Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), commonly known as Eminem or Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer and actor from the Detroit, Michigan area.
Having sold seventy million albums worldwide, Eminem is one of the best-selling musicians of the early 2000s, and one of the best-selling rappers of all time.
Eminem was discovered by pioneer gangsta rapper and producer Dr. Dre, who signed him to his Aftermath Entertainment label. Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney has praised Mathers for his "verbal energy" and for arousing popular interest in poetry and lyrics. Eminem is infamous for the controversy surrounding many of his lyrics.
With the enormous success of his highly acclaimed album The Marshall Mathers LP and its subsequent nomination for four Grammy awards including Album of the Year, critics such as GLAAD denounced his lyrics as homophobic and misogynist, while others protested that it promoted violence.