title: USB 3.0

text: In May 2018, Synopsys demonstrated the first USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 connection, where a Windows PC was connected to a storage device, reaching an average speed of 1600 MB/s.


title: USB 3.0

text: In February 2019, USB-IF simplified the marketing guidelines by excluding Gen 1×2 mode and required the SuperSpeed trident logos to include maximum transfer speed.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Louis Silvie Zamperini (January 26, 1917 – July 2, 2014) was an American World War II veteran and an Olympic distance runner. He took up running in high school and qualified for the United States in the 5,000 m race for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, finishing 8th while setting a new lap record in the process.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini was commissioned in the United States Army Air Forces as a lieutenant. He served as a bombardier on B-24 Liberators in the Pacific. On a search and rescue mission, his plane experienced mechanical difficulties and crashed into the ocean. After drifting at sea on a life raft for 47 days, with two other crewmates, Zamperini landed on the Japanese-occupied Marshall Islands and was captured.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: He was taken to four different prisoner-of-war camps (total) in Japan where he was tortured and beaten by Japanese military personnel—specifically by Mutsuhiro Watanabe—due to Zamperini's status as a famous Olympic runner. He was later taken to a new prison camp at a coal factory, and after much hardship, he was finally released. Following the war he initially struggled to overcome his ordeal, battling with post-traumatic stress.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: He later became a Christian evangelist with a strong belief in forgiveness. From 1952 onwards, he devoted himself to at-risk youth. Zamperini is the subject of three biographical films: "Unbroken" (2014), its sequel "" (2018), and "Captured by Grace" (2015).


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Louis Zamperini was born on January 26, 1917, in Olean, New York, to Anthony Zamperini and Louise Dossi, both native to Verona in northern Italy. He had an older brother named Pete and two younger sisters, Virginia and Sylvia. He was raised in a strict, devout Catholic household. Regardless, he took up smoking and drinking at a very young age. He struggled with bullies and supposedly almost died twice, once due to a house fire, and another from having fallen into an oil rig and almost drowning. In later childhood, his brother Pete was highly supportive of him and encouraged him to start his running career.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: The Zamperini family moved from Olean, New York to Long Beach, California when Louis Zamperini was two years old. In 1919, the family moved to nearby Torrance where Louis attended Torrance High School. He and his family spoke no English when they moved to California, making him a target for bullies because of his Italian roots. His father taught him how to box in self-defense. Soon he claimed to be "beating the tar out of every one of them; but I was so good at it that I started relishing the idea of getting even. I was sort of addicted to it."


title: Louis Zamperini

text: To stop him from getting into trouble as a rebel, his older brother Pete got Zamperini involved in the school track team, where Pete was already a star. Before then, in the ninth grade, Zamperini's classmates challenged him to a footrace. Louis came in last, and was humiliated. Pete took Louis on several training runs. Zamperini began winning races, and he was getting much faster. After Louis found his role model, Glenn Cunningham, he took up distance running. At the end of his freshman year, he finished fifth in the All City C-division 660 yard (600 m) dash.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: After a summer of running in 1932, starting with his first cross-country race, and throughout the last three years of high school, he was undefeated. He started beating his brother's records. In 1934, he set an interscholastic record for the mile, clocking in at 4 minutes, 21.2 seconds at the preliminary meeting to the California state championships. The following week, he won the CIF California State Meet championships with a time of 4 minutes and 27.8 seconds. That record helped him win a scholarship to the University of Southern California. During his college life at USC, he was part of the Delta Eta chapter of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: In 1936, Zamperini decided to try out for the Olympics. In those days, athletes had to pay their way to the Olympic trials, but since his father worked for the railroad, Louis could get a train ticket free of charge. A group of Torrance merchants raised enough money for the local hero to live on once he got there. The competition for the 1,500 meters spot was fierce that year, with eventual silver medalist Glenn Cunningham, Archie San Romani, and Gene Venzke all challenging to get on the team.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini did not contest the 1,500 meters; instead, he ran the 5,000 meters. On one of the hottest days of the year during the 1936 North American heat wave in Randalls Island, New York, the race saw co-favorite Norm Bright and several others collapse during the race. It was reported that 40 people died from the heat in Manhattan alone that week. With a sprint finish at the end, Zamperini finished in a dead-heat tie against American record-holder Don Lash and qualified for the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Having qualified at age 19 years, 178 days, he remains the youngest American 5,000 meters qualifier.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Neither Zamperini nor Lash was believed to have much chance of winning the 1936 Olympics 5,000-meter race against world record holder Lauri Lehtinen. Zamperini later related several anecdotes from his Olympic experience, including gorging himself on the boat trip to Europe: "I was a Depression-era kid who had never even been to a drugstore for a sandwich in his life," he said, "and all the food was free. I had not just one sweet roll, but about seven every morning, with bacon and eggs. My eyes were like saucers." By the end of the trip, Louis Zamperini, in common with most athletes on the ship, had gained a good deal of weight: in Zamperini's case, . While the weight gain was not advantageous for his running, it was necessary for his health, as he had lost while training in the summer heat in New York for the Olympic Trials.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini finished 8th in the 5,000-meter distance event at that Olympics, in the time of 14 minutes 46.8 seconds, behind Finland's Gunnar Höckert's Olympic record time of 14 minutes 22.2 seconds (world record holder Lehtinen was second, and Zamperini's teammate, Lash, 13th). However, his final lap of 56 seconds was fast enough to catch the attention of Adolf Hitler, who insisted on a personal meeting. As Zamperini told the story, Hitler shook his hand, and said, "Ah, you're the boy with the fast finish."


