Music Information

How Has Eminem Risen to the Top?


How is it that a little white boy from Kansas City has become the most well known rapper in the world? Starting from nothing and eventually moving up to a multi-millionaire, Eminem over the past seven years has been in the eye of the public everywhere you look. He has essentially entered a black man's business and gone to the top over the course of a few years, but how?

On October 17, 1972 Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in St. Joseph, MO by his 15 year old mother Debbie. Six months later his father was gone and this began the struggle for Marshall and his mother; one that was just the beginning. Throughout the course of his childhood Marshall and his mother moved numerous times into different houses from Kansas City to Detroit. The maximum time spent in one house was only 3 months, which caused Marshall to attend many different schools making it difficult to cope to the different surroundings and make friends. Every new school he attended he was bullied as he was the new kid. This was something that he could not change as he was never stationed in one school for a long period of time. At the age of 12 he and his mother finally settled in a house in Detroit. He would later use the bullying to his advantage fueling him to get back at all his bullies through songs.

By the age of 4 Marshall was already beginning to rap and put words together rhyming them. At school he was rather successful considering the circumstances, but it was lunchtime that he enjoyed as he often battled schoolmates through freestyles. At the age of 14 Marshall began to get serious about rapping and felt that he had a shot in the business. When he got to the ninth grade he failed it three times before eventually dropping out as he felt school was not for him.

When he turned 17 he came up with the name M&M for himself by combining the first letters of his first and last name, which later was changed to Eminem. Now that he didn't have school as a distraction, he focused solely on rapping with the goal of making it to the top. He faced constant struggle on the way to stardom as he was continuously rejected by most rappers because of his race, despite his true talent. This grew anger inside of him that he uses in his music today. Knowing that it wasn't going to be easy and that he would have to work, Marshall forced himself onto radio shows and freestyle battles to prove everybody wrong. He eventually got a first album titled "Infinite", but it only sold 1,000 copies. It wasn't until 1997 that Marshall would make a name for himself.

In 1997 he was married with a child trying to support his family with very little cash to do it with. He went to the Rap Olympics in Los Angeles hoping to win the cash prize of $1,500 for first place, but instead was spotted by a few sponsors from Interscope. Furious that he had come in second, he later found out about the sponsors and he gave them a copy of the "Infinite" tape, which was later sent to Dr. Dre. Dre was extremely impressed with the talent of Eminem and got contact of him, where the two recorded his second album; The Slim Shady LP. This album set the tone for his style of rap, as he lashed out on everyone that had bullied him throughout his life. It was a different style than anyone had ever heard, which brought him to stardom.

Eminem is by far the most popular rapper that is seen most in public. He has been seen in Rap Pages, VIBE, Rolling Stone, Spin, The Source, URB and Stress and continues to strive for more. He became the first white person to ever be on the cover of The Source. Throughout his life he has starred in the movie "8 Mile" based on his life growing up, has had over 20 guest appearances on TV, has featured on numerous different rappers CD's, and has recorded 5 CD's of his own. His second LP, "The Marshall Mathers LP", sold over 8 million records in the United States alone, 1.76 million copies in the first week setting a record for a solo artist. This album became the first rap album ever to be nominated for "Album of the Year" at the Grammies. He would go on to win 3 Grammies for the album that night. In the year 2002 he made $29 million in earnings of his fourth album "The Eminem Show LP" and touring for it. Then on March 23, 2003 the song "Lose Yourself" from his movie "8 Mile" became the first rap song to ever win an Academy Award.

While being known for his explicit behavior and horrendous lyrics on his albums and in the eye of the public, it is difficult to overlook all that he has achieved. Coming from where he did and rising to where he is currently, it is remarkable what he has done not only for himself, but the rap world as well. While it is hard for most to like him, there are not many that do not at least respect him for what he has achieved as of now, and what he may do in the future to come.

