(dramatic airy music)
- [Narrator] A rapper, record, producer, songwriter,
and actor, Eminem has a wide range of talents.
- [Eminem] I've been writing lyrics
since I was like 14 years old,
you know, and just the more I wrote,
the better I kept getting at it.
- [Narrator] It is widely considered
that he is one of the greatest and most influential artists
of all time.
He has been named King of Hip-Hop by Rolling Stone Magazine
and one of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
- What Eminem did was just come out
and be such an original artist,
you know, in terms of perspective and style.
- I still feel like I'm an underground artist
regardless of how many units I sell.
The subject matter and the topics that I rap about
are still underground.
- I mean, in the simplest way to look at it,
he made being a white rapper okay.
But beyond that, he's really redefined hip-hop.
- I tell it like it is.
And when you buy a "Slim Shady" album,
you're gonna get Slim Shady.
(hip-hop song)
- [Narrator] He released successful albums
such as "The Slim Shady LP" and "The Marshall Mathers LP".
- I feel like if you wanna sue me at this point,
just take a number because there's a lot of people in line.
- His legal troubles have been numerous.
He's known for his explicit use of words,
often sending out aggressive signals.
- A rawness and a keen intelligence, and a lyricism,
and a mastery of the English language that a few artists,
if any, have ever matched and none will surpass.
(hip-hop song)
- [Narrator] Despite that this rap artist
has won the hearts of critics and fans alike,
earning more than a dozen Grammy Awards.
(hip-hop song)
- People forget that Eminem worked at his use of language.
- In terms of like straight up pure skill,
he might be the best technician
to ever reach that multi-platinum level.
- He worked hard to fall in love with language
and to find the immense way
in which he was able to express himself.
(hip-hop song)
- [Narrator] He bases most of his songs
on his personal struggles and those of his family members.
(hip-hop song)
- I think people appreciated
that if you come from a poor background
and maybe even your entire life were told
that you'd never amount to anything,
that that's more reason and more motivation to make it.
And I can't imagine that there's any rapper in the world
who hasn't looked to Eminem and said,
if he can do it, I can do it too.
- [Narrator] One of the biggest sensations
in the rap industry, his albums have all been smashed hits.
(hip-hop song)
- One of the things that is important for us all
is to belong, to actually belong somewhere
and belong to someone.
And what defines Eminem's life from day one
is that he never belonged anywhere.
He was never part of either the family
or the community in which he grew up.
- [Narrator] Born on October 17th, 1972
in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Marshall Mathers had an extremely underprivileged
and turbulent upbringing.
His childhood traumas are recurring theme
throughout his music
and his lyrics paint a dark picture of his early years.
- And I think the best way to describe his environment
is grim.
It was poor, it was trailer trash.
His words, not mine.
It was incredibly an impoverished way to grow up.
And as a kid,
he was never really like in a stable environment.
His mom moved around a lot, you know.
She didn't have any sort of like roots
that he could hang onto.
So I think he was just one of these kids
who just ends up being kind of lost as a youngster
and not really finding a community that supported him.
- You know, at six months, his father, Bruce, you know,
walks out on him.
(hip-hop song)
The abandonment by his father at an early age left him
with no male role model.
And worse than that, with a sense that the male
into whose care he was entrusted
did not think highly enough of him to stick around
and make sure he was okay.
And that was the first act of abandonment
that Marsh started to put up with.
You know, his mother is troubled.
His grandmother was an alcoholic
who was, you know, allegedly, you know,
abused by her mother, which would be his great-grandmother.
So he's got this dysfunctional family he grows up in.
He moves as a child every few months,
he's moving from place to place.
He's got no stability in his family life.
No anchor where he can sit down and say, this is who I am,
this is where I live, this is my part of the world.
He was deprived of that from an early age,
and that had long-term and significant effect,
and ultimately drove, you know, his creativity.
It's where that genius comes from.
- [Narrator] After Bruce Mathers had abandoned the family,
it was up to Debbie Mathers to raise the young Marshall
as a single parent.
It proved to be a tough task, and as a result,
their relationship became increasingly volatile.
- Anyone who's heard Eminem's, you know, music
knows his relationship with his mother is very volatile,
very violent.
- She described herself as an overprotective mother.
She described herself as someone who smothered him a bit,
but Molly coddled him a bit and didn't allow him to grow
and be a strong, powerful man
and be what a male child wants really,
which is going to the world and be a man.
- Eminem has never painted a pretty picture of his mom,
Debbie Mathers.
His called her a pill popper.
He said she was unreliable, that she was never around,
that she dated the wrong kind of guys.
It was clearly a very difficult relationship
that perhaps started out really nicely
as when he was a kid, because she nurtured him
and he was able to discover music partly
because his mom allowed him access to that kinda stuff.
- It's as if his mother overprotected him.
Now, the thing about maternal overprotection,
people sometimes say, oh, what a good mother.
She you know, is always there for him,
always protecting him, always doing this, that,
and the other.
But overprotection is a form of neglect,
every bit as neglectful and more difficult to spot
than a mother who overtly neglects a child
and leaves a child screaming in the corner.
And what she deprived him of really was his power as a boy
and his power as a man and his masculinity.
And I think that that defined so much of his later life.
- But in the end, it just seemed like she abandoned her kid,
you know, as much as his dad abandoned him
when he was six months old.
(hip-hop music)
- Marshall's exceptionally harsh childhood
continued throughout his time at school
where he was bullied and beaten on a regular basis.
- A white kid moving around constantly from place to place
in black schools, black neighborhoods, you know.
He was a victim of kind of reverse racism
where he was the white kid.
He was alienated from white kids
because he wanted to be a rapper.
He was alienated from black kids
because he wanted to be a rapper.
He was bullied at school.
This is not a boy who grows up with a strong sense
of his own power, because everybody wants to belong,
and the person who's bullied is being told physically
and unemotionally, that you don't belong here.
And not only do you not belong here,
we are going to punish you simply for who and what you are.
And that's what he had to put up with.
He was punished and beaten for who and what he was.
A small, weak, white kid in a black neighborhood
trying to just survive and use whatever he could to survive.
And it reached the point where in the famous song,
he called "Brain Damage", where he talks about the guy
who literally put him in a coma.
Five days he spent in a coma.
It could have killed him.