title: Louis Zamperini

text: After the Olympics, Zamperini enrolled as a student at the University of Southern California. At USC, he was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity (Delta-Eta Chapter). In 1938, Zamperini set a national collegiate mile (1609 meters) record of 4 minutes 8.3 seconds, despite severe cuts to his shins from competitors attempting to spike him during the race; this record lasted for fifteen years, earning him the nickname "Torrance Tornado."


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini enlisted in the United States Army Air Force in September 1941 and earned a commission as a second lieutenant. He was posted to the Pacific island of Funafuti as a bombardier on the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber "Super Man".


title: Louis Zamperini

text: In April 1943, "Super Man" participated in a bombing mission against the Japanese-held island of Nauru, with Zamperini serving as bombardier. Following the successful raid, his craft was attacked by three Japanese Zeros and the bomber was severely damaged. Five of the crew were wounded, one of whom died. The May 4 "New York Times" credited Zamperini with administering first aid to the five wounded members of his Liberator bomber crew and saving the lives of two on the return flight from the April 21 Nauru raid. "Ground crewmen counted 500 bullet and shell fragment holes in the fuselage and tail structure of the big four-engine bomber after it had skidded to a stop with a flat tire."


title: Louis Zamperini

text: With "Super Man" no longer airworthy, the healthy crew members were transferred to Hawaii for reassignment. Zamperini, along with some other former "Super Man" crewmates, was assigned to conduct a search for a lost aircraft and crew. They were given another B-24, "Green Hornet", notorious among the pilots as a defective "lemon." (Aircraft records show several B-24s with the name: "Green Hornet" and "The Green Hornet"; in this case the name was verified from Zamperini's diary before the mission.) In May 1943, before his last mission, Louis ran a mile in under 4 minutes, 12 seconds. This is an immense achievement, considering he was running in sand.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: On 27 May 1943, while on the search, mechanical difficulties caused the bomber to crash into the ocean south of Oahu, killing eight of the 11 men aboard.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: The three survivors were Zamperini, pilot Russell Allen Phillips and Francis McNamara; with little food and no water, they subsisted on rainwater, small fish eaten raw, and birds that landed on their raft. McNamara ate all the chocolate they had in a panic, but he later redeemed himself by using an oar to defend the survivors from a shark attack. They attempted to gain the attention of a search plane, but failed. With the few tools they were able to salvage from the crash, the men were able to manage on two small rafts that got released. They caught two albatrosses, one of which they ate, and used pieces as bait to catch fish, all while fending off constant shark attacks and nearly being capsized by a storm. They were strafed a number of times by a Japanese bomber, which punctured their life raft, but no one was hit. After 33 days at sea, McNamara died; Zamperini and Phillips wrapped up his body and pushed it overboard.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: On their 47th day adrift, with little food or water, Zamperini and Phillips reached the Marshall Islands and were immediately taken prisoner by the Japanese Navy. They were held in captivity, severely beaten, and mistreated until the end of the war in August 1945. Initially held at Kwajalein Atoll, after 42 days they were transferred to the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp at Ōfuna, for captives who were not registered as prisoners of war (POWs). After slightly over a year in Ofuna, Zamperini was transferred to Tokyo's Ōmori POW camp, and was eventually transferred to the Naoetsu POW camp in northern Japan, where he remained until the war ended. He was tormented by prison guard Mutsuhiro "The Bird" Watanabe, who was later included in General Douglas MacArthur's list of the forty most wanted war criminals in Japan.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini was held at the same camp as then-Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington, and in his book, "Baa Baa Black Sheep", Boyington describes the Italian recipes Zamperini wrote to keep the prisoners minds off the food and conditions.