“Look, if you had, one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted. In one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip?”
When you hear the word- “Rap”, who’s the first person you think off?
Well if your answer is Yo Yo Honey Singh, Badshah, or any other so-called “rappers”,
then I must warn you, this article is not for you. Jokes apart, any sane person in his right mind would think of the Rap God himself.
Yes, you got that right.
I’m talking about EMINEM.
You might know Eminem as one of the most successful rappers of all time and generations or you might know him as a jerk who’s inconsiderate of others’ feelings and can go on to any extent when it comes to dissing the shite out of his rivals. You either love him or you hate him, but you just can’t ignore his existence.
Well, I’m one of his biggest fans and I’m pretty sure many who are reading this are as well. But if for any reason, you don’t like him, I can assure you after going through this Writing, either you’ll end up being a bigger fan of his or for the very least, you’ll start respecting him. Because here, I’m going to throw some light on his dark and depressing past, I’ll talk about why he is, the way he is.
Marshall Bruce Mathers lll aka Eminem is an American professional rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is a name in the World music industry which simply needs no introduction. Known more for his infamous antiques with the mic, any outsider who doesn’t know his life story would think he oozes out negativity and spreads hatred through the medium of his rhymes. But if you are even slightly familiar with his past then you are bound to be his one of the most ardent supporters and a life long fan.
I still remember, the very first Em song I heard, which was “Love the way you lie”. At that time, I hardly understood the lyrics of it. It was the music and beats of the song which made me fell in love with him. But as time passed, I started finding meaning in the lyrics of his songs. It was then, that I realized there’s so much more to it than just the catchy music and the rhythmic beats.
Every song had a purpose and every line of verse had a deeper meaning to it.
After further research when I finally came to know about his traumatizing past and the “shits, he has been through”, I became one of his ardent supporters who were more than just a mere fan.
From bullied dropout to a Hip-hop knockout, it’s been one hell of a journey for Slim Shady.
Born on the 17th of October,1972 to a 15-year-old mother and a fugitive father, his childhood was nowhere close to normal. During childhood, he and his mother used to bounce back and forth to places in search of a job to feed themselves. So there wasn’t a place in the world, which he could have called home.
They lived in public housing projects as his drug-abusing mother failed to hold a job for more than a few months at a time. Eventually, they got settled in an adversely hostile neighborhood in Detroit, which was preoccupied with gangs and thugs. He was often bullied by the mob for reasons he didn’t understand yet. As he frequently used to travel from city to city in search of livelihood, he always used to be the “new kid” in the school. This didn’t help him in making friends and so he mostly kept to himself. Needless to say, Marshall was never good at academics although there was this one subject he found fascinating and thought intriguing which ultimately helped him in becoming who he is right now. It was ENGLISH. He found the power of words captivating and would study the dictionary to expand his vocabulary. He also loved comic books, devouring them daily and dreaming of illustrating his comic books in the future.
Eminem has been fighting all his life, whether it’s a lawsuit or a public feud, but his biggest fight came when he was just a kid, a moment that shaped his career not only as a rapper but as an individual. He was bullied badly as a child. One episode of bullying sent him to the hospital with cerebral hemorrhage, where he drifted in and out of consciousness for five consecutive days. He was deeply shaken by the incident and before he could have even realized, he had failed 9th standard, three times already.
His situation at home was bad already if not worse with his mother’s drug addiction- she was no help either. As the bullying continued, his life became a nightmare. Marshall started to skip school in the fear of getting bullied. There seemed to be no ray of hope in his life and it felt like he was submerging in an ocean of eternal darkness, day by day. There seemed to be nothing going on for him until his Uncle Ronnie played him his first rap song- ‘Reckless” featuring Ice-T. He was deeply engrossed and got instantly hooked to this new phenomena he came across called rapping.
While scrounging for work under the threat of being kicked out by his mother, Marshall poured his heart and soul into the only thing that mattered to him: MUSIC.
At the age of 14, he began rapping with one of his high-school friends. They together used to skip school to participate in freestyle rap battles at a nearby school lunchroom. Soon enough, he realized that he needed to earn the approval of more than just the high-school crowd. In preparation, he took his initials and renamed himself as “M & M” which eventually became Eminem.
Soon he started performing at open mic contests at the Hip-Hop Shop on West 7 Mile. At that time, the rapping scene was predominantly associated with the black community thus being white-skinned didn’t help his cause. As a result, he was consistently booed on and off stage. But Marshall had seen worse days, it didn’t hamper his confidence. If at all, the negativity and hatred surrounding him triggered him to work even harder. It didn’t take long after he opened his mouth to become known as a force to be reckoned with. His fierce rhymes and creative insults often left his opponent stepping down from the stage in surprise.
At 24 years old, with a daughter on the way and an unrelenting need to prove himself, he released his first album called INFINITE. It was supposed to be his first big breakthrough in the music scene but unfortunately for him, it didn’t go well with the audience. The criticism he underwent was brutal. Many even went on to say that he didn’t belong in the industry.
It seemed like the end of the line for Eminem’s career in rap except he had no intention of quitting.
With the doubt of others spurring him on, Eminem wrote and practiced his rhymes with renewed rage and purpose. But his wife, Kim had already given up on him and his talent. After much struggle, she along with the kids decided to leave him for good.
With no job, a failed career, and his family leaving him, Eminem was at an all-time low. That’s when he began taking painkillers extensively. Living alone and being unable to meet his daughter made Eminem lose his sane. He decided to end his demise by ending his own life. He made numerous attempts at committing suicide but fortunately, all his attempts were unsuccessful, just like his failed music career.
Eminem soon reverted to music, but this time he decided to craft angrier and moodier tracks than ever before. He started again from the bottom, taking part in every underground rap battles, he came across. This time he knew, he had nothing to lose and as they say- “The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”
His work eventually made it to the ears of a renowned rap producer Dr. Dre – who was utterly impressed with his dark style and persona.
Soon Marshall met Dr. Dre in his recording studio. His blonde dyed hair and foul clothing sense didn’t impress Dre at all. But the moment Marshall started his antiques on the mic, Dre realized the guy’s one for the future. He saw the potential in him and soon went on to release their first mutual album – Slim Shady LP.
The album was an instant success, selling over three million copies and winning Eminem a Grammy Award. He finally got his big break after the success of the album at the age of 27. But who knew, it was just the beginning of an era.
He went on to reach the pinnacle of success at a level that still is unparalleled and unthinkable. Needless to say, he faced countless obstacles in his path to becoming the biggest thing in the rapping industry. All thanks to his fearless raps with bold lyrics, which earned him countless lawsuits with some even threatening to destroy his career by landing him in prison.
But Eminem ultimately turned out to be victorious.
He shattered every record that ever existed in his genre. He became the first rapper to win an ACADEMY AWARD for his monumental “Lose Yourself” single from the soundtrack of his 2003 silver screen debut movie- 8 mile.
The hardships he faced, made the man a living legend. He is no longer Marshall Mathers, a wannabe rapper from Boston but is now known and acknowledged throughout the world as the “Rap God”.
It would be fitting to conclude this is not so short article by quoting lyrics of one of his greatest hits – Till I Collapse
‘Cause sometimes you just feel tired, feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up, but you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength and just pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.’
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