But the beatings didn't stop there.
They just carried on.
When he recovered from his coma, it just carried on.
It wasn't as if he was subject to isolated act of bullying,
it was sustained bullying over an entire childhood,
right through his teenage years.
And that's difficult,
almost crippling for anybody to live with.
And let's give him credit here for anybody who deal
with what he had to deal with and come out as he did,
purely for surviving it, nevermind what he did with it
and what his creativity did with it,
purely for surviving it, he deserves a medal.
(slow hip-hop music)
- [Narrator] Life changed drastically for Marshall in 1988
when Kimberly Scott entered his life.
Debbie Mathers had always wanted a daughter,
and she jumped at a chance to foster Kim.
And Marshall was about to enter into a relationship
that would've a hugely significant impact on his life.
- When Eminem was 15, she adopted Kim,
who was later to become Eminem's wife, you know, and lover,
and, you know, all about how complex that relationship was.
And among these warring women,
because Kim and Eminem and Kim and Debbie,
everybody was fighting.
It was a very turbulent environment.
Among all these women fighting,
you've got this by Eminem's own admission,
he described himself as a child, he said, I was puny, timid.
So you have this puny, timid child
among these warring women.
- [Narrator] Since Bruce Mathers had walked out on Marshall
when he was just a baby, his uncle Ronnie
was now the only significant male role model in his life.
And it was Ronnie who introduced Marshall to hip-hop.
- Uncle Ronnie gave him a copy
of Beastie Boys' "Licensed to Ill".
You know, it's a very easy album
for, you know, young white kids to access
because it very much based in rock music,
at least musically, and, you know, it's very simple rhyme,
very easy to understand.
- He was also into like 2 Live Crew
and, you know, some of the rappers that were coming up
in the late '80s and early '90s.
And, you know, coming from an urban environment of Detroit,
I don't think people really affiliated hip-hop
with Detroit so much until it exploded in the late '90s.
But you could see that the roots to that music
were laid much, much earlier
in the late '80s and early '90s.
- But also very revealingly, he later said,
hip-hop, he said, is about manhood.
It's about being macho.
And somehow he could see through entering that world,
he could find his masculine power, his male power,
his power as a man.
It was the only way he could find it and express it.
So not only was hip-hop
and not only was his music and his creativity,
an outlet for him to express himself
and to find a way to express this crazy world
in which he'd been born and grown up in,
it was also his way to find his identity as a man.
- [Narrator] Marshall's high school days were unproductive
and unsuccessful.
After repeating the ninth grade twice
due to truancy and bad grades,
Marshall dropped out of high school.
He became a fast food chef at Gilbert's Lodge
at St. Clair's Shores in Detroit.
Life in the Mathers' household was tough
and his relationship with Kim
was proving to be very unstable.
Then in 1991, then in 1991 came the news
that would turn Marshall's world upside down.
- [Man] Bud, this is Ron poking horn.
- Life's hard bud.
(hip-hop music)
- The man who introduced him to rap,
his beloved Uncle Ronnie, took a gun and shot himself,
and he shot himself apparently after being jilted
or dumped by a girlfriend.
So again, you have two male potential male role models.
One who abandoned him when he was only six months.
Then his beloved Uncle Ronnie,
who abandoned him by killing himself.
And both of them, in some way, shape or form,
were led to abandon him through troubled relationships
with women.
His father abandoned him
because he couldn't get on with his mother, Debbie.
Uncle Ronnie abandoned him
because he killed himself over a woman.
And so you have a pattern here, two significant males,
father figures and paternal figures
in Eminem's life disappear as a result of their relationship
with women and leave him alone.
- [Ian] And he has an RIP Ronnie tattoo on his arm,
and he mentions Ronnie by name in the song "Stan",
as, you know, something that his fans can really relate to.
(hip-hop music)
- You know, that's just a harsh reality to deal with
no matter who it is.
But when it was someone so close to you,
it could have really messed you up.
And I think it really messed up Eminem.
But at the same time,
it also gave him something to write about, you know,
emotions that he needed to get in touch with.
And those feelings, I think, turned
into, you know, some of the greatest raps
that we've ever heard.
- And that leaves him very much at the mercy of the world.
He has no male role model.
And the men he grew up with, the boys he grew up with,
his peer group was not one in which he could belong.
He was a white kid in a black neighborhood.
He was a white kid who wanted to be something
that both whites and blacks were telling him he couldn't be.
So you've got nowhere for him to go.
And once a boy loses his male role model,
well, then the peer group was the substitute.
And what did his peer group do to him?
Ostracized him, turned him into an outcast.
- Eminem was in a sort of situation
where he was constantly struggling.
He was struggling at school, he was bullied tremendously.
He was struggling to be heard at home.
He was struggling to be heard as an artist.
People weren't accepting him
as a sort of natural hip-hop rapper
because he's a white guy.
So all of those things came to head in his teen years.
- After he got introduced to "Licensed to Ill" hip-hop
just became a thing that he did,
you know, he put his heart into,
like that was his salvation.
You know, maybe not necessarily seeing it
as a way of getting out of Detroit,
but, you know, just as a way of dealing
with being in Detroit.
- They were incredibly formative years
because they helped create the superstar rapper
that we all know today,
and that was all born of those years.
But at the same time, it was like it was a constant battle.
It was a battle with his own inner demons.
It was battle with people outside,
and it was literally physical fights with kids that he knew.
So his teenage years were, I would say, rough.
(hip-hop music)
- [Narrator] Throughout his teenage years
and after the death of his beloved Uncle Ronnie,
Eminem continued to focus on hip-hop,
a source of escapism that helped him deal
with his troubled life.
In 1996, Kim gave birth to a baby girl, Hailie Jade Scott.
And soon after the birth of his daughter,
Eminem released his first solo album, "Infinite".
- As shown in "8 Mile",
Eminem had really become a battle tested, quite literally.
He would be in battle raps
and, you know, he would get a little studio time in Detroit
with labels that would just fold about a year later.
Nothing really ever came of it.
But, you know, as time went on,
he started to kind of develop his own sort of style.
It was still very much based in the old, you know,
very much based amongst rappers like, you know, Nas or AZ.
And then he had "Infinite".
And that's really when he started, you know...
Even back then,
he would just say that was him finding his voice.
