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May 8, 2019

The Eminem Show That You Don’t Know

Enter year 2002. Eminem has already set himself apart from various Detroit artists through his unique rapping style, but his first three studio albums received a lot of mixed reviews from the public. His younger fans, however, indisputably loved his music, written as it was from the perspective of his alter ego, Slim Shady. The name came about as his alias for his band, D12, as a way of differentiating rap styles between the band members, but at the time the name had no image to it. One day Eminem walked into a Detroit drugstore and bought a bottle of peroxide while he was high on ecstasy, not knowing what he was doing. The next day he woke up “looking like a skunk”  and went to the recording studio like any other day.1 When Dr. Dre saw Eminem, he knew that Slim Shady’s image had been found. Slim Shady became famous quickly, but there was more to Eminem than a blonde-haired, high-pitched white boy who came from a trailer park. However, a large portion of the public still resented him for his crude lyrics and references to violence.

His movie 8-Mile (2002) presented Eminem in a way that the public was not previously accustomed to — an Eminem that showed compassion toward others, an Eminem that valued family, and most prominently as one with an electrifying rap prowess, seen in the premier song in the 8-Mile Soundtrack, “Lose Yourself (2002).”2 Both his movie and his song allowed people to connect to his life as a struggling adult, but even more so, it allowed them access to his simplistic goals: maintain a family, write rap music, and live a life in comfort. Unfortunately for Eminem, controversy was already plaguing his life and he faced obstacles head-on before he finally achieved a peace of mind.

Eminem in a heartfelt picture with his beloved daughter, Hailie Jade / Dallas Black

2000 was a rough year for Eminem: he went through a divorce with his ex-wife Kim Scott, and got in trouble countless times with the law. Eminem loved his daughter, Hailie, and did everything he could to keep the family together for Hailie’s sake. However, Kim grew impatient and upset with Eminem for making her raise a child by herself while he was on tour. This caused a ton of emotional distress between the couple and Eminem claimed that Kim eventually became “emotionally abusive and dependent on drugs.”3 In many of his songs, Eminem gave harsh lyrical depictions of Kim as a bad mother and wife, which added to the list of family conflicts. One night in 2000 while Eminem was out on tour for his first studio album, Slim Shady EP, Kim slit her wrists in a suicide attempt and later accused Eminem of causing emotional distress. In August of 2000, Eminem filed for divorce and Kim filed a $10 million lawsuit. After facing multiple lawsuits that stemmed from his crude use of lyrics, Eminem was sentenced to a total of three years on probation in February 2001.

During his probation, he had a lot of time to think about his decisions and made a conscious effort to center himself. Eventually he took on full parental responsibility for his daughter Hailie, Kim’s niece Alaina, and eventually Whitney, Hailie’s half-sister, after Kim stirred her own trouble with the law. Eminem saw this as an opportunity for him to begin living a stable life with his now three daughters. For the first time in his life, he had money to provide his family with a comfortable life.4

Prior to this event, Eminem would go on tour before coming home to Detroit, where he and his family lived. While on tour for his Slim Shady EP (1999) and Marshall Mathers LP (2000), Eminem would frequently use recreational drugs such as marijuana, alcohol, and psychedelic mushrooms. He loved to perform while “messed up” and the people were crazy for it.5  His performances were probably what made him Eminem but when he was on stage, you would also know him as Slim Shady. In the end, he always left his drug habits on stage with a goal of spending quality time with his daughters.