---

© Jeff Schuman II
http://www.best-mp3-music-downloads.com

Jeff Schuman II is the creator of Best-MP3-Music-Downloads.com where you can buy CD's and find all of the best free music downloads. http://www.best-mp3-music-downloads.com


MORE RESOURCES:

Telegraph.co.uk

New proposals to combat illegal UK music downloads
Heise Online, Germany - 5 hours ago
UK music industry association the BPI (formerly known as British Phonographic Industry) has reached an agreement with the country's six largest ISPs, ...
Plan agreed to tackle online music piracy Reuters
Music bosses told: Pump up the incentives if you want to beat pirates Scotsman
Fee plan to combat net piracy New Zealand Herald
Times Online - TIME
all 518 news articles


WELT ONLINE

MTV Video Music Awards Get Branded! Meet Your New Host: Russell Brand
MTV.com - 1 hour ago
Brand now joins a list of VMA hosts that includes acclaimed comedians (Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy), music moguls (Sean "Diddy" Combs), ...
Russell Brand to host the US MTV Video Music Awards 2008 WELT ONLINE
MTV Video Music Awards tap bonkers Brit Russell Brand as host Los Angeles Times
Russell Brand to host the MTV Video Music Awards The Associated Press
AHN - Ecorazzi
all 319 news articles


UPDATE 1-Universal Music signs Rolling Stones deal
Reuters - 2 hours ago
PA: Quote, Profile, Research) Universal Music has signed an exclusive, long-term worldwide recording agreement with The Rolling Stones, in a deal that will ...
Rolling Stones Sign Deal With Universal, Leave EMI (Update1) Bloomberg
19th nervous breakdown for EMI as Stones join list of label runaways guardian.co.uk
Gimme Shelter: Stones quit EMI for Universal AFP
Sky News - FMQB
all 80 news articles


Michael: Music helped my depression
The Press Association - 1 hour ago
It is his first tour in the US in 17 years and the 45-year-old pop star told Good Morning America it was his music which got him through the years of ...


bit-tech.net

Yahoo Becomes Latest Site to Mute Music Purchases
Washington Post, United States - 2 hours ago
The e-mail Yahoo sent out yesterday to customers of its Yahoo Music online store could not have surprised anybody who's been following the music-download ...
Yahoo Music Store Shuts September-end Techtree.com
Yahoo! Music Store Support Dead by Sept. 30 PC Magazine
EFF: Yahoo Music should compensate customers CNET News
PC World - Digitaltrends.com
all 42 news articles


NME.com

On music: Judge Judy
guardian.co.uk, UK - 18 hours ago
Then there's British Sea Power's Do You Like Rock Music? This is the third album by the Brighton-based band, and another example of a group shifting up the ...
Mercury Music Prize - sing when you're winning Independent
EG MUSIC: NOTTINGHAM DJ AND NATIONWIDE MERCURY PRIZE JUDGE DEAN ... This is Nottingham
Burial Favourite In Mercury Music Prize Betting Odds OLBG Betting News
Times Online - Manchester Online
all 272 news articles


Is LA county the new center of the white power music industry?
Los Angeles Times, CA - 53 minutes ago
"This is the center of the `white power' music industry, right here in Los Angeles," said Amanda Susskind, director of the Pacific Southwest region of the ...


Report: MySpace could work with Amazon on music service
CNET News, CA - 3 hours ago
Amazon.com could become the e-commerce engine behind the MySpace Music service expected to launch in September, according to a report on TechCrunch. ...
Amazon, Apple may back MySpace Music Electronista
Amazon To Power Upcoming MySpace Music Downloads TechCrunch
all 4 news articles


National Post

Lil' Wayne faces copyright claim
BBC News, UK - 3 hours ago
US rapper Lil' Wayne has been sued by a music publishing company over claims he released a version of Rolling Stones song Play With Fire without permission. ...
Lil Wayne Sued By Rolling Stones Publisher Over 'Playing With Fire' MTV.com
The CB Music Friday Flash For 07/26/08 Cinema Blend
Lil Wayne faces lawsuit guardian.co.uk
MTV UK - Reuters
all 55 news articles


Yahoo! Music Going Dark, Taking Keys With It
Slashdot - 7 hours ago
Music Store customers yesterday, telling them it will be closing for good — and the company will take its DRM license key servers offline on September 30, ...

Music - Google News

home | site map
© 2006