If you listen to, you know, "The Slim Shady LP"
or like even things he did with Royce da 5'9,
it's completely different guy.
But nonetheless, you can still get a sense
of someone finding his artistic voice.
- [Narrator] After the release of "Infinite",
Eminem's personal struggles in abuse of drugs
and alcohol culminated in an unsuccessful suicide attempt.
- After "Infinite" was released and flopped,
Eminem allegedly tried to commit suicide.
And you can see the dynamics of this,
pretty straightforward really.
Here, you've got a kid who's been deprived of everything
a child needs to grow up and be strong.
He's been deprived of a nurturing and supportive family.
He's been deprived of a peer group to which he can belong.
He's been deprived of a home or a city or a town,
which he feels like he can call his own.
And suddenly he has this dream,
which is Uncle Ronnie instilled in him from when he was 11,
I think, when Uncle Ronnie introduced him to rap.
He's had this dream of being a rap artist.
And then he releases his album and then it flops.
He's used every resource,
every available resource he's got left.
This puny, timid, bullied child has got to the point
where he's lifted himself up
and he's found a means to express himself and it flops.
At that point, his world must have caved in.
He must have felt as if wherever he did,
there was no way out for him from the prison
that he felt he was in,
the psychological prison that he felt he was in,
and the bars, if you want, that his childhood
and his youth had built around him.
And at that point, he must have hit absolute despair
and thought there is absolutely no way forward for me here.
And mercifully, for him and for all of us,
he didn't succeed 'cause obviously he went on from there,
pulled himself up again
and produced some of the best music of his generation.
- [Narrator] After "Infinite" had flopped,
Eminem continued to battle rap his way
through the underground scene in Detroit.
Slowly, he started to make a name for himself
and his volatile personality was beginning to take over.
- He had a reputation and Riley so is on the,
if you want, the underground battle circuit
where he was determined to make a name for himself.
You know, it has been highly unpredictable.
I mean, there were stories of him diving
into the audience once and starting a fight
because somebody tried to hit him
or somebody had insulted him or whatever it was.
It's as if he'd found this vehicle to express himself
and he'd found an outlet for his emotions, for his rage,
for his pain, and it lost his inhibition.
He just was letting himself go.
- Traditionally, that's been a way for rappers
to make a name for themselves in hip-hop
because, you know, it's one thing to be able
to, you know, record in a studio
and say interesting stuff that you've written down.
But a lot of people think
that if you can really come off the top of your head,
can really perform before an audience,
can make your opponent look bad,
then you're a real bonafide rapper.
- [Narrator] Eminem's underground success let him on a path
to the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles.
His appearance at the Rap Olympics would ultimately set him
on his way to superstardom and offer him a chance
to collaborate with one of the biggest names in hip-hop.
(slow music)
- And that was really sort of like his breakout night,
you know.
From what I've read, to see him perform live
was just something that people hadn't really experienced.
Yes, there was vanilla ice
and, you know, the whole concept of a white rapper
wasn't novel.
- The battle that launched him into stardom.
You know, he was the only white kid.
- A lot of people thought he should have won
and his friends did,
but he ended up coming in second place.
And some of his friends thought
that was maybe 'cause he was white.
- He was the only white rapper.
But one of the black judges was saying at the time,
look, just give it this white kid.
He's so much better than all the others.
Give the award, give the medal to the white kid.
He's the winner by a country mile,
because he just had this incredible raw talent
and he was head and shoulders above his peers
in terms of his artistic creativity.
- There was a style, there was an urgency,
there was like something way deeper that came out
on that night, which got him his record deal.
- It came to the attention of Jimmy Iovine
at Interscope Records,
a hugely influential figure in hip-hop.
And Iovine requested a tape of Eminems.
It made the rounds in the office.
Iovine loved it.
He played it for Dr. Dre.
And Dr. Dre was not one
to pick a tape up off the slush pile usually.
In fact, he said that Eminem's tape
was the first time he'd ever heard an unsolicited tape
and said, this is the real deal.
I need this kid right now.
- And this, if you want, was his way to settle the scores
from when the opposite was true of him as a child
when he was the underdog and he couldn't match his peers,
he was beaten.
When he found his artistic voice,
he then became the alpha male.
That's the point at which he became the dominant male.
- [Narrator] Eminem and Dr. Dre were about to embark
on a collaborative journey that would revolutionize hip-hop.
- Once I met Dre, he was kind of like,
I had a vision of where I wanted to take it,
and Dre just showed me how to take it there.
You know what I mean?
It's kinda like we both had the same like vision for myself,
you know, where to take it and whatnot.
And Dre just showed me how to execute it.
- [Interviewer] When you first met,
this is a question for both of you,
what did you think of each other, honestly?
- I thought he was a fucking dick.
(audience laughing)
And he probably thought worse of me.
- [Interviewer] Dre.
- I thought he was Tweety bird.
(audience laughing)
No, 'cause he had this real bright
fucking yellow sweatsuit on. (laughs)
- Man, if I hear one more thing
about that goddamn sweatsuit.
I had this yellow outfit on when I first met Dre.
It was like this outfit
that a clothing company had given me.
And I didn't have money like some people had at the time,
you know, I was going on a week wearing it,
so it was actually turning kind of green.
(audience laughing)
But he called me a banana when he met me.
So it was on from there.
(slow hip-hop music)
- [Narrator] Eminem had been working
on creating an alter ego
that would allow him to express his dark side.
And not long after he teamed up with Dr. Dre,
Slim Shady was born.
- You know, the whole concept of alter egos
is not foreign to hip-hop
and a lot of rappers have taken on these other identities
to basically say what they really wanna say.
- [Interviewer] You've talked before
about having three different personas,
Eminem, Slim Shady, Marshall Mathers.
Could you briefly tell us where one stops so the one begins
and the difference between the three different characters?
- Marshall Mathers stops when the Bacardi kicks in
and then it's Slim Shady.
(audience laughing)
Eminem starts when I hate the stage.
So it's the best way I know how to answer that.
- Through Slim Shady, he found a voice
through which he could express anger and emotion and pain
that was authentically his.
- Slim Shady allowed Eminem
to, I guess, kind of get a little bit of distance
and take more chances
in terms of like what, you know, his subject matter,
in terms of talking about what was going on in his life.
Eminem really made an art out of it.
