His battles with depression and drug addiction kept him out of sight for a few years following the release of 2004’s Encore, but by 2008 he was back in the studio, ready to confront his demons. Perhaps even more remarkable than his public antics is his willingness to disappear from the spotlight altogether. Directed by Curtis Hanson, the fictionalized version of the rapper’s beginnings in working-class Detroit had a hugely successful opening, and the soundtrack single “Lose Yourself” won the Academy Award for Original Song, making Eminem the first hip-hop artist to take home an Oscar. The Slim Shady LP, the album on which that song appeared, was a critical and commercial smash, and went on to win a Grammy Award.Īs Eminem’s popularity grew in the early 2000s, he developed a reputation for lampooning the archetype of the modern pop star: his lyrics went after everyone from Christina Aguilera to Moby, and he drew a particularly grotesque portrait of an obsessive fan in his hit 2000 song “Stan.” Two years later, he put his flair for the dramatic to good use in the semi-autobiographical film 8 Mile. It was, most importantly, that the man could spit.
It was that his close-cropped, platinum hair felt as defiant as his smart-ass swagger.
It was that he burst onto the scene with a critical endorsement from his mentor, Dr.
It wasn’t just that he was a white rapper, though that was part of it. The man who referred to himself as Slim Shady was different, special. When Eminem made his MTV debut in 1999 with “My Name Is,” it seemed as if the entire country stopped to listen.
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