The Beginnings Of A Lyrical Genius – Where Did It All Start For Eminem?

Where exactly did Eminem come from and how did he do so much in such a short space of time to the world of music, rap in particular? It is essential to take a look at his background and early life in order to understand where his talent and drive came from and how it helped to catapult him into world stardom.

Marshall Mathers made his debut into the world on the 17th October 1972 to a 15 year old mother named Debbie. From the outset it was not the most conventional of starts and was to shape his personality from an early age. He was named after his father who abandoned him and his mother just 6 months after he was born. What followed was a childhood of moving around from place to place with little or no stability. The longest period of time that they stayed in one place was only three months long, so you can imagine how unsettling this was for a young child. From these experiences however, Eminem learned to draw much of his subject matter from. The anger and frustration that he felt were to find themselves on the pages of his lyrics.

This all led to the young Marshall being bullied as the new child. With an unsettled childhood it was difficult for him to truly feel like he belonged, leading him to feel ostracized by society and rejected again. You could argue however that this is what has made him the artist he is today. He channeled this frustration and anger into his lyrics as a way of getting back at the bullies that made his life a misery. With such passion and negative experiences to draw from it could be said that it was inevitable the he would become something. The drive to prove people wrong was so palpable that it would eventually happen.

His talent was obvious from a very young age and he could be observed putting words together for rhyme at the precocious age of 4. Although he left high school with no qualifications, he was evidently intelligent. He spent his lunch times on challenging his classmates to freestyles, an early stage for the young boy to perfect his craft. When he was 14 years old he believed that he had a future in the rapping business so he dropped out in 9th grade to pursue his passion.

When he was 17 years old he began to carve out an identity for himself. By combining the first and last letters of his name, Eminem was cultivated and his image of an angry young white kid soon started to make waves on the local scene. However, not everything was as easy for him as first appears. He found it almost impossible to make it into the black rapping scene or get any respect for his music, merely because he was white. This frustrated him all the more and left him feeling rejected again. He then used this anger and poured it into his lyrics again, determined to prove everyone wrong and burst onto the scene despite his colour.

This new found determination expressed itself in his efforts to cultivate a persona for himself. He did this well. In getting himself onto radio shows and entering himself into as many rap contests as possible, be began to gain notoriety. This period of time made it possible for him to make his first album “Infinite”. Although it only ended up selling 1,000 copies it was to lay the foundations for a successful career and give him focus.

In 1997 he found himself married with a child and family to support. Out of desperation to win the $1,500 first prize, he entered himself into the Rap Olympics in Los Angeles. This was when his luck was about to change as there were a couple of talent spotters in the audience from Interscope records. Even though he was to achieve second place he tracked down the talent spotters from Interscope and gave them a copy of his album. This was then sent to Dr. Dre who lied what he heard. From there, the two began to record his second album: ‘The Slim Shady LP’ and the rest they say is history.

In a relatively short period he has managed to pull off 3 grammy awards, an Academy award and numerous other accolades for his work. He continues to grow in popularity and push the boundaries of the world of music, all whilst maintaining a down to earth and modest approach.

Despite the explicit and angry nature of his lyrics, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to deny his talent and admire him for what he has achieved at such an early age. He has done much to change the face of rap music and the music world in general and he is to be respected for that.

Learn all your eminem lyrics at our website as well as cutting edge eminem gossip and articles.