He took feelings that were his own,
put them into a caricature and put them out to the world,
so that if they infuriated you,
you weren't necessarily mad at Marshall Mathers.
You are mad at Slim Shady.
- I don't try to, you know, polish up my shit for nobody.
I don't, you know.
I tell it like it is.
And when you buy a "Slim Shady" album,
you're gonna get Slim Shady,
you're not gonna get birds and bees and flowers and trees.
- Every man, every woman at some point
has violent fantasies.
What people made the mistake with Eminem,
when they listen to his voice
as it's expressed through Slim Shady,
they think he's saying something that is literally true
or that he's literally going to do.
What he is doing there, it's a vehicle.
Slim Shady is a vehicle for emotions
that he feels he hasn't been able to express
and that there's no legitimate way for him to express them.
That's where his anger comes at.
That's where his rage comes out.
- Slim Shady just allowed him to, I guess, play fast
and loose with his own experience as well as subject matter.
- I believe the things that I say are controversial.
Me, it's just speaking my mind.
So speaking my mind and telling it like it is
makes me controversial then whatever.
I say what's ever on my mind, you know.
But I had a good teacher, you know.
- And it was a very smart move I think
just in terms of marketing,
in terms of the criticism that he probably inevitably knew
would come his way
because it just gave him that out, the alter ego out.
That's kind of the way I always saw Slim Shady
as this caricature that Eminem invented.
- This is a man who for all the abuse he suffered
at the hands of his family, abuse of one sort or another,
and certainly the violence he suffered in bullying,
he suffered at the sense of his peers,
he didn't identify with the aggressor,
he identified with the victim.
He identified with those people who were the underdogs.
He identified with those people who suffer.
He identified with those people who are in pain.
And through his all alter egos,
he's simply expressing the impotent, unexpressed,
rage and pain of the underdog.
Not something he was literally going to do.
(hip-hop music)
- [Narrator] "The Slim Shady LP" was released
on February 23rd, 1999 under Interscope Records
in Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment.
The majority of the record's lyrical content
was written from the perspective of Eminem's alter ego,
Slim Shady.
The album was noted for its over-the-top depictions
of violence and heavy use of profanity.
- "Slim Shady LP" sold 3 million copies
by the time the year was out.
It was a huge success,
especially for a first full length album.
- And it really defined Eminem
as a force to be reckoned with
in terms of introducing all his crazy new characters,
his crazy rhyme schemes, his funny illusions,
his pop culture references, the stuff about his mother,
his wife, Kim.
It really defined who he was
and it's an album that still holds up.
The production from Dr. Dre is really interesting and fun
in a lot of ways.
It doesn't sound like a traditional hip-hop album.
It sounds like something that's more mainstream almost,
something that crosses over to kids
who might not have grown up with hard street rhymes.
- You know, I remember hearing it and thinking it was fun.
Like it was dark, but it had a sense of humor to it.
It had like a sort of wink to it.
- You know, just kind of a personal side.
I remember, you know, watching MTV,
it must have been like two or three in the morning.
I was home from college and they showed the video
for "My Name Is", and you know, the first thing's like,
okay what's this guy?
This guy's name's Eminem.
Okay, he's a white guy.
Like Dr. Dre's in this video.
Like it's just like one of those moments
where you just remember exactly where you were
when you first see it.
And I just remember thinking to myself like,
I don't know if I like this or not,
but this guy is going to be huge.
♪ Hi, my name is ♪
♪ Huh ♪
♪ My name is ♪
♪ What ♪
♪ My name is ♪
♪ Chika-chika Slim Shady ♪
♪ Hi, my name is ♪
What?
- Excuse me.
♪ My name is ♪
♪ Chika-chika Slim Shady ♪
Can I have the attention of the class for one second?
♪ My name is ♪
♪ Chika-chika Slim Shady ♪
♪ Hi kids, do you like violence? ♪
♪ Wanna see me stick nine inch nails ♪
♪ Through each one of my eyelids ♪
♪ Wanna copy me and do exactly like I did ♪
♪ Try acid and get fucked up worse that my life is ♪
♪ My brain's dead weight, I'm tryin' to get my head straight ♪
- Yeah, when my name has blew up,
I didn't know exactly what it was gonna do.
I mean this was my first time, you know,
actually doing this or whatever.
It was my first time exposed to the public
and I never considered myself anything more
than an underground artist, you know what I'm saying?
Just because of the subject matters I talk about
and the way that I rap or whatever,
the things that I talk about, I thought, you know,
I was surprised to be honest.
- [Interviewer] Were you surprised?
- [Dr. Dre] No.
- Visually, musically, in any aspect
unlike anything I had ever seen before.
And, you know, that was a perfect calling card
'cause like, you know,
when Dr. Dre's, you know, discovered Snoop Dogg,
Snoop's first single was "What's My Name?"
So you kind of gotta see the parallel there
where "My Name Is", you know,
it's just a way of introducing himself.
- And in "My Name Is", Eminem, or Marshall, Slim Shady,
whoever you want him to be,
again, is playing with the idea of his identity.
Who is he?
Who is the real Marshall Mathers?
Who is the real Eminem?
Who is the real Slim Shady?
It's a provocation to people.
He's provoking his audience and saying, who do you say I am?
And really, there's something almost quite biblical
about this, 'cause there's a very famous scene
in the New Testament where Jesus says to his disciples,
well, who do you say I am?
And he's playing with the same thing, who do you say I am?
Who do you think I am?
And he's provoking people into really confessing
and admitting something about themselves
and challenging them to see themselves
in the way that they see him.
And it's a wonderful
and only the greatest artist can do that.
And Eminem plays the same game and he does it to perfection.
- Even though it spawn a couple of huge hits, you know,
"Guilty Conscience", well, you know, in its own ways,
a little bit as gimmicky as "My Name Is".
But I also had "Role Model", which I think was more in tune
with the tone "Slim Shady LP" have.
The one thing that struck out me is how lonely it is.
Like Royce da 5'9 is pretty much the only guest on that.
This was just, you know, for the most part,
one or two or three guys producing,
most notably, Dr. Dre.
Like they put all their chips on the table thinking
that Eminem, in and of himself, was going to be a star.
And, of course, they were right.
Sold about 5 million copies incredibly quickly
and, you know, got him a Rolling Stone cover.