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini had at first been declared missing at sea, and then, a year and a day after his disappearance, killed in action. When he eventually returned home, he received a hero's welcome.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini and Cynthia Applewhite were married in 1946, until her death in 2001; they had two children, Cissy and Luke.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: In a televised interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network in 2003, Zamperini related that after the war, he had nightmares about strangling his former captors and began drinking heavily, trying to forget his experiences as a POW. His wife Cynthia attended one of the evangelistic crusades led by Billy Graham in Los Angeles, and became a born-again Christian. In 1949, at the encouragement of his wife and her Christian friends, Zamperini reluctantly agreed to attend a crusade. Graham's preaching reminded him of his prayers during his time on the life raft and imprisonment, and Zamperini committed his life to Christ. Following this, he forgave his captors, and his nightmares ceased.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Later Graham helped Zamperini launch a new career as a Christian evangelist. One of his recurring themes was forgiveness, and he visited many of the guards from his POW days to let them know that he had forgiven them. This included an October 1950 visit to Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, where many war criminals were imprisoned, and expressed forgiveness to them. Zamperini told CBN that some became Christians in response.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Four days before his 81st birthday in January 1998, Zamperini ran a leg in the Olympic Torch relay for the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, not far from the POW camp where he had been held. While there, he attempted to meet with his chief and most brutal tormentor during the war, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, also known as "the Bird", who had evaded prosecution as a war criminal, but Watanabe refused to see him. However, Zamperini sent him a letter, stating that while he suffered great mistreatment from him, he forgave him. It is unknown whether Watanabe even read the letter; Zamperini never received any response, and Watanabe died in 2003. In March 2005, Zamperini returned to Germany to visit the Berlin Olympic Stadium for the first time since he had competed there.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: In his 90s, Zamperini continued to attend USC football games, and he befriended star quarterback Matt Barkley in 2009.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on June 7, 2012, speaking about his life in general, the 1936 Olympics, and his World War II exploits.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: During his World War II service, Zamperini's death had mistakenly been announced when the US government classified him as killed in action. President Franklin D. Roosevelt even sent Zamperini's parents a formal condolence note in 1944. It was not until the end of World War II in late 1945 that Zamperini was discovered to still be alive and freed from his captors.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini's actual death came 70 years later, when he died of pneumonia on July 2, 2014, at his home in Los Angeles; he was 97.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini wrote two memoirs about his experiences, both bearing the same title, "Devil at My Heels", but with different co-authors and content.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Author Laura Hillenbrand wrote a biography of Zamperini entitled "" (2010) and published by Random House, was a #1 "New York Times" bestseller. It was named the top nonfiction book of 2010 by "Time Magazine".


title: Louis Zamperini

text: The book "" was twice adapted into film. First, "Unbroken" by the Coen brothers, was directed by Angelina Jolie, and starred Jack O'Connell as Zamperini. It covered the time up to Zamperini's return from the war. Later, a sequel, "", covers Zamperini's recovery from his abuse as a POW, and was directed by Harold Cronk, and was released in September 2018, with Samuel Hunt portraying Zamperini.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: In 2015, the Billy Graham organization released a 30-minute documentary film, "Captured by Grace". The film focused on Zamperini's faith, to which he credited his "unbroken" status.


