Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, was born on October 7th, 1972. Eminem started rapping at 14 years old in clubs in Michigan. When he stayed in freshman year for three years due to his focus on music instead of school, he dropped out. At the first gig that he had ever done, he had gotten booed at a club. He quotes, “The first time I ever rapped in front of people that actually mattered, in a club, I got booed. And it was very traumatic for me. I just remember it being so f**king traumatic, and I think I went home and I was like ‘Man, I just quit.’” He did continue with his music though, and is now number one on the hip-hop rapper charts.

Eminem had a lot of childhood trauma that affected him greatly, and his music is based on most of his traumatic experiences. As a kid, he was dragged around the Midwest barely getting by, and his father, Bruce Mathers, left him when he was an infant. Debbie, his mother then had another son with another man. Eminem’s childhood was filled with abuse, neglect, and poverty, by his mother and the multiple men that she brought into his life. As well as his troubles at home, he also had to deal with troubles at school. He was abused and bullied by a boy named D’Angelo Bailey, and Eminem was once beaten into a coma due to him.

Most of Eminem’s songs are based on real occurrences in his life, sometimes dramaticized, but most of the time they had at least a little bit of truth in them. For example, his song “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” was about his mother’s abuse. After his debut in music, his Uncle Ronnie committed suicide, and there is a reference to him in his song “Stan.”

In 1999, Eminem married Kimberly Scott. Their relationship was very toxic and he got into prescription drugs a year after their marriage. Scott and Eminem met in 1987 and dated for about 10 years before getting married. People would say that they were “a match made in heaven” even though they argued a lot. In 1995 they had Hailie, Eminem’s only daughter. After her birth, the couple decided to get married and officially tied the knot in 1999. In 2001 they divorced, and then remarried in 2006, and got divorced again. Although after the first divorce things were fine, after the second one Scott attempted to take away all visitation rights. This sparked the idea for two songs, “‘97 Bonnie and Clyde” and “Kim.” In these songs, Eminem lets his anger out.

In 1997 Eminem got to meet Dr. Dre. It was said that he had found a CD of one of Eminem’s songs and listened to it and decided that he had to meet him. Eminem’s managers managed to scrape together some money so he could meet the rapper. When he went to meet Dr. Dre he was so nervous that he could barely look him in the eye. At first, the rapper thought that he didn’t like his music, but it turns out he had been a fan since he was a kid and was just in shock about the fact that he actually got to meet his idol.

During the start of 2010, Eminem and Rihanna started collaborating. They created unforgettable songs like their most popular song “Love the Way you Lie”. When Eminem started writing the song, he didn’t have any person in mind other than Rihanna. She accepted the offer at the last minute and they ended up singing together. After the songs were released fans were noticing chemistry both on and off stage and it was a fairly large debate whether or not they were dating. Although they were definitely friends, there wasn’t anything else going on between them.

In 2002, the film “8 Mile” was filmed. It is a film about Eminem’s life, but the rapper they are portraying is Jimmy B. Rabbit. In the movie, he lives in a trailer park with his mother, his little sister, and his mother’s abusive boyfriend, Greg. He wants to be a rapper, and even though he is encouraged by his friends, he still has his doubts. One night at a club, he messes up and leaves the club embarrassed. The rest of the film continues on to show him as he becomes a famous rapper.

Although Eminem says some controversial things, many people are still fans. The rapper is now 50 years old and still number 1 on the lists. He continues to create albums and stun people with his words.