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Eminem aka Slim Shady, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, is considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. The 52-year-old has left a mark on hip hop due to his bold and controversial songs and lyrical flow.
He is credited with pioneering hip-hop in Middle America and paving the way for white rappers in the genre. The hip-hop legend has been cited as a musical influence by several artists including The Weeknd, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Lana Del Ray.
After achieving mainstream popularity in 1999 with the success of his album, Slim Shady LP, the rapper has been in the public eye for provocative outtakes and feuds with other artists like Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and Machine Gun Kelly.
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Even though the rapper has lived much of his life as a public figure, some facts about the rapper remain relatively unknown.
His mother's suit against him, Guinness World Record, and 4 other facts you didn't know about Eminem
1) He dropped out of school after repeating ninth grade three times
According to BET, The Loose Yourself hitmaker dropped out from Michigan's Lincoln High School, after failing the ninth grade three times.
Despite his poor grades at school, the gifted rapper took an interest in the English language, poring through comic books and studying the dictionary.
According to biography.com, the rapper is quoted as saying:
“I found that no matter how bad I was at school, like, and no matter how low my grades might have been at some times, I always was good at English. I just felt like I wanna be able to have all of these words at my disposal, in my vocabulary at all times whenever I need to pull ’em out. You know, somewhere, they’ll be stored, like, locked away.”
In an interview with the LA Times in February 2001, the rapper talked about how his interest in music overshadowed his education:
"I was a smart kid, but I hated school. I failed ninth grade three times. I just wanted to rap. I'd go to friends' houses and rap, or I'd stay in my room all day, standing by the mirror and lip-syncing songs,"
2) He had a complicated love affair with Kim Scott
In 1988, Eminem, 15, and Kim Scott, 13, met at a party and not long after began a relationship. Scott began living with the rapper in his mom’s house. Eminem’s on-and-off love affair with Scott inspired some of his tracks like Kim, 97 Bonnie & Clyde, and Love The Way You Lie feat Rihanna.
The pair had a complicated relationship as they got married twice, first in 1999 and then in 2006. In 2007, Eminem filed for divorce from Scott and it was finalized in an out-of-court settlement in December of the same year.
In the song Kim, Eminem sheds light on their failed relationship. A part of the song’s second verse reads:
"You really fu**ed me, Kim, you really did a number on me/ Never knew me cheatin' on you would come back to haunt me/ But we was kids then, Kim, I was only eighteen/ That was years ago, I thought we wiped the slate clean."
3) Eminem holds the Guinness World Record for the most words in a hit single
The critically acclaimed jam, Rap God, released in October 2013, solidified Eminem as one of the greatest MCs in the rap game. The chart-topper is one of the singles from Slim Shady's eighth studio project, The Marshall Mathers LP 2.
With Rap God, the rapper set the record for the most simultaneous Top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 as a lead solo artist. The hit song also set a Guinness World Record for the most words in a hit single.
According to the Guinness World Records, the rap song has thousand, five hundred sixty words, packed into six minutes and four seconds.
According to the Guinness World Record:
"Rap God" by Eminem (USA) packs 1,560 words into a fast and furious 6 min 4 sec – that's a tongue-twisting average of 4.28 words per second! In one 15-second segment alone, "Slim Shady" spits 97 words (6.46 words per second) at "supersonic speed".
4) Eminem was bullied as a kid
Eminem has been vocal about his experiences with bullying at Dort Elementary School. In his 1998 song Brain Damage, the rapper alludes to past experiences with a bully in his school. Some lines from the song’s second verse read:
"Way before my baby daughter Hailie/ I was harassed daily by this fat kid named DeAngelo Bailey/ An eighth grader who acted obnoxious, 'cause his father boxes/ So every day he'd shove me in the lockers,"
After the release of Brain Damage, DeAngelo Bailey sued the rapper for invasion of privacy and alleged that the story was made up by the rapper to gain credibility. In 2003, it was ruled that the rap track did not cause Bailey any damage.
Eminem also spoke with Anderson Cooper for a special segment of CBS 60 Minutes in November 2010 and talked about being bullied in school, amongst other things.
He revealed that he was beaten up in the bathrooms and the hallways, and shoved into lockers for being the new kid. He also added that he got through those tough moments in life by finding succor in rap.
5) Eminem is a big fan of the Beastie Boys
Eminem is a fan of the hip-hop band formed in the 80s', the Beastie Boys, and has cited them as one of his biggest influences. A typical example is the rapper's four-time platinum-certified single, Berzerk, which reportedly samples the 80s' party anthem by the Beastie Boys, Fight For Your Right.
Berzerk was released in August 2013 as the lead single from his 12-track album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2. The music video for Berzerk also saw Mathers in outfits similar to those worn by the band.
In an interview with AllHipHop published on August 19, 2023, Mix Master Mike, a longtime collaborator of the Beastie Boys, revealed that the Detroit native planned to make a track with the group after Mike sold the idea to him.
However, the plans didn’t follow through as the group was hesitant to make the record out of respect for their late member, Yauch.
Mike is quoted as saying:
“I was in the process of getting bars from Eminem. He was so pumped cause these are his heroes. I was kind of fulfilling his dream."
6) He was sued for defamation by his mother
Eminem has been vocal about his rocky relationship with his mother, Debbie Nelson. The Not Afraid hitmaker released tracks like My Name Is, Cleanin ‘ Out My Closet, and My Mother, which seemingly calls out his mother for neglecting and mistreating him.
A part of the third verse of Cleanin’ Out My Closet reads:
"Witnessin' your mama poppin' prescription pills in the kitchen/ Bi*chin' that someone's always goin' through her purse and shit's missin'/ Goin' through public housing systems, victim of Münchausen's Syndrome/ My whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn't,"
Debbie Nelson sued her son for $11 million for slandering her name in his songs and accusing her of abusing illegal substances. According to an ABC News report of August 8, 2001, the judge ruled in her favor but granted her a $25,000 settlement of which she took about $1,600 after lawyers fees.
In 2013, Eminem released Headlights, which is interpreted as an apology of sorts to his mother. The song features lyrics:
"I went in headfirst, never thinking about who what I said hurt/ My mom probably got it the worst,”
Eminem, on October 23, 2024, made his support for Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, known at her presidential rally in Detroit and cited freedom of speech without fear of retribution among his reasons for support.