title: Louis Zamperini

text: Zamperini features as a character in the 2012 novel "Flight from Berlin" by David John, published by Harper Collins.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (; ), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity and constituting the western portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. The territory shares a border to the north with Gilgit-Baltistan, together with which it is referred to by the United Nations and other international organizations as "Pakistani-administered Kashmir". Azad Kashmir also shares borders with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south and west, respectively. On its eastern side, Azad Kashmir is separated from the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (part of Indian-administered Kashmir) by the Line of Control (LoC), which serves as the "de facto" border between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir. Geographically, the administrative territory of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (which excludes Gilgit-Baltistan) covers a total area of and has a total population of 4,045,366 as per the 2017 national census.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The territory has a parliamentary form of government modelled after the British Westminster system, with the city of Muzaffarabad serving as its capital. The President of AJK is the constitutional head of state, while the Prime Minister, supported by a Council of Ministers, is the chief executive. The unicameral Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly elects both the Prime Minister and President. The territory has its own Supreme Court and a High Court, while the Government of Pakistan's Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan serves as a link between itself and Azad Jammu and Kashmir's government, although the autonomous territory is not represented in the Parliament of Pakistan.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Northern Azad Kashmir lies in a region that experiences strong vibrations of the earth as a result of the Indian plate underthrusting the Eurasian plate. A major earthquake in 2005 killed at least 100,000 people and left another three million people displaced, causing widespread devastation to the region's infrastructure and economy. Since then, with help from the Government of Pakistan and foreign aid, reconstruction of infrastructure is underway. Azad Kashmir's economy largely depends on agriculture, services, tourism, and remittances sent by members of the British Mirpuri community. Nearly 87% of Azad Kashmiri households own farm property, and the region has the highest rate of school enrollment in Pakistan and a literacy rate of approximately 74%.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: "Azad Kashmir" (Free Kashmir) was the title of a pamphlet issued by the Muslim Conference party at its 13th general session held in 1945 at Poonch. It is believed to have been a response to the National Conference's "Naya Kashmir" (New Kashmir) programme. Sources state that it was no more than a compilation of various resolutions passed by the party. But its intent seems to have been to declare that the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir were committed to the Muslim League's struggle for a separate homeland (Pakistan), and that the Muslim Conference was the sole representative organisation of the Muslims of Kashmir. However, the following year, the party passed an "Azad Kashmir resolution" demanding that the maharaja institute a constituent assembly elected on an extended franchise. According to scholar Chitralekha Zutshi, the organisation's declared goal was to achieve responsible government under the aegis of the maharaja without association with either India or Pakistan. The following year, the party workers assembled at the house of Sardar Ibrahim on 19 July 1947 reversed the decision, demanding that the maharaja accede to Pakistan.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Soon afterward, Sardar Ibrahim escaped to Pakistan and led the Poonch rebellion from there, with the assistance of Pakistan's prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan and other officials. Liaquat Ali Khan appointed a committee headed by Mian Iftikharuddin to draft a "declaration of freedom". On 4 October an Azad Kashmir provisional government was declared in Lahore with Ghulam Nabi Gilkar as president under the assumed name "Mr. Anwar" and Sardar Ibrahim as the prime minister. Gilkar travelled to Srinagar and was arrested by the maharaja's government. Pakistani officials subsequently appointed Sardar Ibrahim as the president of the provisional government.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The northern part of Azad Jammu and Kashmir encompasses the lower area of the Himalayas, including Jamgarh Peak (). However, Sarwali Peak (6326 m) in Neelum Valley is the highest peak in the state.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The region receives rainfall in both the winter and the summer. Muzaffarabad and Pattan are among the wettest areas of Pakistan. Throughout most of the region, the average rainfall exceeds 1400 mm, with the highest average rainfall occurring near Muzaffarabad (around 1800 mm). During the summer season, monsoon floods of the rivers Jhelum and Leepa are common due to extreme rains and snow melting.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The southern parts of Azad Kashmir, including the Bhimber, Mirpur, and Kotli districts, have extremely hot weather in the summer and moderate cold weather in the winter. They receive rain mostly in monsoon weather.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: In the central and northern parts of the state, the weather remains moderately hot in the summer and cold and chilly in the winter. Snowfall also occurs there in December and January.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The region receives rainfall in both the winter and the summer. Muzaffarabad and Pattan are among the wettest areas of the state, but they don't receive snow. Throughout most of the region, the average rainfall exceeds 1400 mm, with the highest average rainfall occurring near Muzaffarabad (around 1800 mm). During summer, monsoon floods of the Jhelum and Leepa rivers are common, due to high rainfall and melting snow.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: At the time of the Partition of India in 1947, the British abandoned their suzerainty over the princely states, which were left with the options of joining India or Pakistan or remaining independent. Hari Singh, the maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, wanted his state to remain independent. Muslims in the western districts of the Jammu province (current day Azad Kashmir) and in the Frontier Districts province (current day Gilgit-Baltistan) had wanted to join Pakistan.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: In Spring 1947, an uprising against the maharaja broke out in Poonch, an area bordering the Rawalpindi division of West Punjab. The maharaja's administration is said to have started levying punitive taxes on the peasantry which provoked a local revolt and the administration resorted to brutal suppression. The area's population, swelled by recently demobilised soldiers following World War II, rebelled against the maharaja's forces and gained control of almost the entire district. Following this victory, the pro-Pakistan chieftains of the western districts of Muzaffarabad, Poonch and Mirpur proclaimed a provisional Azad Jammu and Kashmir government in Rawalpindi on October 3, 1947. Ghulam Nabi Gilkar, under the assumed name "Mr. Anwar," issued a proclamation in the name of the provisional government in Muzaffarabad. However, this government quickly fizzled out with the arrest of Anwar in Srinagar. On October 24, a second provisional government of Azad Kashmir was established at Palandri under the leadership of Sardar Ibrahim Khan.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: On October 21, several thousand Pashtun tribesmen from North-West Frontier Province poured into Jammu and Kashmir to "liberate" it from the maharaja's rule. They were led by experienced military leaders and were equipped with modern arms. The maharaja's crumbling forces were unable to withstand the onslaught. The raiders captured the towns of Muzaffarabad and Baramulla, the latter of which is northwest of the state capital Srinagar. On October 24, the Maharaja requested military assistance from India, which responded that it was unable to help him unless he acceded to India. Accordingly, on October 26, 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh signed an Instrument of Accession, handing over control of defence, external affairs, and communications to the Government of India in return for military aid. Indian troops were immediately airlifted into Srinagar. Pakistan intervened subsequently. Fighting ensued between the Indian and Pakistani armies, with the two areas of control more or less stabilised around what is now known as the "Line of Control".