Eminem wore a mask and chainsaw to one of his concerts in London Arena during his 2001 European Marshall Mathers LP Tour | Purple Clover

After going home from his album tours in 1999-2000 he would come home drug-free — Slim Shady left and Marshall Mathers, the father, came back. This was partially due to his probation requirements, which mandated periodic drug testing. From 2001-2004, he limited his drug use to his legal prescription drugs. However, when his three year probation ended, his “reins came off.”6

At the time, Eminem was using Vicodin and Valium for relieving pain and anxiety, as well as Tylenol and NyQuil so that he could get a good night’s sleep. Individually, each of these drugs were capable of helping with his symptoms, but combined, these drugs brought about different health problems including weight gain, memory loss, and especially addiction. As his tolerance for opioid painkillers rose, his body demanded different drugs to give him the same effect, and this caused even more addiction.7

In 2005, he had to cancel his European Anger Management Tour because his drug use was so bad. He told the public he was exhausted at the time and needed to rest to get back in shape, but the truth was he had a problem and thus, the rehab train started. Eminem never had good experiences in rehab because he was always surrounded by fanatics. While he was in rehab, people would ask him for autographs, steal his pens and notebooks, and overall made it difficult for him to focus on the real problem. Eventually, he came out of rehab in 2006 with a positive outlook, but it was not even a year out of rehab before Eminem’s world began to shake.8

In April of 2006, outside of a nightclub in Detroit, Eminem’s lifelong friend and confidante DeShaun “Proof” was killed in an act of violence. Proof had been there through thick and thin for Eminem. He even pushed him to create for himself the Slim Shady alter ego that took his rap game to the next level. Proof was not nearly as famous as Eminem but ever since they met, they recognized that they shared the same sort of rap style. They grew up in the same rough city of Detroit and started their own rap group together called D-12; but most of all, they depended on and trusted each other. Because of this, Eminem felt indebted to Proof and his death brought about a deep depression.9

Eminem and Deshaun AKA “Proof” of D12 during The 45th Annual Grammy Awards | Getty Images

Once again, his drug addiction got worse. His dependence on opioid drugs continued to plague his life until he eventually overdosed. On an almost fatal Christmas Eve in 2007, Eminem accidentally took too many methadone pills thinking that they were Vicodin pills. Methadone is designed to help people wean off of opioid drugs, but in his case, it served as a wake-up call for him. Yes, he had a problem, but at the bottom of his heart, Eminem knew that what he was doing was not what was best for his family. He decided that he would do what it took to not only rehabilitate, but also recover.10

Unfortunately for him this meant that he had to put down his pen and paper and focus on the issue. From 2005-2008, Eminem was essentially void of any full album recordings and many people were skeptical if he would ever return. This gave him time to reflect on his rise to fame and how it quickly affected him as a person. He spent a lot of time with Elton John, who was able to overcome addiction during the peak of his career. Eminem’s relationship with Elton John was both transforming and long lasting — John would continue to check on him through the tribulations of his addiction.11

During his recovery period, Eminem picked up on some of his old hobbies that helped him rekindle his love for life. When he was seeing a private rehabilitation counselor, he would go running for up to 17 miles a day. During his teenage years, he used to steal cans of paint and draw on denim jackets, and kids even paid him for his talents until it became a business.12

This love for drawing was rekindled in his rehabilitation and even led to a partnership with Marvel Comics to feature Eminem in a comic book. Eventually, his creativity sparked into doing “mind exercises”  again and attempting to write rap music again.13 His memory loss was an immense obstacle to overcome. While recovering he often watched old performances and interviews with no recollection of them whatsoever. Being sober helped him relearn his skills and gain the confidence he needed to get back in the studio and work on a new album.

This is the cover of Eminem’s autobiography titled after his hit song “The Way I Am” (2000), released in 2008 | Goodreads

The next step he took to recovery was huge. In 2008, Eminem wrote a memoir dedicated to his lost friend Proof. Inside the memoir, he included some of the most personal insights of his life: events concerning his early to teenage life, pictures with his family and of his most cherished performances, lyric scraps, all in the narration and candidness of his own words. With this, Eminem was able to heal his wounds that stemmed from the loss of his dearest friend and gave him a chance to be open and sincere with all his fans that listened to his music, but were unaware of the true struggles in his life. He even talked about his drug addiction, which had yet to surface until then. The release of this book was Eminem’s way of making a segue into the album he released in 2009, Relapse.14

