Divorced (Kim Mathers)


Eminem perhaps sums his 'white-boy rapper' tag best by saying "Every now and again one motherf***er comes along and now that motherf***er happens to be me." It remains to be seen how long the 'mutha' will be around, but his prospects certainly have exceeded the man he is most frequently compared with, Vanilla Ice. Despite the comparisons, neither seems fond of the other. Ice told Vibe recently that Eminem "raps like a girl" adding "I just don't like that little squeaky voice." Eminem responds to the comparisons by saying "Vanilla Ice wasn't into hip hop. He didn't know what the f**k he was doing. He just followed the trend." Em also distinguishes himself from the Ice man by going on the attack against virtually everyone in his raps, and the self created controversies have proven a windfall to the man's popularity.

Eminem was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III in Kansas City, Missouri. He was raised by his mother splitting time between KC and Detroit. His childhood had its rough moments, as he was repeatedly beaten up by a school bully who eventually beat him up so bad that he was in a coma for 10 days. Marshall never had many friends though he did develop a close relationship with his uncle Ronnie Polkingharn, who shared his same desire to rap. The two saw little of each other after Marshall's move to Detroit was more permanent. Marshall later met Kimberly at High School and formed a rap group. His rap efforts initially were met with loud booing and laughter, but he later worked his way to respectability overcoming his skin color. Just when things were going good for Marshall, he was devastated to hear that his best friend Ronnie had killed himself. Marshall was so devastated that he stopped rapping for over a year.

Marshall's career was reborn though after his girlfriend Kim gives birth to Haile Jade. He launches himself as Eminem and puts out a CD entitled Infinite in 1996. Unfortunately, the album flops and things get so bad, Eminem and Kim are kicked out of their apartment and Kim ditches Em to move back home with her parents. Eminem isn't even allowed to see his daughter and her family thought of him as a loser. All this was too much for Eminem as he attempted suicide in December of 1996. The experience turned his life around and he is reborn as his alter ego, Slim Shady.

Fortunately for Eminem, his rap idol Dr. Dre was listening to a rap competition he took part in for an LA radio station. Dre didn't even know Eminem was white, later saying "It's pretty rare when you can find a white cat that can flow like that." His work with Dre under his Aftermath label quickly launches Eminem, along with excitement from MTV over his look and sound. The Real Slim Shady debuts at #2 in the Billboard charts and from there he hasn't looked back, releasing the Marshall Mathers LP in 2000. His success helped bring Kim back into his life, as the two married in September of 1999, despite the fact that he sang lyrics suggesting he wanted to kill her. The marriage was short lived though as on August 16, 2000 Marshall filed for divorce after separating in June. This success has done nothing to repair the relationship between Eminem and his mother, Debbie Mathers-Briggs, who filed a $10 million slander suit against him in 1999. Of course his lyrical jabs didn't stop there, with additional shots taken at primarily at Christina Aguilera, as well as *NSYNC, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears and everyone that Em felt was in the 'boy band' mix. It was ironic that Em took stabs at Christina for her comments that he felt dissed him, not to mention Will Smith, as his entire schtic is doing the same thing himself, leading many to wonder if Eminem can dish it but can't take it himself. As well, freedom of speech to Eminem doesn't translate to freedom of copyright, as he has joined Dre in speaking out against people illegally downloading his MP3s on Napster.