Eminem Part One
On October 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri, Deborah Mathers gave birth to a son. The child never knew the man whose name he would bear, as Marshall Mathers Junior left his wife when their child was only 18 months old. Marshall Bruce Mathers III and his mother lived in various cities in Missouri before finally settling in first Warren, Michigan when he was 12-years-old and then moving to Detroit during his teenage years. Marshall had no contact with his father despite wishing to have him involved in his life. With relocating so often and constantly changing schools, Marshall developed very few friendships growing up and has stated he was often bullied by other kids. Much of his childhood was spent living in public-sector housing as his mother had difficulty keeping employment for extended periods of time.
Marshall became interested in the hip hop music scene while attending high school in Michigan. One of his favorite artists was N.W.A., a West Coast gangster rap group that featured his future collaborator Dr. Dre. At the time, the rap industry almost exclusively featured African-American artists. This did not deter young Marshall from pursuing hip hop not only as a fan but also as an entertainer looking to make a name for himself. That same perseverance, however, did not carryover to his relationship with school where, despite a love for the English language that even included studying the dictionary, Marshall dropped out at the age of 17 after having to repeat the 9th grade twice.
By this time Marshall had begun rapping on stage using the pseudonym M&M though soon he began to spell it phonetically as Eminem. Despite some resistance because of his race, Eminem was able to gain the respect of underground rap audiences in Detroit and became well-known in the hip hop community, sparring in rap battles where opponents would improvise freestyle insults on stage in front of a crowd of rap fans. A fictionalized account of this time in his life would eventually be depicted in the film 8 Mile, which he also starred in.
Eminem's daughter, Hailie Jade Scott, was born to the rapper and his girlfriend Kimberly Ann "Kim" Scott on Christmas Day, 1995. Eminem released his first album in 1996 entitled Infinite. The album focused on things such as the difficulty of raising his newborn daughter on a seriously limited budget and a burning desire to get rich. But the album, which Eminem has since referred to as more of a demo that ended up getting released, failed to gain any significant exposure. That same year Kim ended their relationship and forbid Eminem from seeing his daughter.
With the future looking bleak for the young hopeful, Eminem attempted suicide by overdosing on Tylenol. Fortunately, the attempt was a failure and, though he did not know it at the time, things were about to start looking up for Eminem, at least on some fronts.
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