Eminem is an American Songwriter, Rapper and record producer. He is the best-selling artist of the 2000s, winning an Oscar, 15 Grammy Awards, and was listed in the Guinness World Records five times.

He is the first artist to take home the award for Best Rap Album three times in a row.


But before all of these, before he would offend religious organizations who support the LGBT community and several pop star ladies in general, Eminem would battle addiction to valium, vicodin, and methadone.

He was a painfully shy child who moved around a lot, usually twice a year, and was bullied everywhere he went. In actuality, his family bullied him at home. He was referred to as Mickey because of his large ears.

Marshall grew up with his mother Deborah. Up to the age of 11, when he was introduced to hip-hop, Marshall Mathers' first artistic expression consisted of drawing and getting lost in comic books. He received an album when he was 14 years old, and there was no looking back after that.

Before impressing the likes of Dr. Dre, he would have to work his way through the Detroit rap scene for more than ten years. However, he would go on to shock the world after that.

Here is a look, into Eminem's early years and professional background.

On October 17, 1972, Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, a small town outside of Kansas City. He is of English, Scottish, German, Swiss, Polish and Luxemburgish ancestry.

After a 73-hour labor, his mother almost lost her life. He was not familiar with his father Marshall Mathers Jr., who left his young family behind to seek a better life in California. When his father left, Eminem was only 14 months old, and his mother was only 17.


Marshall the youngster and his mother Deborah Mathers Briggs were the only people left to fend for themselves. But his half-brother Nathan, Debbie's son, would subsequently join them.

They spent a lot of time moving between Missouri and Michigan since his mother struggled to find work, and they frequently had to sleep on other people's sofas.

Marshall Mathers had a difficult upbringing, which led to his constantly being the target of unrelenting bullying throughout his youth. He and his mother lived for much of his youth in a working class, primarily black, Detroit neighbourhood. They were one of three white households on the block and Eminem was beaten severally by black youths.

In particular, Eminem chose to rap about these experiences in the song "brain damage." Where he sang about a bully D'angelo Bailie who severely injured Eminem's head in an assault. 

Eminem has also rapped about another event in which a different bully placed him in a coma for 10 days. In addition to being one of the only white students and being new to the school, the kids weren't kind to him, making him an easy target.

With the exception of his obsession with comic books and painting, young Marshall didn't have much going for him. He would barricade himself in his room for days on end and only draw.

His uncle Ronnie, who was six weeks older than him, was his only buddy throughout his childhood. They decided to ignore their relationship status because there wasn't much of an age difference. And Marshall, then 11 years old, was introduced to hip-hop through Ronnie who would later serve as his Mentor.


During his youth, he developed a new obsession and acquired all relevant literature. He claims that, aside from the dictionary, the only book he has read cover to cover is ll Cool J's 'I Make My Own Rules'. 

Eminem attended Lincoln High in Warren, Michigan, where he ultimately dropped out at the age of 17 after failing the ninth grade a total of three times.

At that point, he and his clique, 'the dirty dozen', started taking part in neighborhood freestyle throwdowns. Eminem would later enter the Detroit rap scene and engage in rap battles from there.

He used to go by the name Eminem, but not in the way we know it today; rather, it was more like the candy M&M at the time since he was dark on the inside and a quite different on the exterior.

But once more, he would have a tough fight on his hands due to the color of his skin. Marshall started dating Kim Scott, and he must have liked her a lot because one night while walking to her house to pay her a visit,he was shot.

Marshall would possess a firearm a year later and use it in a drive-by shooting and paintball gun attack. The bullets never even broke, but Marshall was subsequently taken into custody. The couple welcomed their daughter Hailie Jade Scott into the world in 1995 after Kim fell pregnant.

Marshall was doing minimum pay dishwashing at Gilbert's Lodge, a family-style eatery, at the time. He was a model student, according to his previous boss. He would put in 60-hour work weeks, but then he would leave to practice rapping and occasionally fail to show up, which is why they kept firing him.


When he lost his job a few days before Christmas, he had no money for Hailie's birthday or for the holiday season, which broke the young Eminem's heart. Eminem began production on his first independent rap album, named infinite now, spurred on by the birth of his daughter and the need to support a family. The project had a little budget and had minimal impact outside of Detroit on Eminem's career.

He started battling with substance usage concerns at this point. Additionally, he entered a mental state of depression, and one day, as he was using the restroom, he created his alter persona, Slim shady. 

Eminem advanced in the Detroit rap battle circuit because he was determined not to lose and felt he had something to prove. He was then residing in his mother's mobile home with Kim and Haley.

He would eventually have to risk everything when his family was forcibly removed from their home and the 1997 Rap Battle Olympics was hosted in Los Angeles for the first time.

Despite not having enough money, he made it there and then shocked everyone. Even though he only played second at the time, Dr. Dre was still interested in him.

Einem was wearing a yellow jumpsuit that his sponsor had given him because he couldn't afford to buy himself clothings at the time. And when Dr. Dre initially met him, he thought Eminem looked like a banana.

Dr. Dre pushed Eminem to work with him on a number of recording sessions. He advised Eminem to shout in the booth and put his rage to good use.


The Slim shady EP was released in 1999 and achieved triple platinum status. Aftermath signed Eminem, and soon everyone knew his name.