Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known as Slim Shady and his primary stage name Eminem, is an Academy Award-winning American rapper, record producer and actor. Having sold over seventy million albums worldwide, Eminem is one of the highest-selling rappers of all time.

Eminem quickly gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP. The following album, The Marshall Mathers LP, became the fastest-selling hip hop album in history, followed by an increasing amount of popularity, critical praise, as well as controversy. While Eminem has won many Grammy Awards, been praised for having "verbal energy", high quality of lyricism and been ranked at #9 on MTV's list of The Greatest MCs of All Time,The Greatest MCs of All Time MTV. Retrieved on July 08, 2008.#13 on the MTV's "22 Greatest Voices in Music" and #82 on Rolling Stone's "The Immortals" he has often been infamous for the controversy surrounding many of these lyrics, including allegations of glorifying homophobia, misogyny, and violence. Vibe's readers recently voted him as "The Best Rapper Alive".

Early life and first releases

Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, the son of Deborah Mathers-Briggs and Marshall Bruce Mathers, Jr. Shortly after his birth, his father walked out, leaving his son. Until he was twelve, Marshall Mathers and his mother often moved between St. Joseph and Warren, Michigan, a Detroit suburb. As a teenager, Mathers became interested in hip hop, performing amateur raps at age fourteen under the pseudonym "M&M" and joining the group Soul Intent around 1995, when his first single was released. Although a student of Lincoln High School in Warren, he frequently participated in freestyle battles at Osbourne High School across town, gaining the approval of underground hip hop audiences. After repeating the ninth grade three times due to truancy, he dropped out of high school at age 17.

Since 1992, Mathers had been signed to FBT Productions, run by brothers Jeff and Mark Bass. Mathers also held a minimum-wage job of cooking and dishwashing at the restaurant Gilbert's Lodge at St. Claire Shores for some time. In 1996, his debut album Infinite, which was recorded at the Bassment, a recording studio owned by the Bass brothers, was released under their independent label Web Entertainment. Eminem recalls: "Obviously, I was young and influenced by other artists, and I got a lot of feedback saying that I sounded like Nas and AZ. Infinite was me trying to figure out how I wanted my rap style to be, how I wanted to sound on the mic and present myself. It was a growing stage. I felt like Infinite was like a demo that just got pressed up." Subjects covered in Infinite included his struggles with raising his newborn daughter Hailie Jade Scott while on limited funds. Early in his career, Eminem collaborated with fellow Detroit MC Royce da 5'9" under the stage name Bad Meets Evil.