incisive is the one who wins.

The film, directed by the prestigious Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential), counts with the participation of the legendary Kim Basinguer in the role of Stephanie, mother of Jimmy Smith Jr. (Eminem). Their relationship is so stormy cinematographic fiction as it has been in the biographical truth. Naturally, the soundtrack was provided by the own Eminem. It includes three previously unreleased songs, among which is the famous Lose yourself.

The 8 Mile Road, limit of the slums

The film provoked conflicting reactions. For Brian Grazer, its producer, "is a film that speaks of the human resistance, tenacity, the capacity for survival". Most of the critics concurred in this view, and although they noted the topical nature of his argument (the typical story of self-improvement, which has been often compared with usual films of fighters struggling to get ahead, in this case with rhymes instead of fists), stressed his good Bill and even the interpretive powers of Eminem. For others was one sign of American cinema pure and an empty, peppered with the usual doses of psychology and sociology cheap and topics of the American way of life; another product in the service of a star and the commercial interests of the big record labels.

Extracted from the website: Biografías y Vidas