Relapse proved to his fans that Eminem was not done yet, but more significantly, it proved that Shady was not done, either. He worked with Dr. Dre to help with the direction, and recorded over 100 songs for his new album, turning into a rainbow of different styles and lyrical topics. The end product of Relapse included a traditional Slim Shady, who gave detailed depictions of “fictional violence and graphic sexual content,” but it also included a Marshall Mathers, who spoke down to earth about his struggles with drug addiction and mental issues.15 The Marshall part of the album is most transparent in “Deja Vu” and “Beautiful,” which occur sequentially as the album came to a close. The colorful spread of life experiences and emotions through his album came out to represent a self-portrait. Appropriately, the album cover is literally a portrait of him made of different colored pills made to look like a prescription label and the doctor prescribing it depicts none other than Dr. Dre himself. Eminem was back and he successfully bridged his revitalized rap prowess and an underlying inspirational message. His new album allowed him to turn his feelings into action and created an inspiring message to his fans facing personal struggles such as drug addiction and depression.16

Relapse (2009) album cover made up of hundreds of different colored pills. Includes a prescription label, with Dr. Dre as the prescribing doctor (Bottom Left) | Underground Hip-Hop

His first studio album release in a total of five years won him two Grammys, including Best Rap Album, and topped Billboard 200 the week it was released, but somehow he was still not done. At the end of 2009, he released a follow-up to his Relapse album so that his fans could get a glimpse of the direction of his new music. He called this follow-up Relapse: Refill, which added on to his original album’s experimental songs as he began to work with new producers; and this is where a true transformation was seen for him. No longer was he focused on relying on the “bugged out” subject matter that Slim Shady thrived on.17 Rather, he worked to move beyond all the jokes and to be an honest worker and rapper. This recovery stage made him a better musical artist, but most of all it helped him become the father he dreamed to be: one that provides financial stability and especially one that fosters growth and good virtues. What appeared to be a repeat album of lyrical graphical violence was really the beginning of a new era of Eminem as a hip-hop artist and as a father. Now, it seems, this Eminem is here to stay.

Eminem performs sober at a free concert in Detroit in celebration of his album release, Relapse (2009) | Getty Images

Best of all, he was even able to return to the stage for the first time in years. He performed a free concert in Detroit for his Relapse album and for the first time in years, performed sober and remembered every second of it.18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6G2r-jecHc

There once was a saying that I used to say back in the day when I met Dre. I used to sit around and goof with my friend Proof that if I went gold, I’d go right through the roof. He said “what if you went Platinum” and I’d just laugh at him “that’s not happening, that I can’t fathom.” 80-something million records worldwide later, I’m living in a house with an Elevator.

 

  1. Marshall Mathers, The Way I Am (Detroit: Dutton, 2008), 32.
  2. Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, 2018, s.v. “Eminem,” by Joseph Matson.
  3. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 66.
  4. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 67.
  5. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 68.
  6. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 67.
  7. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 67.
  8. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 70.
  9. Marshall Mathers, The Way I Am (Detroit: Dutton, 2008), 17.
  10. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 72.
  11. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 73.
  12. Marshall Mathers, The Way I Am (Detroit: Dutton, 2008), 18.
  13. Christine Brewer Boyd. Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 74.
  14. Marshall Mathers, The Way I Am (Detroit: Dutton, 2008), 1-5.
  15. Patrick Ryan, “Eminem Tests the Waters in a New Social Climate,” USA Today, Nov. 16, 2017
  16. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 79.
  17. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 81.
  18. Christine Brewer Boyd, Eminem (Detroit: Gale, a Cengage Company, 2012), 84.

