How Has Eminem Risen to the Top?

How is it that a little white boy from Kansas City has becomethe most well known rapper in the world? Starting from nothingand eventually moving up to a multi-millionaire, Eminem over thepast seven years has been in the eye of the public everywhereyou look. He has essentially entered a black man's business andgone 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 laterhis father was gone and this began the struggle for Marshall andhis mother; one that was just the beginning. Throughout thecourse of his childhood Marshall and his mother moved numeroustimes into different houses from Kansas City to Detroit. Themaximum time spent in one house was only 3 months, which causedMarshall to attend many different schools making it difficult tocope to the different surroundings and make friends. Every newschool he attended he was bullied as he was the new kid. Thiswas something that he could not change as he was never stationedin one school for a long period of time. At the age of 12 he andhis mother finally settled in a house in Detroit. He wouldlater use the bullying to his advantage fueling him to get backat all his bullies through songs.

By the age of 4 Marshall was already beginning to rap and putwords together rhyming them. At school he was rather successfulconsidering the circumstances, but it was lunchtime that heenjoyed as he often battled schoolmates through freestyles. Atthe age of 14 Marshall began to get serious about rapping andfelt that he had a shot in the business. When he got to theninth grade he failed it three times before eventually droppingout as he felt school was not for him.

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

In 1997 he was married with a child trying to support his familywith very little cash to do it with. He went to the RapOlympics in Los Angeles hoping to win the cash prize of $1,500for first place, but instead was spotted by a few sponsors fromInterscope. Furious that he had come in second, he later foundout about the sponsors and he gave them a copy of the "Infinite"tape, which was later sent to Dr. Dre. Dre was extremelyimpressed 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 outon everyone that had bullied him throughout his life. It was adifferent style than anyone had ever heard, which brought him tostardom.

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

While being known for his explicit behavior and horrendouslyrics on his albums and in the eye of the public, it isdifficult to overlook all that he has achieved. Coming fromwhere he did and rising to where he is currently, it isremarkable what he has done not only for himself, but the rapworld as well. While it is hard for most to like him, there arenot many that do not at least respect him for what he hasachieved as of now, and what he may do in the future to come.

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© Jeff Schuman II
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