And by the turn of the century, you could argue
that even before "Marshall Mathers LP",
he was the, you know, not only the biggest rapper
but, you know, one of the upper echelon of just musicians,
like pop stars the whole.
- And it made a huge impact on music journalists.
I remember that.
It was sort of like eye-opening, like, oh wait,
there's a hip-hop culture and scene coming out of Detroit
that we should pay attention to, you know.
It was sort of unexpected.
It really came at a very unexpected time.
Grunge was already in the past
and I feel like the music industry
was struggling to find a voice for the millennium,
which ended up being rap rock.
Eminem is a huge part of that
and the reason it became popular.
(electronic music)
- [Narrator] Just a year after the release
of "The Slim Shady LP",
Eminem released arguably his greatest album,
"The Marshall Mathers LP".
The album featured more introspective lyricism
including Eminem's response to his sudden rise to fame
and the controversy surrounding his lyrics.
- [Interviewer] This is a question for Eminem.
I was just wondering which issue has been the most important
for you to address in the new album and how did you do it?
- Which issue?
- [Interviewer] Yeah.
- Critics would probably be the most talked about issue
that I'm discussing on this album, you know,
along with I say some things about some boy/girl groups
and some other things about some other people,
whether they deserved it or not, you know.
In my book, they do if they're corny.
So I brought it to a lot of sissies basically on this album.
And critics who had things to say about me
and didn't quite understand my lyrics last time around,
you know, and took everything that I said literally.
So, you know, basically, I'm addressing a lot of critics
and I got like pretty personal on this album too, you know,
that's why the album's called "The Marshall Mathers LP".
- [Interviewer] How did you deal
with the critics on the album?
- How do I deal with the critics?
You have to get the album and see.
You might be mad.
(interviewer laughing)
- [Interviewer] Was that always gonna be the concept
of the record, "The Marshall Matters LP"?
When you first laid down the first rhyme
and did the first beat,
was that always gonna be what it was gonna be called
and how it was gonna move?
- Nah.
Nah, I was juggling some titles around.
At first, I was juggling around a title called Amsterdam
because I wrote like four songs in two days
when I was in Amsterdam.
But basically, once I started writing the songs
and, you know, seeing which direction the album was going,
it just got more personal and more personal
and, you know, I love the media.
I thank God for the media
because you guys give me shit to talk about.
If it wasn't for y'all,
I probably would've shit left to talk about, you know?
- Really rounded out Eminem's persona
and sort of defined him as a heavyweight rapper.
It was the album, not only did it sell well,
not only was it popular with average listeners,
but it delved into some really sort of deep, meaty issues.
- You know, I consider myself a perfectionist
and I always wanna try to top my last, not just album
but try to top my last song that I did.
So you might hear the gradual buildup on this album
from one song to the next, you know.
Every time I sit down and write a rhyme or a song,
I want it to be completely different
from the last song I wrote
and I want the rhyme style to be completely different,
the beat to be different.
So, you know, you might hear that on this album.
- And the song that comes to mind is "Stan",
and it's a three part tragedy that has a real climax
and really defined Eminem
as someone who could tell interesting stories.
And he wasn't just about jokes,
he wasn't just about making fun of his mom,
he was a guy who had a lot of substance.
- The song was not so much about Stan, the fan,
it's actually about Eminem
and the complex world in world in which he lives,
in which people find their identities
by transferring all sorts of feelings and emotions onto him
to try and make sense of their own lives.
Just as then he is struggling with his
and the sense that his life is out of control
'cause he can't control what people are making of him.
He can't control what people are saying about him.
He can't control what people believe him to be.
And that's what that message is.
On the end of "Stan" where he finally, you know, writes back
to Stan and says, look, I'm sorry,
I'm sorry I'm so late in writing back.
But, of course, it's too late
'cause at this point, Stan has killed himself and his wife
and his unborn child.
It shows a kind of desperation really from Eminem
as if, you know, what can I do?
You know, I can never ever give these people what they want
and they will make of me what they will.
Am I responsible for that?
It's a song of immense miracle beauty, of musical beauty.
Unworthy captures the essence,
not just of what it is to be a celebrity
but more particularly of what it is to be Eminem
and the complex world that he created
and which he has to live with.
- And, you know, he took a lot of criticism
for his homophobia, for his violence in his songs,
particularly against his wife
and, you know, his threats to his mother.
But at the end of the day,
you got a sense that he was really speaking from the heart
on all these things,
that these were things that he was really feeling,
that these experiences came from a really deep place
inside of him.
And that the album was a type of therapy.
- [Narrator] The album spawned many hits,
but the lead single was titled "The Real Slim Shady".
The video features Eminem performing the song
in a psychiatric ward, a local Detroit neighborhood,
a fast food joint, the Grammy Awards,
and even a factory with multiple clones of the rapper
are produced.
(hip-hop music)
♪ Will the real Slim Shady please stand up ♪
- We're gonna have a problem here,
♪ Y'all act like you never seen a white person before ♪
♪ Jaws all on the floor like Pam, ♪
♪ Like Tommy just burst in the door ♪
♪ And started whoopin' her ass worse than before ♪
♪ They first were divorced, throwin' her over furniture ♪
♪ It's the return of the, oh, wait, no way, you're kidding ♪
♪ He didn't just say what I think he did, did he ♪
♪ And Dr. Dre said, nothing you idiots ♪
♪ Dr. Dre's dead, he's locked in my basement ♪
♪ Feminist women love Eminem ♪
♪ Chicka-chicka-chicka Slim Shady, I'm sick of him ♪
♪ Look at him, walkin' around, grabbin' his you-know-what ♪
- It's called "The Real Slim Shady".
It's basically the chorus of scene
with the real slim shady, please stand up.
And basically, what the whole song,
the concept of the whole song was about was, you know,
trying to say that there's a slim shady in all of us,
everybody has a shady side to 'em.
So in the video I'm telling, I'm asking,
will the real slim shady please stand up?
And everybody's standing up in the video
because everybody's got a Slim Shady in them.
I said that a long time ago
when I came out with my first album,
I feel like everybody has a shady side to 'em
and a side to 'em where they can be an asshole, you know.
And Slim Shady is that asshole inside of me
that comes out an awful lot.
- "Marshall Mathers" came in at 1.76 million in a week.
