October 18, 2016

One of rap’s most controversial and polarising stars, Eminem is turning 44 years old today.

We’ll take this as an opportunity to reflect fondly on Eminem’s glory days of psychopathic angst and melodramatic madman outbursts, with a career defined by his stellar catalogue as well as his extra-curricular beefs and issues.

First emerging in the late nineties, Eminem gained attention for the cartoonish violence in his lyrics, spat out ferociously by his demonic alter-ego Slim Shady. The fact that one of his early singles is named ‘Just Don’t Give A Fuck’ should be enough to tell you about his ethos and approach to rap: It was refreshingly raw and served to suburban teens and inner-city rap heads alike. His major label debut The Slim Shady LP earned platinum certification around the world, and was soon supplemented by notable guest features on ‘What’s The Difference’ and ‘Forgot About Dre’ – two heaters from his mentor, Dr. Dre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJO5HU_7_1w

Still, as much appeal as he derived from shock value, Eminem still had a knack for storytelling, as evidenced on his single ‘Stan’ – where he flipped Dido’s heartwarming hook from ‘Thank You’ into a haunting tale of murder-suicide. He continued to surprise audiences years later with a live rendition of the track with Elton John at the Grammys in 2006. Other definitive singles likes ‘The Way I Am’ saw Eminem earning praise for his brutal honesty, while he also aligned himself with fellow controversial icons like Marilyn Manson. Both singles were taken from The Marshall Mathers LP, yet another full-length which has solidified itself as a classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMhN-hfMtY

On screen, he delivered a cinematic rap masterpiece in 8 Mile, which also spawned one of the greatest hype songs of all time in ‘Lose Yourself’. In the live arena, he created a classic moment when he marched an army of Slim Shady clones into the MTV VMAs in 2000, and two years later, dissed Moby onstage among a chorus of boos from the audience. Speaking of disses, here’s a list of some of the people that Slim has taken aim at over the years:

Insane Clown Posse
Moby
Limp Bizkit
His mother
His ex-wife
Mariah Carey
Ja Rule
Christina Aguilera

In later years, Eminem has tamed his repertoire, probably because he is no longer filled with adolescent rage and overriding testosterone. He still dropped notable features for contemporaries including Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and a show-stopping closing verse on ‘Forever’ by Drake, while he was also pivotal in the development of gangster rap revivalist 50 Cent through the Shady/Aftermath imprints. Meanwhile, his longstanding relationship with Nike & Jordan Brand has resulted in some of the most coveted sneaker colalborations of all time, including the Air Slim Shady and Carhartt Jordan IV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDuRoPIOBjE&spfreload=10

Still, he’s proven that he can still drop bars on recent songs like ‘Rap God’, while he’s rumoured to be releasing yet another album called Roots in late 2016. His influence can still be seen everywhere in the rap world – his animated delivery style, charisma and obsession with the ominous still rings true today, while basically every white rapper from the 2000s has probably been compared to Eminem at one point in their career. Here’s to some classics from a Detroit kid who managed to immortalise himself as an undisputed hip-hop legend: