© Shutterstock.Marshall Bruce Mathers III, aka Eminem, broke into mainstream hip hop after signing with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. His 1999 debut release, The Slim Shady LP, had the entire world's attention. Written from his alter-ego Slim Shady's perspective, Eminem depicted the problems of poverty, crime, and family turmoil by using comical violence and dark humor to elaborate on his points. Despite having a storm of controversy surrounding his excessive use of profanity and graphic lyrical depictions of violence, Eminem received praise from fans and critics. His following two albums, The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show were both nominated for an Album of the Year Grammy Award and experienced tremendous success worldwide. Eminem is an international superstar who works with the greatest record producer on the West Coast (Dr. Dre). He has since released several more albums and currently holds the record for the most certified artist with the most gold and platinum singles, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.). His albums, Relapse, and Recovery demonstrate his strength and growth through addiction and dark times, making his music relatable for many during this deadly opioid crisis. Marshall Mathers experienced tremendous success with the movie 8 Mile, loosely based on his life. It came with a dope soundtrack that included the track "Lose Yourself." A song still relevant and played in heavy rotation 20 years later today. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making it the first rap song in history to earn one. He is the number-one-selling rapper of all time, with over 227 million albums sold worldwide. Em holds 13 Guinness World Records, including having the most consecutive No.1 albums on U.S. Billboard 200 charts. Additionally, he will be a 2022 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making him the tenth rapper inducted. He is taking his place among rappers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Other legendary company includes the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and Run D.M.C. Eminem discovered rapper 50-Cent and gave us D12. He is a hip-hop legend who continues to break barriers and show remarkable growth as a superstar artist. He is untouchable, and that lands him his spot at number one. Eminem Best Tracks Lose Yourself Till I Collapse, Featuring Nate Dogg Cleanin' Out My Closet Beautiful Headlights
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, aka Eminem, broke into mainstream hip hop after signing with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. His 1999 debut release, The Slim Shady LP, had the entire world's attention.
Written from his alter-ego Slim Shady's perspective, Eminem depicted the problems of poverty, crime, and family turmoil by using comical violence and dark humor to elaborate on his points.
Despite having a storm of controversy surrounding his excessive use of profanity and graphic lyrical depictions of violence, Eminem received praise from fans and critics.
His following two albums, The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show were both nominated for an Album of the Year Grammy Award and experienced tremendous success worldwide. Eminem is an international superstar who works with the greatest record producer on the West Coast (Dr. Dre).
He has since released several more albums and currently holds the record for the most certified artist with the most gold and platinum singles, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.).
His albums, Relapse, and Recovery demonstrate his strength and growth through addiction and dark times, making his music relatable for many during this deadly opioid crisis.
Marshall Mathers experienced tremendous success with the movie 8 Mile, loosely based on his life. It came with a dope soundtrack that included the track "Lose Yourself." A song still relevant and played in heavy rotation 20 years later today.
The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making it the first rap song in history to earn one. He is the number-one-selling rapper of all time, with over 227 million albums sold worldwide.
Em holds 13 Guinness World Records, including having the most consecutive No.1 albums on U.S. Billboard 200 charts. Additionally, he will be a 2022 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, making him the tenth rapper inducted.
He is taking his place among rappers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Other legendary company includes the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and Run D.M.C.
Eminem discovered rapper 50-Cent and gave us D12. He is a hip-hop legend who continues to break barriers and show remarkable growth as a superstar artist. He is untouchable, and that lands him his spot at number one.
Eminem Best Tracks
Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri. You probably know him better by his stage name, Eminem, and he's a rapper, songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor.
He's the only child of Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. and Deborah Rae "Debbie" (née Nelson). His father would later have two more children, Michael and Sarah, and his mother would have another son, Nathan "Nate" Kane Samara.
Before his parents split up, they were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, playing in Ramada Inns along the Dakotas-Montana border, which undoubtedly contributed to Eminem's musical nature.
Eminem regularly moved between Detroit and Missouri with his mother as a child. They rarely stayed in one house for more than a couple of years and tended to live with other family members. Their residencies included St. Joseph, Savannah, and Kansas City in Missouri.
Their most prolonged spell in one place was spent in a working-class, primarily black, Detroit neighborhood. They were one of just three white households on their block, and young Eminem took beatings from groups of black youths on several occasions.
Before discovering hip hop, Eminem was interested in storytelling and wanted to become a comic book artist. However, after hearing his first rap track ("Reckless," featuring Ice-T) on the Breakin' soundtrack, he became interested in rapping himself.
He started rapping at 14 with his high school pal Mike Ruby, and they adopted the names "Manix" and "M&M" (which later became "Eminem").
He attended Lincoln High School but would sneak into neighboring Osborn High School with his friend and fellow rapper Proof for lunchroom freestyle rap battles.
Eminem worked regular jobs to help his mother pay the bills - one at Little Caesar's Pizza in Warren, Michigan. But his mother would often throw him out of the house and steal his entire paycheck. When she used the money to play bingo, he would blast the stereo and write songs while she was out.
He and Proof attended open mic contests at the Hip-Hop Shop on West 7 Mile Road, which was considered "ground zero" for the Detroit rap scene. He found himself appreciated by underground hip-hop audiences, having struggled to be taken seriously in a predominantly black industry.
When he first started trying to make it big in 1988, he went by the stage name MC Double M, formed his first group New Jacks, and made a self-titled demo tape with DJ Butter Fingers.
It wasn't until 1997 when he developed the Slim Shady persona - a violent alter ego - that he started attracting real attention. He placed second in the Rap Olympics, and an Interscope Records intern in attendance called Dean Geistlinger asked for a copy of The Slim Shady EP (his first EP). It was sent to the company's CEO Jimmy Lovine, who played it for Dr. Dre, and the rest is history.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Eminem's net worth is around $230 million. That puts him on par with Benny Anderssen, John K. Delaney, and the late David Bowie.