I mean, those are like astronomical figures.
And if anyone had any doubt as to his star power
or where Eminem could potentially go as an artist,
"The Marshall Mathers LP" kind of cemented the fact
that he's here to stay.
(soft hip-hop music)
- [Narrator] At this point,
Eminem has released two groundbreaking albums.
And along with the success came an onslaught of criticism.
(soft hip-hop music)
- And you know, the obvious problem
with "Marshal Mathers LP"
is that it had some very controversial things to say
about the homosexual community.
- He was courting a lot of controversy.
People were, you know, claiming that he was homophobic,
that his lyrics were misogynistic, you know,
that he was really like a blight on music, on pop music.
And to sort of combat all that negativity,
he did what people really just did not expect,
which is he performed with Elton John on the Grammys.
(soft hip-hop music)
Now, he'd been like a Grammy favorite
for a few years now.
He's always up for Best Rap Album.
He won almost every time.
And this was like his official sort of entry
to mainstream music world.
And at the end of the performance,
which was, you know, Stan and had Elton John on the piano,
they hugged and it was written that it was the hug felt
around the world, you know.
It was such a huge moment for music
because it brought together
these two completely disparate worlds.
- [Narrator] 2002 would proved to be another memorable year
for Eminem.
He released his third major album, "The Eminem Show",
and it soon became another multi-platinum release.
- "The Eminem Show" show was another huge blockbuster
for Eminem, and it sort of got even further away
from the traditional hip-hop roots that he had.
- You know, Eminem had been pretty steadily releasing albums
every 18 months, two years,
and it was like every single one was bigger than the last.
And "The Eminem Show" was just another example
of how much of a force he was in music at the time.
It was the bestselling album of 2002.
Nothing even came close.
- [Ben] "Without Me" was another one
of Eminem's kind of lead off,
jokey, pop culture referencing singles.
And it was also a really successful,
and it sort of picked its targets to make fun of,
and it had another really infectious,
bouncy pop, mainstream beat
and it sort of set the tone for "The Eminem Show".
- There's line in the song that that makes perfect sense,
which is guess who's back, you know?
It's like all he had to do was at this time just come back
and do what he does best
without having to change up the formula too much, you know.
He didn't have to diverge.
He didn't have to wow.
He didn't have to even show
that there was so much of an evolution.
At the time, it was like people wanted that Eminem,
the Marshall Mathers Eminem, "The Eminem Show" Eminem.
He was giving people what they want with this album,
which I think is why it sold so well.
(hip-hop music)
- [Narrator] That same year,
Eminem would transfer his skills to the big screen.
He starred in a Motion Picture
that was loosely based on his own life.
And it was an incredible acting debut for the rap superstar.
- We were talking about doing a movie
about, you know, based on my life or whatever,
you know, something like that.
- In that movie, you see Eminem no holds barred
expressing his feelings, his emotions
in a world where so many celebrities
try to whitewash themselves,
they try to project an image to the world
of something that's kind of all America and all apple pie,
all sweetness and light.
This was a guy who stripped his life to the bone
and said to the world, this is who I am, deal with it.
He did it in his music.
And in "8 Mile" he showed not just his skill as an actor,
but his ability as an actor to get the guts
of his personality out and to express it on screen
in a performance that any actor
would've been proud to call their own.
- I think what he did was prove
that he couldn't be put in a box, you know.
As much as we could say, like, oh, well, Eminem does this
and he does it really well and he's funny
and he's, you know, witty
and, you know, he gets the concept of music videos
and he really draws people in.
Well, this was another side of him
that was much more nuanced,
that took talent that people didn't realize he had.
It was just an amazing experience, I think, for Eminem
and for the viewers and for people at home
who didn't have an appreciation of all that he could do.
"8 Mile" really, really stepped it up.
- [Narrator] The film was accompanied
by an award-winning soundtrack,
which contained the single that seen by many
as the quintessential Eminem song.
- The enduring legacy of "8 Mile"
might be the song "Lose Yourself",
which ended up being the first rap song to win an Oscar.
- [Narrator] The music video was filmed in Detroit
and contains many scenes from the movie.
It also features Eminem rapping next
to the 8 Mile Mobile Court sign that appears in the movie
and also on the cover of the movie soundtrack.
(hip-hop music)
- Yow.
♪ His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy ♪
♪ There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti ♪
♪ He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready ♪
♪ To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgettin' ♪
♪ What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud ♪
♪ He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out ♪
♪ He's chokin', how, everybody's jokin' now ♪
♪ The clocks run out, times up, over, blaow ♪
♪ Snap back to reality, ope there goes gravity ♪
♪ Ope, there goes Rabbit, he choked ♪
♪ He's so mad ♪
- And in any case, "8 Mile" really helped bring Eminem
to an even wider audience
because the film was seen by lots of people
who don't necessarily listen to rap music,
but they got a chance to get inside his story
and to learn what he was all about.
And it pretty much made him bigger than he ever was.
- [Narrator] After "8 Mile" had grossed millions
at the box office, Eminem was back in the studio
recording his fourth major studio album.
"Encore" was released in 2004.
The album proved to be Eminem's least popular to date
with fans and critics noting the subpar quality
of the lyrics compared to previous Eminem albums.
- You know, the question that was left unanswered
by "The Eminem Show" and even the "8 Mile"
to a large extent
was where was Eminem, the rapper, going to take things?
And "Encore" is, I guess, where people found out, you know.
"Encore" was the first record Eminem made
that didn't explicitly say who it was
from the perspective of.
- It started to feel like Eminem
was a caricature of himself.
You know, it was becoming repetitive.
It didn't seem novel anymore.
And his rhymes were really simplistic.
That was a big criticism that a lot of music reviewers had.
So it's not like it's a terrible album
or the songs weren't that good,
it just felt a little bit like a parody, like a cliche.
And Eminem, who was always so ahead of the curve,
and so like out of left field and forward thinking
and trailblazer in so many ways,
this felt like he was following himself.
- You know, the first single Eminem released from that album
was "Just Lose It".
This one made a light of Michael Jackson's problems,
you know, with, you know, child molestation, legal troubles,
his health.
And that was oddly enough the one time where people said
maybe Eminem went a little too far,
maybe not even in terms of controversy,
but just being in poor taste.
