Eminem, Dr. Dre – Forgot About Dre

In addition to being among the biggest-selling musicians in history, Eminem is among the best rappers of his time. His speed, fluidity, dexterity, and unexpected nature allow him to deliver both scathing asides and long-form narratives with ease. And because of his mentor Dr. Dre, he’s had music to match, with big, powerful loops that evoke the fear and anxiety his words suggest. Undoubtedly, a significant portion of the controversy that Eminem courted stemmed from the way that his violent fantasies—which were frequently directed at his wife or mother—were mixed with ridiculous songs that catered to young listeners who were unable to understand the psychodramas that were covered on his breakthrough albums, The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP. Eminem’s commercial zenith coincided with the release of his platinum-selling album The Eminem Show in 2002, as well as his big-screen debut in 8 Mile, which won him an Oscar for best supporting actor and the film’s anthem, “Lose Yourself.” As a living rap legend, Eminem has experienced difficulties with addiction, ongoing feuds with other musicians, and fluctuating levels of fame. But despite all of his adjustments, he kept developing as an artist and routinely achieved great economic success. Even when albums like 2009’s Relapse or 2017’s Revival received harsh criticism, supporters ensured that every new record went platinum and topped the charts. Rather than repurposing old concepts, the rapper experimented with new production techniques, quicker flows, and more intricate multisyllabic wordplay on albums like Music to Be Murdered By (2020) and The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), a concept album from 2024 in which he killed his alter ego.

Eminem was born Marshall Mathers in the St. Joseph, Missouri, suburb of Kansas City. He grew up in both Missouri and Michigan before moving to Detroit when he was a teenager. He started rapping at the age of 14 with a friend from high school. They took on the identities “Manix” and “M&M,” which quickly changed to “Eminem.” Mathers adopted this moniker and started combat rapping, a struggle that was portrayed in the 8 Mile movie. At first, the largely Black audience wasn’t fond of him, but he quickly gained recognition for his abilities and was asked to join a number of rap groups. The New Jacks were the first of these; following their breakup, he joined Soul Intent, who put out a single in 1995. This song also included Proof, and the two rappers split up to create D-12, a six-piece group that operated more like a Wu-Tang-esque collective than a band that gave regular performances.

Never-ending
Eminem had a daughter, Hailey, with his fiancée Kim while he was still trying to develop his career, which made him focus more on supporting his family and less on rapping. In 1996, he put together his debut album, Infinite, which attracted some negative but also positive notice from the underground. Following its release, Eminem created his Slim Shady persona, which allowed him to delve deeply into his dark side. This was necessary for him to do so as he dealt with a series of personal setbacks, starting with a strained breakup with Kim that resulted in him moving in with his mother, increasing his drug and alcohol consumption, and culminating in a botched suicide attempt. All of this energy was directed toward The Slim Shady EP, where he debuted several of the eccentricities that would later come to define him, such as his twitchy, nasal rhymes and unsettlingly graphic images.

Many doors were opened by the Slim Shady EP, but the most significant one was a record deal with Interscope Records. Eminem was approached by Interscope head Jimmy Iovine after placing second in the 1997 Rap Olympics MC Battle in Los Angeles. Iovine gave Eminem the EP, and Dr. Dre was excited to collaborate with Eminem. They recorded Em’s Interscope debut in a hurry in the fall of 1998, which coincided with Marshall’s reconciliation and marriage to Kim. The Slim Shady LP was released early in 1999, ahead of the song “My Name Is.” Both became immediate hits, and Eminem gained notoriety for his violent, humorous fantasies while also drawing criticism.

In the summer of 2000, he released The Marshall Mathers LP just after The Slim Shady LP. As the album sold nearly two million copies in the first two weeks of its release, there was little doubt by this point that Eminem was one of the biggest pop music stars. However, Mathers felt compelled to poke fun at other celebrities, provoking pop stars in his lyrics and Insane Clown Posse’s entourage in person, giving the tabloids endless material for their pages. This rumors combined with mounting criticism of his violent and homophobic songs led to the reunion of his former band, D-12, which he then toured with after releasing an album in 2001.

His biggest hit during this uproar was the melancholic song “Stan.” Sung as a duet with Elton John at the Grammy Awards, the song helped Eminem break through to a middle-class audience and laid the groundwork for the ultimate crossover of 2001’s 8 Mile, all while dispelling some suspicions of homophobia. The gritty drama, which gained significant accolades and was directed by Curtis Hanson, best known for being the Oscar-nominated director of L.A. Confidential, recreated Eminem’s pre-fame Detroit days. The theme “Lose Yourself,” which won Mathers an Oscar, culminated in one of Eminem’s biggest singles.

