“The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed.” Eminem is known for being the best-selling artist of the decade. Marshall Bruce Mathers III was brought into this world on October 17, 1972 by his mother Deborah Mathers-Briggs and his father Marshall Mathers Jr. His father left him shortly after he was born so he lived a rough life from the start, but that didn't stop him from becoming one of the greatest music composers out there today.

Eminem wasn't an ordinary seventeen year old boy. He and his mother lived a very unstable life which involved a lot of moving from state to state. They finally settled down in Detroit, Michigan where most of his rhymes had been written. Detroit wasn't necessarily the best place for Eminem and his mother to live because they were one of the only white people living in the neighborhood along with his girlfriend at the time, Kim. “Eminem and Kim used to live in all black neighborhoods, so they would usually meet each other half way or at the railroad tracks to avoid hard. Eminem would usually get beat up on the way there and even got shot once”(Eminem Facts). Mathers struggled with problems with his mother which caused him to take on the habit of drug use and violence. As a result of his violent ways, he ended up dropping out of high school. “Eminem dropped out of school after failing 9th grade 3 times, mainly because he skipped school too many times to battle kids on the street corners”(Eminem Facts). Eminem's mother was constantly messed up whether it be because of drugs or alcohol, she was never a good mother to him. Because of the fact that he never had anyone there for him, he began to write songs about what was going on in his life. “Eminem says that writing lyrics is his way of venting”(Eminem Facts). Mathers struggled with family problems, he had a hard time fitting in with everyone in his neighborhood considering he was the only white boy that lived around there. He never got respect from anyone because everyone thought he was trailer trash. His life got worse the older he got; that is why he knew he had to do something so that he can become someone that will be appreciated one day.

Eventually things were looking good for Eminem when he took his rhymes to the studio. He felt like he was important for once because people were actually interested in his life because of the lyrics that he wrote. The start to his career began in the early 1990's. “In 1995 he released his first rap album, Infinite, but it did not do very well and it was crashed by many critics”(Eminem Biography). This only made Mathers more determined to become someone. He knew that he was different from every other rapper out there because his raps were actually meaningful and real so he continued making songs about what was going on in his life. Nearly a year after his first album had been out, he was getting positive feedback. “In 1996, he began to gain some fame and following when “white rapper” won the Wake Up Show's Freestyle Performer Of The Year award, and followed this up by a second place finish in the 1997 Rap Coalition's Los Angeles' Annual Rap Olympics. His critics began to become his admirers” (Eminem). This news made Eminem happier than ever, he admired the fact that people were into his music because he felt as if they knew where he was coming from. He enjoyed telling people his life story and why he is the person that he is today.

In behalf of Eminem's drug problems, the birth of his daughter and separation issues with his girlfriend – he only became stronger and he learned how to deal with things that didn't go as planned. This lead him to the next stage in his life. All of his raps were about these specific issues and it caught peoples attention. “Eminem emerged in 1999 as one of the most controversial rappers to ever grace the genre”(Biography 2). Mathers used his life story as a song which made people really respect him because of all the struggles he had to face. He could not stop writing because it helped sooth his anger. It made him less stressed and he felt better about himself after he wrote down everything that was going wrong. He became more secure with himself because he knew there were people out there that enjoyed his stuff. His mother never tried fixing things with him and he was never really on good terms with his ex, but he got through everyday with the help of his daughter Hailie and his notepad in which he wrote his rhymes on.

In conclusion, Eminem has always lived a rough life. He never seemed to catch a break. Although he has become a famous rapper, all the struggles he's encountered overpowers all the positive times in his life because they will stick with him forever especially because he writes about all of those bad times.