- The way it made fun of his, you know, alleged pedophilia
and all that.
And "Encore" is also known for the song "Mosh",
which got really political.
It was at the time when John Kerry was facing George Bush
in the presidential election,
and it took a strong stance against Bush,
and encouraged his fans to vote.
And these were people that might not necessarily
have been political, but, you know, John Kerry lost,
the album didn't sell
as well as Eminem's albums traditionally do.
And more than anything, it was seen as creatively,
not quite up to par with his other stuff.
And he subsequently took a long hiatus.
- [Narrator] In 2005, many industry insiders started
to speculate that Eminem was considering ending
his rap career after six years
and several multi-platinum albums.
- Because when "Encore" came out
and it wasn't received so well
and it felt like almost like recycled music,
I think Eminem maybe realized that he needed to step back
and he needed to take some time off.
At the same time, he was also struggling with addiction.
- As you would expect,
not just for somebody in Eminem's world
but for somebody with Eminem's personal history,
that at some point along the line,
addiction to something would come into it.
Alcohol was present.
Allegedly, all sorts of illegal drugs were present.
And most famously, prescription drugs were present.
But what's important to remember
is that most addictions start from feelings of abandonment,
feelings of rage, feelings of shame,
and that's the root of those addictions.
The particular ways that those addictions find expression,
the particular drug of choice, if you want,
well, that's just down to chance
and circumstance most of the time.
And with him, he chose prescription drugs,
but it could just as easily have been anything else.
- [Shirley] And he was having trouble sleeping
and he was having trouble functioning.
He actually had to cancel an entire European tour
during this hiatus between 2005 and 2008.
- He said that he was at a really low personal point.
There were a lot of things going on in his personal life
that he didn't really talk about.
He remarried his wife, Kim,
and then divorced her within a year.
And he also saw the death of his best friend, Proof.
And that had this huge impact on him as as well.
And kind of coming out of drug addiction
made it even harder.
- But I think it was a time to sort of reassess his life,
where he'd come and where he could go.
And I also think it was a very important time for family.
- So he went to rehab, he sobered up.
And the way he describes it is that he poured all his energy
into hip-hop and rapping became his new drug
and helped him get through it.
- And I think that maybe he had to reconcile a little bit
of where he came from and where he was, you know,
at the moment.
But I will give him props.
You know, Eminem could have moved to LA.
He could have just like, you know, been hanging out
with Dre every day, but he stayed in Michigan,
which I think was really important
to sort of keep him grounded,
but literally keep him grounded 'cause he was flying high
between, you know, the boasting
and the people kissing your ass and the drug addiction.
You know, he was living in a reality that wasn't real.
So I think that that's what that three year hiatus
really did.
I think it sobered him up in every way.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] In 2007, Eminem purchased the Effigy Studio
in Michigan and started the initial recording process
of his next album, "Relapse".
Once again, Eminem worked alongside Dr. Dre.
And after two years of Studio time,
the album was ready for release in 2009.
- You know, 2009 was the first legitimate Eminem record
we heard since, you know, "Encore".
And it was a kind of shocking to hear, you know,
where Eminem was at that point,
because his hiatus was really shutted in mystery, you know.
Obviously, rumors spread about drug addiction
and lord knows what else.
And "Relapse" was an album that just went ahead
and took that stuff, you know, head first.
It was, you know, arguably more shocking
than anything he did on "The Slim Shady LP" 10 years prior,
because the world had changed a lot, you know, in 2009.
People would become a lot more desensitized shock, you know,
the shock tactics and, you know, hip-hop pushing boundaries.
And I mean "Relapse", you know, show
he was, you know, taking pills
like, you know, once again killing people on record.
Christopher Reeve again, you know, going at Mariah Carey,
going at Nick Cannon.
Whether it's up for debate,
whether it was as good as his earlier work,
nonetheless, you know, the public, you know, welcomed him
with open arms.
It's all incredibly well.
Mixed reviews I'd say.
But nonetheless, you know, people were happy
to hear Eminem doing that kind of Slim Shady sort of thing
instead of, you know, the kind of stone sober
like political stuff
that he was kinda hinting towards on "Encore".
- [Narrator] "Relapse" was considered a successful comeback
for Eminem, but it wasn't until the release
of his next album, "Recovery", that fans and critics
saw Eminem back to his free flowing best.
- And in fact, "Recovery" was the bestselling album of 2010
in any genre.
And it really resonated with people
because I think Eminem did what he does well
and it was speaking from the heart
and sort of talking about where he really was in his life
at that moment and not trying to put on airs
or try to be something that he wasn't.
- "Not Afraid", it's a recovery song
like more than anything.
It's the call of somebody
who has just survived substance abuse
and probably could have died or may have killed himself,
and "Not Afraid" is about tackling all those things.
It's about facing it head on and getting through it.
♪ You can try and read my lyrics off of this paper ♪
♪ Before I lay 'em ♪
♪ But you won't take the sting out these words ♪
♪ Before I say 'em ♪
♪ 'Cause ain't no way I'ma let you stop me ♪
♪ From causin' mayhem ♪
♪ When I say I'm a do somethin', I do it ♪
♪ I don't give a damn what you think ♪
♪ I'm doin' this for me, so fuck the world, feed it beans ♪
♪ It's gassed up, if it thinks it's stoppin' me ♪
♪ I'ma be what I set out to be, without a doubt, undoubtedly ♪
♪ And all those who look down on me ♪
♪ I'm tearin' down your balcony ♪
♪ No if, ands or buts ♪
♪ Don't try to ask him why or how can he ♪
♪ From "Infinite" down to the last "Relapse" album ♪
♪ He's still shittin' ♪
♪ Whether he's on salary ♪
- The video was really powerful too
because it didn't rely on gimmicks.
It was just Eminem singing,
not even rapping so much, singing, you know.
Something that felt so true and so honest and so vulnerable.
That's how I see "Not Afraid" as a very like vulnerable
but at the same time strong song.
- "Love the Way You Lie", it was kind of a bold move
because Rihanna was on that song as well
and Rihanna had gone through her her own thing
with a very abusive relationship.
You know, you could kinda see the parallels
between Rihanna and Chris Brown
as well as Eminem and Kim Mathers, you know.
Both very high profile, lots of violence, you know,
lots of dirty laundry being aired.
