Eminem

Bursting out of Detroit in a whirlwind of controversy, hype and snarling put-downs, Dr. Dre's protégé Eminem took the hip-hop world by storm in 1999 with his major label debut The Slim Shady LP. Singles "My Name Is," "Guilty Conscience" and "Forgot About Dre" gatecrashed the charts and instantly introduced him as a celebrity-baiting, acerbic comic bound for superstardom. The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) went even further, with "Stan" reaching number one in the UK and showing a genuinely sharp talent far beyond the bad boy image. Emerging from trailer park beginnings to enter freestyle rap battles, Eminem told his life story in the movie 8 Mile (2001). "Lose Yourself," from the film's soundtrack, claimed the Academy Award for Best Original Song and a more reflective character emerged, battling with fame and personal issues on The Eminem Show (2003) and Encore (2004). After a three-year hiatus during which he entered rehab, he returned in 2009 with the Rehab album and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album for Relapse in 2010 and for Recovery the following year along with a MOBO Award for Best International Act in 2010. Even before he had announced a title or release date, his eighth album appeared in several Most Anticipated Albums of 2013 lists including MTV. The Marshall Mathers LP 2 was released in November of that year, preceded by the singles "Berzerk," "Survival," "Rap God" and "The Monster." The album became his seventh record to top the Billboard 200 and the singles allowed him to equal the Beatles' record of having four singles in the top 20. He returned to his controversial roots in 2017 when he appeared on Big Sean's track "No Favors" on which he slams President Donald Trump and his supporters. He also spoke out about the lack of gun control in the US after the mass shooting in Las Vegas. His ninth studio album, Revival, emerged later in 2017, featuring the lead single "Walk On Water" with Beyoncé which reached the top ten in the UK and US. In 2018 he released his tenth album, Kamikaze Hitting back at critics of Revival, Eminem released Kamikaze with no prior marketing or promotion. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and broke the record for the most streams within an album's first week, with 225 million. It also gave him his ninth consecutive US number-one album, an accolade only achieved by The Rolling Stones and Garth Brooks, and he surpassed Led Zeppelin and Abba for the most consecutive albums to reach number one in the UK Albums Chart. Additionally, all eleven tracks on the album entered the Billboard 100. 2020 saw the surprise release of eleventh studio album Music to Be Murdered By, featuring collaborations with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Juice WRLD and Skylar Grey and produced by Dr. Dre among others. His twelfth studio album followed in 2024, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), which boasted collaborations with Jelly Roll, Big Sean, Sly Pyper, and more. The LP yielded chart-topping single "Houdini" and the Spider-Man and Star Wars-referencing "Tobey" prior to its release.

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