This weekend, Eminem's major label debut, The Slim Shady LP, celebrates its 14th anniversary.
You know the story. He exploded onto the music scene with "My Name Is,"
and with almost constant rotation on MTV, an instantly recognizable
bleach blonde hairdo, and some of the most shocking rap lyrics ever
heard, became an immediate pop culture fixture.
What feels like an endless amount of material has been written about the
now 40-year-old superstar, but over the years, so many of the details
of his biggest profiles and interviews have fallen to the wayside in
favor of the most definitive moments and highlights of his career. But
where's the fun in that?
We went on a reading spree and dug up a ton of old information about
Marshall Mathers, from the first hip-hop song he heard, to the only book
he's read, to the extravagant (and titillating) gift he once got for
his pal Elton John. So read up about how he used to get beat up, and a
lot more than that
He thought of the "Slim Shady" character on the toilet, then got up and "called everyone [he] knew."
The first rap song he heard was Ice-T's "Reckless," at the age of nine.
He says that he decided to pursue rapping after hearing the Beastie Boys.
He was still making payments on his trailer home when The Slim Shady LP dropped.
Over a year later, after selling millions of records, he was still
living modestly: "I could safely say that I'm well off, but I'm not a
millionaire."
In order to record Hailie's part for the song "'97 Bonnie & Clyde,"
he lied to Kim and said they were going to Chuck E. Cheese.
He got fired from Gilbert's Lodge five days before Hailie's birthday,
which falls on Christmas, and with only $40, wrote "Rock Bottom" the
same night.
The Marshall Mathers LP was
originally titled Amsterdam because he wrote a good chunk of the album
there, and Dutch journalists inspired some of the content on the album.
The only book he's read in full is LL Cool J's I Make My Own Rules.
He met Kim when he was 15 and she was 13. He was standing on a table with his shirt off rapping LL Cool J's "I'm Bad."
He once claimed to have pulled a gun on fans who showed up to his home unannounced.
He got shot at while walking to Kim's house as a teenager.
The director of Training Day was initially interested in casting Eminem for the role that eventually went to Ethan Hawke.
He got evicted the night before the 1997 Rap Olympics and had to break
into his own place and sleep on the floor before leaving for L.A.
He failed ninth grade three times before dropping out.
His mother sued his school in 1982 over the bullying Eminem recieved
from D'Angelo Bailey, the bully Em rapped about on "Brain Damage."
Years later, D'Angelo Bailey sued Eminem for $1 million, claiming that
"Brain Damage" hurt his reputation, despite previously admitting to the
bullying.
He toned down the shock value on The Eminem Showto prove he could sell records without it.
He wrote the hook for "Just Lose It" in 30 seconds. It was the last song recorded for Encore because the album needed a single.
He doesn't enjoy listening to the "dumb shit" onEncore because it reminds him of when he was "starting to get really high in the studio."
He got into a habit of constantly watching the Rockymovies, Shooter, and Boogie Nights at the height of his addiction and has seen all of them around 150 times.
Overzealous fans would steal his possessions when he was at rehab in 2005.
One time a crackhead broke into his and Kim's house, made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and didn't steal anything.
Before blowing up, he quit rapping for six months after his house was broken into for the fifth time.
The Dallas Cowboys have been his go-to NFL team since childhood.
"My Name Is" was pulled from NFL promo spots in 1999 when the league found out about his explicit lyrical content.
He's said that after listening to "My Name Is" and "The Real Slim Shady" a few times, they became "cheesy" to him.
Dr. Dre knew "The Real Slim Shady" would be a hit once he heard his kids singing the hook.
His first big purchase was a house, but he had to sell it almost
immediately because fans would jump in his pool and pull in his driveway
all the time.
His mother claims he used to carry around a tiny, custom replica of his childhood home.
His mother nearly died during his 73-hour birth; she was 15 at the time.
His grandmother threatened to sue him if he used a freestyle by his deceased Uncle Ronnie on The Marshall Mathers LP.
His grandmother later sent him a tape and a note that read, "Marshall, I
found Ronnie's last tape. Maybe you can use it." It was a recording of
Ronnie's funeral.
At the beginning of his career, he and Royce Da 5'9" hid new Avirex
leather jackets under his hotel bed and from his manager, Paul
Rosenberg, for fear of seeming fiscally irresponsible.
He met Royce Da 5'9 in 1997 when Royce was opening for Usher at the Palladium.
He cracked multiple ribs after a 10-foot fall from the stage on his first tour.
He no longer does extensive touring because it's a trigger for his addiction.
During his recovery from addiction, he was quoted as saying, "Elton [John] calls me once a week."
When Elton John and his partner got their civil union, Eminem sent them two diamond cock rings.
He doesn't know how to use a computer.
Eminem apologized to Alchemist for giving him an "accent joint"—a track
where he was still rapping in an accent, from before he was all the way
clean—for Alchemist's album.
The U.S. Secret Service considered taking action when he rapped, "I'd rather see the president dead" on "We As Americans."
Weird Al Yankovic wanted to shoot a video for the song "Couch Potato"—a
parody of Eminem's "Lose Yourself"—but Eminem refused to give him
permission.
He wrote "Lose Yourself" in one take while on the set of 8 Mile.
It took him "a few weeks" to get his confidence back after recording the down-and-out anthems of the 8 Mile soundtrack.
He's rumored to have been paid $3 million for his role in 8 Mile.
He's said that his favorite movie is Superbad.
At 20, he was the driver in a drive-by shooting...with paint balls. The
balls didn't even break, but he was arrested. The case was dismissed
when the victim didn't show up to court.
When Vanilla Ice blew up in the early '90s, it "crushed" Eminem and made him feel like he "didn't want to rap anymore."
In 2002, with three multiplatinum albums to his name, he was still driving a leased Mercedes-Benz.
He's said that he doesn't plan to marry or have children ever again.
"My name is Marshall. I'm an addict," says superstar rapper Eminem in a scene from the Matthew Cooke documentary How to Make Money Selling Drugs.