Finale: The Hits
Following all of this, he left the limelight to work on The Eminem Show, his third album. It was preceded by the single “Without Me,” which became another enormous smash, though not nearly as strong as the previous one. Some people felt that Eminem wasn’t branching out too much with this song. Encore, which came out in late 2004 and featured some more adult material, especially on the anti-George W. Bush song “Mosh,” caused most of the controversy surrounding the record because of events that happened behind the scenes, such as a bus accident that resulted in postponed shows and time spent in rehab. The years of 2005 Curtain Call: The Hits performance, the rumors of Mathers’s impending retirement, and the turbulence of 2006 (which included Mathers marrying again and divorcing Kim in less than four months) did not deter them. Neither did Proof’s gunshot death at a Detroit club.

recuperation
Em worked in the studio occasionally during all of this, but he quickly disappeared from view and withdrew to his Detroit house. He made brief appearances, most notably when he launched the hip-hop channel Shade 45 on Sirius Satellite Radio in September 2008. However, it wasn’t until early 2009 that he made a reappearance with the album Relapse, the title of which hinted at some of Mathers’ problems with prescription drugs while also announcing his return to the music scene after a protracted absence. The album went platinum despite not being a huge hit, and Eminem followed it up at the end of the year with an extended edition of Relapse called Relapse: Refill that featured additional recordings and outtakes. Released in June 2010, Recovery was first known as Relapse 2. The first single from the album, “Not Afraid,” topped the magazine’s Hot 100 singles list when it premiered, and the album went on to top the Billboard 200 chart for five weeks in a row.

Hell: The Follow-Up
2010 also saw Eminem and Royce da 5’9″ reunited under the Bad Meets Evil monicker. Conversely, Hell: The Sequel, which was released in June 2011, was their first EP as a pair (apart from the important EP track “Fastlane” being released as a single the month before) and their first collection of new songs since a 1999 double A-side. Following a rigorous recording schedule, Eminem revealed in August 2013 that The Marshall Mathers LP 2, a collection of brand-new songs with a nostalgic tone, will be his next solo album. The album was released in early November. The album included the top-charting smash “The Monster” with Rihanna, along with the hits “Berzerk,” “Rap God,” and “Survival.” 2014 saw the release of new music on the double-disc compilation Shady XV, which commemorated the 15th anniversary of the Shady label. A year later, two singles from the Southpaw soundtrack—”Phenomenal” and “Kings Never Die”—featuring Gwen Stefani were released.

The Kamikaze
Revival, the album released in December 2017 that featured numerous guests, including as Beyoncé (“Walk on Water”), Ed Sheeran (“River”), and P!nk (“Need Me”), featured a freestyle anti-Trump rant by Eminem that reappeared in October 2017. Despite the “River” single’s global popularity, it ultimately fell short of the sales peaks of his previous attempts, marking his seventh consecutive chart-topper. Unexpectedly, Eminem released his surprise tenth album, Kamikaze, the following year. Joyner Lucas, Royce da 5’9″, Jessie Reyez, and “Venom,” from the eponymous movie, made appearances on the set. He used the same surprise release strategy in January 2020 with his 11th studio album, Music to Be Murdered By. Dr. Dre produced the album, which also included appearances by the regularly scheduled special guests, including Q-Tip, Ed Sheeran, Anderson Paak, and the late Juice Wrld, among many others. First ranked at the top of the Billboard charts, the set was later reissued in December in an expanded version titled Music to Be Murdered By: Side B. Eminem, Polo G, and Mozzy collaborated on the Skylar Grey song “Last One Standing” in 2021. The song debuted in the Top 100 of the Billboard charts and was included on the soundtrack for the movie Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Additionally, in 2021, Eminem opened Mom’s Spaghetti, a spaghetti restaurant in Detroit titled after a phrase from the song “Lose Yourself.”

Elvis Prelude [Original Audio]
He appeared at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show in February 2022 with Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and other performers. The song “The King and I,” which Eminem co-wrote with CeeLo Green for the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic, Elvis, was released in June of that year. With Curtain Call 2, a 2022 collection spanning Eminem’s tracks since Curtain Call: The Hits, “The King and I” was one of three new songs. Another collaboration with Snoop Dogg, “From the D to the LBC,” was shown on Curtain Call 2.

Eminem’s 12th studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), was released in June of 2024. The theme of Marshall Mathers being abducted by his alter ego Slim Shady and his internal conflict between these two aspects of his psyche was the main focus of the album. Dr. Dre, DJ Premier, Benny Blanco, and others produced the album, which also featured rap cameos from Big Sean, BabyTron, JID, and other artists.