title: Azad Kashmir

text: India later approached the United Nations, asking it to resolve the dispute, and resolutions were passed in favour of the holding of a plebiscite with regard to Kashmir's future. However, no such plebiscite has ever been held on either side, since there was a precondition that required the withdrawal of the Pakistani army along with the non-state elements and the subsequent partial withdrawal of the Indian army. from the parts of Kashmir under their respective control – a withdrawal that never took place. In 1949, a formal cease-fire line separating the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir came into effect.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Following the 1949 cease-fire agreement with India, the government of Pakistan divided the northern and western parts of Kashmir that it controlled at the time of the cease-fire into the following two separately controlled political entities:


title: Azad Kashmir

text: In 1955, the Poonch uprising broke out. It was largely concentrated in areas of Rawalakot as well as the rest of Poonch Division. It ended in 1956.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: At one time under Pakistani control, Kashmir's Shaksgam tract, a small region along the northeastern border of Gilgit–Baltistan, was provisionally ceded by Pakistan to the People's Republic of China in 1963 and now forms part of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: In 1972, the then current border between the Indian and Pakistani controlled parts of Kashmir was designated as the "Line of Control". This line has remained unchanged since the 1972 Simla Agreement, which bound the two countries "to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations". Some political experts claim that, in view of that pact, the only solution to the issue is mutual negotiation between the two countries without involving a third party such as the United Nations. The 1974 Interim Constitution Act was passed by the 48-member Azad Jammu and Kashmir unicameral assembly.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: In April 1997, the Nawaz Sharif government refused to grant constitutional status to Azad Jammu and Kashmir stating that "'The grant of constitutional rights to these people will amount to unilateral annexation of these areas."


