Direct Eminem

Eminem’s life and the Movie “8-Mile”

When you think of the best rappers in the field of music, Eminem comes to mind instantly. For a guy who has had a troubled childhood and dropped out of school in ninth grade, coming to this level of success is quite a big achievement. He was born on October 17, 1974 in Missouri, USA. He discontinued his studies in ninth grade after skipping school often. Up to that point a turbulent relationship with his mother, addiction to alcohol and drugs, and even one harrowing suicide attempt, Eminem was leading a miserable life. All the anguish and bitterness stored inside him, due to such incidents, is shown in the lyrics of his songs. And that’s the reason why he is considered as one of the most controversial rappers.

His most famous albums are, “The Slim Shady LP”, which was released in February, 1999 and “The Marshall Mathers LP” released in 2000. The later album even gained a Grammy for best rap album. After the Grammy Eminem tried his hand at acting and made his debut in 8 Mile.

The movie “8 Mile” was directed by one of his great fans – Curtis Hanson and was released in 2002. Eminem acts in the lead role as Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith Jr. The film is set in Detroit and is based on the story line that how Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith struggles and competes to make a mark in the rap music world and gain the respect of his peers. The title of the movie also reflects this. 8 Mile is a road that is between the city’s northern suburbs consisting of whites and other end of African Americans. Thus 8 Mile is considered to be a big passage that is quite difficult to cross. Eminem actually grew up near the 8 Mile road.

The famous scenes of the movie, which are the rap contests were taken in a club called - The Shelter. The irony in this fact is all the scenes were taken in a set up club because the actual and real Shelter was considered to be too dressed up for the location in the movie. The film got the major limelight when it was awarded with the Academy Award for the Best Original Song – Lose Yourself. The lyrics was penned by Eminem himself and the music was by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto. This song is considered to be one of the most famous and successful songs by Eminem. It was also awarded two Grammy awards and 8 Mile is the first film ever to win a best rap or hip hop song award at the Academy Awards.

Though the movie is said to be based on Eminem’s life story, the events in the movie are fictional. His co-stars in the movie are Kim Basinger, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy, Omar Benson Miller, Anthony Mackie, Eugene Byrd, Micheal Shannon, Chloe Greenfield, Evan Jones, De’Angelo Wilson and Taryn Manning.