2. His name is Marshall Mathers Born October 17, 1972 and raised in Detroit, MI His dad was never around in his life, and his only constant companion was Kim Scott They had a daughter they named Hailie, creating a need for money.

3. Marshall started developing a name in the underground hip-hop scene in Detroit, and by 1997 that had developed respect in the underground scene. By 1998 he had been lucky enough to have one of his demo tapes put into the hands of Interscope Record label head Jimmy Iovine. Jimmy quickly passed the tape on to Dr. Dre who immediately set up a meeting with Marshall. They instantly clicked, and quickly recorded his major record debut The Slim Shady LP. He was an instant star and was put on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine before his album even released. Led by his hit single, My Name Is, The Slim Shady LP did over 750, 000 albums sold in the first week.

4. Following the success and media storm caused by The Slim Shady LP, Eminem became a lightning rod for controversy. Lynne Cheney and GLAAD singled him out as a horrible influence on the youth of America and stated he shouldn’t be advertised or celebrated. Despite the naysayers, his second album The Marshall Mathers LP sold over 1.75 million copies in the first week and propelled him into superstardom. While GLAAD protested outside the 2001 Grammy Awards, inside Em shattered all stereotypes and performed his popular hit Stan with well known homosexual Elton John, showing how much respect he had among his peers in the music industry. By 2006 he reached a peak of stardom after selling nearly 100 million albums over his first 4 major albums, staring in a movie about his life growing up named 8 Mile, and also winning an Oscar for his song in that movie called Lose Yourself.

5. The constant demand for more left him overly stressed, and dependent on prescription drugs. He also lost his lifelong best friend DeShaun “Proof” Holton which he took extremely hard. In 2009 after 5 years without an album he released Relapse, which was a collection of songs written while deep in addiction, and also during rehab. In 2010 he released Recovery, his sixth studio album which gave his listeners an inside view into his struggles with drugs and the process of becoming sober.

6. With the most albums ever sold by a solo artist he is now widely considered perhaps the greatest rapper of all-time. He recently performed live on stage with a holographic image of dead rap legend Tupac Shakur, an honor many would love to have but nobody else had the resume to deserve. Whether you love him or you hate him; it is difficult to deny his impact on hip- hop history, and popular culture. There will never be another Slim Shady. This is a link to the performance with Tupac; I couldn’t download the video so it’s a YouTube link, no copyright intended. I just thought you would enjoy watching it! http://youtu.be/Huw17PgFAHc

7. Stan YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMhN- hfMtY YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJO5HU_ 7_1w The Real Slim Shady

8. The idea was started by Mark James better known as the 45 King. He was watching TV when a commercial popped up that had what he thought had a catchy chorus; he also thought it would sound better with hip-hop. After sending the tape to Interscope records he heard back from Eminem saying he loved the hook. Dido is a British singer who wrote the track, it was a song that was initially intended to be a love song (Left Photo). Yet as only Em could he found a way to turn the love song inside out into an obsessive letter being written to him by a fan of his named Stan.

9. The first 3 verses of the song are Stan writing a letter to Eminem, and the final verse is Em writing back to Stan. This was at the height of the media crucifying him for hateful lyrics, and this was his response. This story was clearly exaggerated, but it was done on purpose to tell everyone listening to the song that maybe they shouldn’t take his lyrics so literally.

10. Dido’s chorus is very melodic and harmonic, and give the song it’s contrast through out as the verses go on. While Em’s verses continue to increase the anger in the tone and the volume of his voice giving a feeling of increasing anger. Constant switch from dissonance and consonance.

11. Stan starts off very calm in the first verse and tells Em about his life while also calling Em his idol. In the second verse his tone is angrier and his quotes are more sadistic. He is upset that Em didn’t acknowledge him outside of a show. He quotes Eminem’s lyrics several times throughout the song, including telling Em how much relief he felt after cutting his wrists. The third verse is Stan’s last verse and he is furious in it. He ties his wife up in his trunk, which is another quote from Em’s lyrics, and then drives her off of a bridge. The fourth and final verse is Em responding to Stan. He apologizes for not seeing him and sends an autograph. Em tells Stan to get help before he loses his mind, before recalling a news report about a guy driving his wife off of a bridge, and then he realizes it was Stan.

12. Amidst the pressures of living up to his first album and needing to reach a deadline Em was feeling the pressure. Em called on his Slim Shady alter ego for one more hit. He concocted The Real Slim Shady, which was a tongue and cheek song that poked fun at popular culture. Despite the playful and joking nature of the song, the chorus is meant to tell everyone to be themselves, asking the real Slim Shady to stand up in all of us at the end.

13. The chorus states that he will continue to be himself, no matter what level of success he has. In this song he basically makes fun of everyone in popular culture from NSYNC to Will Smith to Britney Spears.

14. “I’m sick of all you little girl, and boy groups, all you do is annoy me, so I have been sent here to destroy you. And there’s a million others just like me, who cuss like me, who just don’t give a f*** like me, who act like me, who walk talk and dress like me, it just might be, the next best thing, but not quite me…” “Will Smith don’t gotta cuss to sell records, well I do. So f*** him, and f*** you too.” “Ha ha, guess there’s a slim shady in all of us, f*** it, let’s all stand up.” This song became the most popular song of the year, won him multiple Grammys and MTV VMA Awards, and catapulted the album to over 30 million copies sold; the most ever by a solo artist.