And I guess by coming together,
those two kinda showed a little bit of kinship.
♪ Who's that dude ♪
♪ I don't even know his name. ♪
♪ I laid hands on her ♪
♪ I'll never stoop so low again ♪
♪ I guess I don't know my own strength ♪
♪ Just gonna stand there and watch me burn ♪
♪ Well, that's alright, because I like the way it hurts ♪
♪ Just gonna stand there and hear me cry? ♪
♪ Well, that's alright, because I love the way you lie ♪
♪ I love the way you lie ♪
- The video for "Love The Way You Lie" features Megan Fox
and a lot of people thought that it was a very realistic,
almost film cinematic quality to it.
And it features a young couple
who are in this really abusive relationship,
but they clearly love each other
and it ends with the house going up in flames,
and people thought it was an artistic step forward
for Eminem.
- [Narrator] With "Recovery", Eminem achieved the record
for most successive US number one albums by a solo artist.
It was an incredible feat
and proved that his troubled times were behind him.
He was once again ready to regain his tag
as the King of Hip-Hop.
On May 24th, 2012,
Eminem revealed that he'd begun working on his next album.
Shady Records' president, Paul Rosenberg, told Billboard
that Eminem's eighth studio album
would be released after Memorial Day 2013.
Rumors were circulating regarding the name of the new album.
And in mid-2013, it was announced that the album
would be titled "The Marshall Mathers LP 2".
The album was already one of the most anticipated albums
of the year, but when the title was released,
the anticipation grew even further.
The lead single from the album was titled "Berzerk"
and was released on August 27th, 2013.
The music video was filmed in Brooklyn, New York.
It features cameo appearances by fellow rappers,
Kendrick Lamar and Kid Rock.
The video also features Eminem rapping
in front of a huge cassette tape player,
as well as short clips of the official music video
of Billy Squier's "The Stroke",
which is heavily sampled in the song.
(static buzzing)
♪ Now this shit's about to kick off, this party looks wack ♪
♪ Let's take it back to straight hip-hop ♪
♪ And start it from scratch ♪
♪ I'm 'bout to bloody this track up, everybody get back ♪
♪ That's why my pen needs a pad 'cause my rhymes on the rag ♪
♪ Just like I did with addiction I'm 'bout to kick it ♪
♪ Like a magician, critics I turn to crickets ♪
♪ Got 'em still on the fence whether to pick it ♪
♪ But quick to get impaled when I tell 'em, stick it ♪
♪ So sick, I'm looking pale, well that's my pigment ♪
♪ 'Bout to go ham, ya bish, shout out to Kendrick ♪
♪ Let's bring it back ♪
The album received generally positive reviews
from music critics with praise
going to Eminem's technical rapping skills
and production choices.
It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200
and had the second highest album sales of 2013.
That year, Eminem also went on to win Artist of the Year
at the YouTube Awards.
(audience cheering)
- Yeah, man, I just wanna say real quick, man,
thank you to all the fans, everybody who voted.
Thanks to YouTube.
Thanks everybody for coming out, man.
I'm out.
(hip-hop music)
- [Narrator] One of the few rappers to balance style
with substance in 20 years and 15 in the spotlight
is Eminem.
Over the years, Marshall Mathers has developed
so many unique skills that make MCs great,
especially in the eyes of specialized pocket of fans.
Using innovative songwriting and top industry resources,
Eminem reminded some fans
that rap can still be unpredictable.
Others considered Eminem
to be the epitome of a music video star.
"Stan" and "My Name Is" were executed brilliantly.
It was Walkman era rap at its finest.
Presumably, Eminem was many fan's first grade MC.
He rapped and raps amazingly on platforms
where skills are not often celebrated.
More than that, through his real hits,
his high profile circumstances and feuds
and his first person narrative,
Eminem is an artist so many people feel like they know.
And he's still recording, arguably,
as well as he has in the last decade.
- Eminem's legacy, what people will remember Eminem for
is what it's possible for people to create
and for someone to create
irrespective of their circumstance.
If they're prepared to look at their lives
with an honesty and a rawness and prepared to work hard.
- [Ian] When you talk about all time,
he's definitely one of the best rappers ever.
One of the biggest rappers ever.
- But above all,
people will remember him for his artistic genius.
And genius is not a word I use lightly here.
- I mean, in the simplest way to look at it,
he made being a white rapper okay.
It's impossible to copy.
You can't clone that guy.
You can't be a derivative white rapper.
No one can even touch the guy,
and that's what's most impressive.
Yes, he sold millions of albums.
Yes, he's incredibly well known
and he can't walk down the street.
You know, people are constantly coming up to him
for autographs and stuff,
but beyond that, he actually touched a chord.
You know, he's incredibly inspirational in that sense.
- In a world of manufactured pop and manufactured rock,
this was a true artist
and that's what he will be remembered for.
- [Ben] I think if Eminem were to retire at this point,
he would be in a shortlist for the greatest rappers ever.
- And the thing about true artists
is they don't lose their creativity.
They simply morph as they get older.
The older he gets, the more his talent
and his artistic creativity will ripe and mature
and change and morph into something else.
- I think that really culturally,
he changed hip-hop in ways that are even more significant.
He sort of opened it up not just for white rappers,
but for a whole sort of demographic
that hadn't necessarily been interested in hip-hop before.
- One thing you can be sure of,
we will be hearing about Eminem
and he will be creating until the day he dies.
And what he creates will always be worth listening to.
always be worth watching, and always be worth talking about.
(hip-hop music)
♪ Eyes on the king ♪
♪ All the way up ♪
♪ We've been going here for a minute, yeah ♪
♪ We've been going here for a minute ♪
♪ We've been going here for a minute, yeah ♪
♪ We've been going here for a minute ♪
♪ I know I'm not entitled to nothing ♪
♪ No, no ♪
♪ If I think I am, then I'm blocking ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪
♪ I'm not entitled to nothing ♪
♪ No, no ♪
♪ If I think I am, then I'm blocking ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Eyes on the king ♪
♪ All the way up ♪
♪ Eyes on the king ♪
♪ All the way up ♪
♪ Eyes on the king ♪
♪ All the way up ♪
♪ Eyes on the king ♪
♪ All the way up ♪
♪ I'm not entitled to nothing ♪
♪ No, no ♪
♪ If I think I am ♪