Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popularizing hip-hop in Middle America and breaking down racial barriers for the acceptance of white rappers in popular music. While much of his transgressive work during the late 1990s and early 2000s made him a controversial figure, he came to be a representation of popular angst of the American?underclass. Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born on October 17, 1972, in?St. Joseph, Missouri, the only child of Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. and Deborah "Debbie" Nelson. His mother nearly died during her 73-hour labor with him. Eminem's parents were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, playing in Ramada Inns long the Dakotas–Montana border before they separated. His father abandoned his family when Eminem was a year and a half old, and Eminem was raised only by his mother in poverty. He wrote letters to his father, but Debbie said that they all came back marked "return to sender". By the age of twelve, Eminem and his mother shuttled between states, rarely staying in one house for more than a year or two and mostly living with family members, moved several times and lived in St. Joseph; Savannah, Missouri; Kansas City; Warren, Michigan; and Roseville, Michigan before settling in Detroit. For much of his youth, Eminem and his mother lived in a bungalow-style house in a working-class, primarily black, neighborhood in Detroit. He & Debbie were one of three white households on their block, and Eminem was beaten several times by black youths. His mother had a son named Nathan "Nate" Kane Samara in 1986 with then-boyfriend Fred Samara. In 2013, the State of Michigan demolished his childhood home after it was damaged by arson. In 1987, Debbie allowed runaway Kimberly Anne "Kim" Scott to stay at their home. Several years later, he was on-and-off with Scott.