Of course, the bulk of Eminem's wealth comes from his work in the music industry, but he has done many other things. Let's take a look.
Eminem has released 11 studio albums, two compilation albums, two collaborative albums, one EP (the previously mentioned The Slim Shady EP), 56 singles as a lead artist, and nine promotional tracks. He's also featured on 22 hits as a guest artist and entered the charts with more than 90 other songs.
He's the best-selling hip hop artist of all time and the best-selling artist of the noughties, having sold over 32.2 million albums in the United States during the decade, and is one of the richest rappers of all time.
He has sold over 220 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling music artists ever.
According to RIAA, he's sold 154 million certified albums and singles in the United States. He has earned 50 platinum album certifications and 10 number-one albums.
Eminem's first album, 1996's Infinite, failed to chart, and his second, 1999's The Slim Shady LP, reached number two on the Billboard 200. The other nine - 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP, 2002's The Eminem Show, 2004's Encore, 2009's Relapse, 2010's Recovery, 2013's The Marshall Mathers LP 2, 2017's Revival, 2018's Kamikaze, and 2020's Music to Be Murdered By - all reached the top spot.
His first compilation album, 2005's Curtain Call: The Hits, reached number one. His second, 2022's Curtain Call 2, has just been released and is sure to perform well in the charts.
His two collaborative albums - 2006's Eminem Presents: The Re-Up and 2014's Shady XV - reached numbers two and three, respectively.
Five of his 56 singles have hit the top spot on the Billboard 100. Those are 2002's "Lose Yourself," 2009's "Crack a Bottle" (featuring Dr. Dre and 50 Cent), 2010's "Not Afraid" and "Love the Way You Lie" (featuring Rihanna), and 2013's "The Monster" (featuring Rihanna).
The singles he's appeared on as a featured artist have also been wildly successful. Artists whose tracks he's featured on include Dr. Dre, Akon, Drake, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, and Busta Rhymes.
Eminem has embarked on five tours as the headline act. Those are 1999's The Slim Shady LP Tour, The Recovery Tour between 2010 and 2013, 2014's Rapture Tour, 2018's Revival Tour, and 2019's Rapture 2019.
He's also toured as a co-headliner on 2000's Up in Smoke Tour, the Anger Management Tour, which occurred between 2002 and 2005, 2010's Home & Home Tour, and 2014's The Monster Tour.
In late 1999, following the massive success of The Slim Shady LP, Interscope offered him his own label. Along with Paul Rosenberg, he founded Shady Records in late 1999.
While the label has had some struggles, it's been largely successful. Current acts signed to Shady include Eminem, Bad Meets Evil, Westside Boogie, and Grip. Acts previously signed to the label include D12, 50 Cent, Obie Trice, Stat Quo, Bobby Creekwater, Cashis, Slaughterhouse, Yelawolf, Griselda, Westside Gunn, and Conway the Machine.
Eminem has also dabbled in the acting world, making his debut as an extra in the 1998 Korn music video for "Got the Life."
He had a small role in the 2001 movie The Wash before making his Hollywood debut in the semi-autobiographical 2002 movie 8 Mile.
He also had cameos in 2009's Funny People and 2014's The Interview, and he appeared in the 2010 episode of Entourage called "Lose Yourself."
He voiced an aging, corrupt, Ebonics-speaking police officer in the 2005 video game 50 Cent: Bulletproof.
Eminem has published two books. The first, 2000's Angry Blonde, is a non-fiction book featuring a commentary of several of his songs. The second, 2008's The Way I Am, is his autobiography.
In 2021, Eminem and Union Joints opened a spaghetti restaurant, Mom's Spaghetti (a reference to lyrics in "Lose Yourself"), at 2131 Woodward Ave in Detroit. It had been a pop-up in Detroit in 2017 and at Coachella in 2018.
In 2011, during the primetime ad breaks of Super Bowl XLV, Eminem appeared in two commercials. The first was as a claymation figure in a one-minute spot for Lipton's Brisk iced tea. The second was a two-minute ad - the longest in Super Bowl history until that point - for the Chrysler 200. In the ad, Eminem drives through Detroit to his show at the Fox Theatre with "Lose Yourself" playing.
Eminem is a massive star with the money to live wherever he pleases. Still, he'll always remain loyal to Detroit.
He owned a lavish mansion in the city that was 17,500 square feet, then later purchased one in the Rochester Hills area, which sits on 15,000 square feet. It cost him $5 million and has nine bedrooms with ensuites, an expansive tennis court, a waterfall pool, and a huge guest house.
He loves flashy cars and has an extensive collection. They include a $150,000 Aston Martin V8 Phantom, a very rare 575 Ferrari - one of just 2000 ever produced - an Audi R8 Spyder, a Ford GT, an exclusive Porsche Carrera GT, a Porsche 911 GT3 Rs 4, and a Porsche GT2 worth $330,000.
Eminem's other loves include expensive Rolex watches and comic books. To emphasize how much he loves comic books, it's worth noting that one item in his extensive collection - a mint-condition Amazing Fantasy #15 - is worth more than $1 million.
He's also a decent guy, spending much of his money on his family and giving it to charity. He donates to food banks regularly and contributes to the Eight Mile Boulevard Association.
Eminem is one of the most famous and successful men alive and arguably the best rapper ever. He's nothing short of a musical phenomenon, and everything he touches turns to gold.
He will undoubtedly continue to thrive in the music industry and beyond. We wish him well because he's a humble chap.
This post was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock.