“You don’t get another chance, life is no Nintendo game”, said Eminem (goodreads). Today, people know Eminem as one of the best and most controversial white rapper in the music industry, yet awhile back, when Eminem first started his career he was criticized for being too derived, especially since unlike most successful rappers he was one white teen competing against all African talented rappers. These people definitely didn’t give Eminem the opportunity he deserved; but like a true artist he didn’t let people bring him down and stop him from reaching his dream. He was so serious about rapping that he even dropped out of school to focus on his skills. On his journey to becoming big Eminem struggled physically and mentally, until he was finally able to capture the ears of music producers, and although Eminem was rejected at first because of his race he never let that stop him from being successful; he learned how to turn his unhappy childhood into fame and fortune through his movies and music.

Nevertheless, today Eminem is living in fame and success, but as a child his life was no walk in the park. Eminem was born in Missouri on October 17, 1974 to Debbie Briggs-Mathers and Marshal Bruce Mathers 2. Debbie was only fifteen when she gave birth to Eminem, and she ended up raising him alone since not long after Eminem was born his father walked out on them, never to be seen again. Sadly this was only the start of a cruel childhood for Marshall. In addition, Eminem didn’t have very memorable school days, when he was young he was moved to several homes, and at every new school he attended he got picked on and bullied for his race (Eminem-Biography). Also, Eminem’s relationship with his mother wasn’t so pleasant either; her son troubled her with his addiction to alcohol and drugs (Direct Eminem). Marshall’s family eventually settled in Detroit; where after attending ninth grade for the third time Eminem dropped out of High school and set out to pursue a rapping career. All in all, although Eminem didn’t start off very well he was rejected for being white; he decided to take the criticism as inspiration for his new music.

Moreover, by 1995 Eminem produced his first album Infinite; this same year Eminem’s wife Kim (as well as high school sweet heart) gave birth to his first and only child Haile Jade Scott (Direct Eminem). Eminem was still trying so hard to rise in the hip-hip world, and this album represented his desire to succeed and not be looked upon differently (Ryan Merkel). Sadly though Infinite was not a great success, it only released four hundred copies that were mostly distributed by hand; also the Hip Hop community looked down on this album as too derivative. The failure of the album pushed Eminem to an attempt of suicide, but he recovered and came out stronger than ever to create The Slim Shady Ep. With Hailie’s arrival and being desperate for money Eminem was even more derived to find ears to his songs and make a living for his family. With this demo (Slim Shady Ep) Eminem was finally able to capture the ears of a rapper/producer, Dr. Dre, who granted Eminem a chance of a life time by signing him into a contract deal (NNDB). All in all, Eminem was finally able to reach his goal; from this point on he would improve his music to become one of the most controversial and best rappers out there. All in all, Eminem has finally caught a break from the hip-hop world, and to his luck was discovering that rapping wasn’t his only talent, but so was acting.

Furthermore, during the year 2002 Marshall made it big on screen. Eminem played the lead role in the movie “8 Mile” as the character Jimmy Smith Jr. Jimmy (Direct Eminem). The title “8 Mile” represented the divide between the City of Detroit and the white suburbs; it also stood for the obstacles the main character had to endure to accomplish his dream of becoming a white rapper (About.com).The plot of the movie was based on Eminem’s life, and many of the scenes were set up to portray the clubs Eminem used to attend for rap contests. Eminem worked hard on the movie and earned great recognition for his acting. Eminem also received great fame for the amazing song he wrote for the movie – Lose Yourself. In Fact this song has been awarded with the Best Original Song, considered to be one of the most famous and successful songs by Eminem, and awarded with two Grammy awards. The Movie “8 Mile” was also given 3 out of 4 stars from Roger Ebert and is the first film to ever win a best rap or hip hop song award at the Academy Awards (Direct Eminem).Eminem who once was beat up and made fun of was now receiving top reviews, which eventually goes to say “sometimes it takes a lot of effort and a mass amount of desire”. In conclusion, discovering a new talent and still being able to include his love for rap Eminem has finally conquered the challenge of approval. Many loved his desire and courage; he was once for all as he tried so hard to be, respected and known for his (multiple) talent.

In conclusion, while Eminem was rejected from the world because of his race, he went into the world with a desire to succeed, and in the end was able to turn his miserable childhood into fame and fortune through his acting and rapping. Eminem suffered a lot by always being rejected but even when he was “about to die”, he still got back up and worked even harder to finally accomplish his lifelong dream of being one of the best rappers ever. Eminem teaches everyone out there not to quit. He makes people realized that they have nothing to lose only much to gain and learn from.