Posted: March 23rd, 2023
Introduction
Born in the year 1972 as Marshal Bruce Mathers 111 in the town of St. Missouri, Eminem is known to have spent his early life in underprivileged conditions, bouncing between the contrasting town of Detroit and his rural hometown. Moreover, the rapping and hip-hop cultures are known to have made an early impression on young Eminem where he began writing songs and lyrics at an early age of fourteen. Furthermore, his childhood life was characterized by great turbulence and poverty, a situation that was worsened by the fact that he had drug abusing parents. Consequently, he was continually picked on by bullies for the very reason that he was a white rapper; living in African-American environments. Nevertheless, this did not hinder him from accomplishing his desires and goals. Throughout his life, he has released various albums, including The Slim Shady LP, Marshall Mathers LP, and Recovery, to name but a few. The songs have won numerous awards as will be indicated later in this research paper. In fact, Eminem has been rated as one of the best-selling singers in the 2000s throughout the United States, having sold more than 41 million albums and additional 42 tracks in America as well as nearly a 100 million albums in other parts of the world (Sdonline 1).
Career Life
Marshall Mathers, now going by the name Eminem, remained somewhat unfazed and unpopular even after releasing his first album known as the autonomous Infinite in the year 1996. True to say is that this particular album did receive a great deal applause and praise in the underground circles. However, it did not have the most important label backing that could become its basis for achieving commercial success. Accordingly, the following album that was released in 1999 entitled The Slim Shady EP would be his turning point in the field of rap music. In fact, it made a noteworthy breakthrough in the music industry garnering attention for his extravagant nasal- vocal-sounded rapping style as well as the fact that he was a white rapper. His fame would spread all through the United States and in other parts of the world. Despite the fact that there were numerous African-American rappers who had become successful in this time and era, and that whites were intrigued in rap music, being a white rapper greatly contributed to his numerous sales (Sdonline 1). Indeed, his songs made him win the Grammy Award for the finest rap music.
Again, his second album released in the year 2000 also broke the records of the fastest selling albums in the chronological accounts of music in the United States. Indeed, the numerous volumes of sales were partly contributed by the fact that he had become famous and that he was also spending ample time on Dr. Dre’s show in the following year. Astonishingly, in the first week after he released this album, he sold more than 1.7 million reproductions. Notably, the album along with his fourth album known as the Eminem Show also saw him win Grammy Awards. During the 43rd Grammy Award ceremony, Eminem showed up and performed with a popular superstar who also happened to be an outspoken homosexual activist known as Elton John. Indeed, this live performance became the hottest talk of the 2001 Grammy Awards. The albums that followed would see him sell more than a million reproductions in its first week after the release.
Another milestone of Eminem’s success was the album entitled Encore that was released in the year 2004. In fact, the great sales were partly motivated by the song that contained slurs from Michael Jackson and Mosh, which was the anti-war song criticized the president George W. Bush. However, these two subjects almost ruined his music career. While Jackson expressed his displeasure with the song “Just Lose It,” President Bush, on the other hand, felt that Eminem had threatened him (Keller 161). Similarly, he would later release another successful album by name Relapse in the year 2009 that saw him sell more than 230 million copies globally. For this achievement, he was rated as one of the highest selling artists throughout the world.
In addition, the Recovery, an album he released in 2010 as his seventh album was also another successful release. In fact, not only was it the number one song in America, but it also gained an international commercial triumph. Indeed, it remained as the number one song in the US Billboard 200 register for one month one week and would also reappear for two more weeks making them a total of seven weeks. As such, it turned out to be the best-selling album of the year 2010. Consequently, Eminem would also appear during the Bet Awards held in 2010 where he performed the songs “Not Afraid” and “Airplanes” where he was also pronounced as the finest rapper and songwriter of the 21st century.
More Achievements
It is worth noting that Eminem was also rated as the 79th of the greatest music artists of all-time. In addition, in a magazine that indicated the list of one hundred musicians, he was ranked in the 83rd position. As if this was not enough, the year 2010 saw him ranked by MTV as the number 7 leading icon in the history of pop music. In essence, he was also the first rapper to receive the Worldwide Award during the MTV Europe awards that were held in 2013. By and large, the achievement was attributable to his greatest influences and accomplishments in the music industry following Whitney Houston, Bon Jovi, and Queen. On the same note, Eminem is also known as the king of rap music (Keller 159). As can be seen, his latest album entitled The Marshall Mathers LP 2 has also had numerous sales not only in the United States but throughout the world. Equally important, he celebrated his fifteenth anniversary of his music career with a CD set termed as The ShadyXV which is a collection of his most popular songs and some additional new materials.
As it is evident from the above research, Eminem has had many achievements in his career life. In fact, not only has his albums been very successful but they have also won him a wide range of awards including the Grammy Awards, MTV Awards, and the Billboard Music Prizes to name but a few. Indeed, Eminem is one of the finest white rappers of his time who has achieved many things over the years. In essence, he also supports various charities, including the Small Steps Projects which is an organization founded with the intentions of supporting children living in dire poverty. Moreover, the Eight Mile Boulevard and the Marshall Mothers Foundations are also other charity organizations that Eminem supports (Armstrong 355). Likewise, the firms support various initiatives that engage the youths who are at risk of engaging in maladaptive behaviors. Finally, the Eminem’s success story has been a source of inspiration, especially to the white rappers as well as his ability to give back to the society in various ways.
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