Eminem Biography

Fast Facts

• Founded The Marshall Mathers Foundation, a non-profit working with disadvantaged youths throughout Detroit
• His song "Lose Yourself" from "8 Mile" became the first rap song to ever win an Academy Award
• Launched his own record label, Shady Records, in 1999, a group that would eventually sign names such as 50-Cent, D12 and other big names
• Grew up moving to several small towns across Missouri and later settled in Detroit, as his single mother was only 15 at the time of his birth and needed to find multiple jobs to support the two
• Quote: "All my life I've been dealing with my race because of where I grew up and being in the rap game․"
• Quote: "Why is it so hard for people to believe that white people are poor? I wouldn't say I lived in a ghetto, I'd say I lived in the 'hood․ The same friends I had back then are the same people on tour with me now․"
• Introduced to rap music by his uncle at the age of nine when he was given a copy of Ice-T's single, "Reckless․"
• After placing second at the 1997 Rap Olympics, he was discovered by Interscope Records CEO Jimmy Iovine who then requested a demo tape of his music and subsequently signed him on the spot
• After repeating the ninth grade three times, he dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to pursue rapping full time
• Admitted to Anderson Cooper during an interview that he does not allow profanity to be used in his home and around his children