Rapper. Born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, on October 17, 1972, in Kansas City, Missouri. Eminem spent a good deal of his childhood moving back and forth between Kansas City and the Detroit metropolitan area; when he was 12, he and his mother moved permanently to Warren, Michigan. A fan of rap music from a young age, Eminem began performing at age 14. Although he dropped out of high school and worked at odd jobs for a number of years, his focus remained on his music.
Eminem first recorded as half of the Detroit rap duo Soul Intent, and made his solo debut in 1996 with the independent release Infinite. The album was soon followed by The Slim Shady EP—both releases made quite a splash in the hip-hop underground, and soon Eminem was being praised both for his exaggerated, nasal-voiced rapping style and the bluntly controversial nature of his lyrics. ... Read more »