Tags from the story

8-Mile

Detroit

Eminem

Hip-Hop Music

Recent Comments

Nicholas Burch

This was a very compelling article. I never knew why Eminem had changed his style of rapping over the years. I’ve always liked his versatility, but I didn’t realize that drugs had an impact on his life which caused him to change his music. Looking back on his songs after reading this article, I realize he mentioned plenty of his life problems. Eminem will always be a great artist because he doesn’t care what anyone thinks

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27/09/2020

8:28 am

Alexandria Wicker

I grew up listening to a lot of Eminem and personally love his music. I never fully learned about his life or anything about him before or during his fame. This article opened my eyes and taught me a lot of things about Eminem that I personally did not know. The most interesting thing that I read in this article was that Slim Shady is always preformed under the influences of drugs. This was a very informative and well written article.

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27/09/2020

8:28 am

Emmett Pena

Eminem is easily one of my favorite rappers of all time. The story of his uphill battle of his drug addiction can be an inspiration to those who are going through the same thing. Eminem realized the responsibilities he has as a father and his near death experience opened his eyes to truly see what matters the most in life. The author explained in a descriptive and well concise way where as the reader, I was able to follow along the story with ease and be captivated within it.

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27/09/2020

8:28 am

Marcus Saldana

I love listening to Eminem when I was younger and still do to this day. After learning about his back story his music meant way more to me. My favorite song by him is lose yourself. Whenever I am working out and about to hit a new PR I listen to that song. He suffered a lot but as bounced back better than a lot of artist who could not see the light. The thing that kept him going was Halie his daughter. Great article!

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01/11/2020

8:28 am

Eric Hernandez

This article really interesting being that I’ve admired him since I was a kid. This was really cool to read and learning how he battled drug addiction and family problems. It inspired me to see how he went through the struggle and came out on top of the rap game. I think this can help those who currently struggle with drug addiction and show them that they can do anything.

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01/11/2020

8:28 am

Mia Hernandez

I am a big fan of Eminem and his music, but this article gave me so much insight on his life. I was unaware that Elton John helped him get through his addiction. This article informed me about a lot of things about Eminem that I did not know. I was so surprised to find out that Slim Shady performed under the influences of drugs during his performances. It is sad to know that we never really know what is happening in their lives. This was a great article.

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01/11/2020

8:28 am

Julianna Zamora

I’ve always loved listening to Eminem ever since I was a kid. His catchy hooks and rhythm would always play in my head and I loved listening to him whenever I needed motivation for something. I found this article interesting because of the details the author explains about Eminem’s life. I never knew how bad his addiction truly was or that Elton John had helped him overcome it. I’m glad he was able to pull himself out of that hole and perform concerts that he’ll remember forever.

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07/02/2021

8:28 am

Brittney Carden

Such a good, well-thought-out article. I am a huge fan of Eminem as an artist and musician. I loved him in 8 Mile and I absolutely love the part where he rap battles and his flow just seems to come so naturally. I know that he has lived quite a hard life, but I didn’t know just how much drugs impacted his way of style and rapping. I didn’t know Slim Shady was his code name for being under the influence, and that Elton John played such a helping role in him overcoming his addiction as well.

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07/03/2021

8:28 am

Enrico Zorzin Onzi

Hello Andres, very nice article. I can imagine how difficult was finding reliable sources to write about Eminem’s life, since he is an artist known worldwide, and there are a lot of fake news and comments about him. I enjoyed reading your article, and know that even Eminem had fame and money, he was struggling with personal and family issues. The most important is that he could overcome those situations and got back to continue inspiring people and singing about his life story.

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12/09/2022

8:28 am

Emily Rodriguez

This was SUCH an interesting article to read. I learned more about Eminem than I thought I would, being that I knew a lot about him prior to reading this article. For example, I didn’t know about the comic strip he was used in. I also completely overlooked the album cover of Relapse and the strong meaning behind it. Overall, this was such an intriguing descriptive article. It kept me interested in it the entire time I was reading it.

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30/09/2022

8:28 am

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