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is nominally a self-governing state, but ever since the 1949 ceasefire between Indian and Pakistani forces, Pakistan has exercised control over the state without actually incorporating it into Pakistan. Azad Kashmir has its own elected president, prime minister, legislative assembly, high court (with Azam Khan as its present chief justice), and official flag.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Azad Kashmir's financial matters, i.e., budget and tax affairs, are dealt with by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council rather than by Pakistan's Central Board of Revenue. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council is a supreme body consisting of 14 members, 8 from the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 6 from the government of Pakistan. Its chairman/chief executive is the prime minister of Pakistan. Other members of the council are the president and the prime minister of Azad Kashmir (or an individual nominated by her/him) and 6 members of the AJK Legislative Assembly. Azad Kashmir Day is celebrated in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on October 24, which is the day that the Azad Jammu and Kashmir government was created in 1947. Pakistan has celebrated Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5 of each year since 1990 as a day of protest against India's "de facto" sovereignty over its State of Jammu and Kashmir. That day is a national holiday in Pakistan. Pakistan observes the Kashmir Accession Day as Black Day on October 27 of each year since 1947 as a day of protest against the accession of Jammu and Kashmir State to India and its military presence in the Indian-controlled parts of Jammu and Kashmir.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Brad Adams, the Asia director at the U.S.-based NGO Human Rights Watch said in 2006: "Although 'azad' means 'free,' the residents of Azad Kashmir are anything but; the Pakistani authorities govern the Azad Kashmir government with tight controls on basic freedoms." Scholar Christopher Snedden has observed that despite tight controls, the people of Azad Kashmir have generally accepted whatever Pakistan has done to them, which in any case has varied little from how most Pakistanis have been treated (by Pakistan). According to Christopher Snedden, one of the reasons for this was that the people of Azad Kashmir had always wanted to be part of Pakistan.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Consequently, having little to fear from a pro-Pakistan population devoid of options, Pakistan imposed its will through the Federal Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and failed to empower the people of Azad Kashmir, allowing genuine self-government for only a short period in the 1970s. According to the interim constitution that was drawn up in the 1970s, the only political parties that are allowed to exist are those that pay allegiance to Pakistan: "No person or political party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir shall be permitted... activities prejudicial or detrimental to the State's accession to Pakistan." The pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front has never been allowed to contest elections in Azad Kashmir. While the interim constitution does not give them a choice, the people of Azad Kashmir have not considered any option other than joining Pakistan. Except in a legal sense, Azad Kashmir has been fully integrated into Pakistan.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Azad Kashmir is home to a vibrant civil society. One of the organizations active in the territory and inside Pakistan is YFK-International Kashmir Lobby Group, an NGO that seeks better India-Pakistan relations through conflict resolution in Kashmir.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: According to the project report by the Asian Development Bank, the bank has set out development goals for Azad Kashmir in the areas of health, education, nutrition, and social development. The whole project is estimated to cost US$76 million. Germany, between 2006 and 2014, has also donated $38 million towards the AJK Health Infrastructure Programme.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The state is administratively divided into three divisions which, in turn, are divided into ten districts.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The population of Azad Kashmir, according to the preliminary results of the 2017 Census, is 4.045 million. The website of the AJK government reports the literacy rate to be 74%, with the enrolment rate in primary school being 98% and 90% for boys and girls respectively.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The population of Azad Kashmir is almost entirely Muslim. The people of this region culturally differ from the Kashmiris living in the Kashmir Valley of Jammu and Kashmir and are closer to the culture of Jammu. Mirpur, Kotli, and Bhimber are all old towns of the Jammu region.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Azad Jammu and Kashmir has an almost entirely Muslim population. According to data maintained by Christian community organizations, there are around 4,500 Christian residents in the region. Bhimber is home to most of them, followed by Mirpur and Muzaffarabad. A few dozen families also live in Kotli, Poonch, and Bagh. However, the Christian community has been struggling to get residential status and property rights in AJK. There is no official data on the total number of Bahais in AJK. Only six Bahai families are known to be living in Muzaffarabad with others living in rural areas. The followers of the Ahmadi faith are estimated to be somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000, and most of them live in Kotli, Mirpur, Bhimber, and Muzaffarabad.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Christopher Snedden writes that most of the native residents of Azad Kashmir are not of Kashmiri ethnicity; rather, they could be called "Jammuites" due to their historical and cultural links with that region, which is coterminous with neighbouring Punjab and Hazara. Because their region was formerly a part of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir and is named after it, many Azad Kashmiris have adopted the "Kashmiri" identity, whereas in an ethnolinguistic context, the term "Kashmiri" would ordinarily refer to natives of the Kashmir Valley region. The population of Azad Kashmir has strong historical, cultural and linguistic affinities with the neighbouring populations of upper Punjab and Potohar region of Pakistan, whereas the Sudhans have the oral tradition of the Pashtuns.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The official language of Azad Kashmir is Urdu, while English is used in higher domains. The majority of the population, however, are native speakers of other languages. The foremost among these is Pahari–Pothwari with its various dialects. There are also sizeable communities speaking Kashmiri (mostly in the north), Gujari (throughout the territory), and Dogri (in the south), as well as pockets of speakers of Kundal Shahi, Shina and Pashto. With the exception of Pashto and English, those languages belong to the Indo-Aryan language family.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The dialects of the Pahari-Pothwari language complex cover most of the territory of Azad Kashmir. Those are also spoken across the Line of Control in the neighbouring areas of Indian Jammu and Kashmir and are closely related both to Punjabi to the south and Hinko to the northwest. The language variety in the southern districts of Azad Kashmir is known by a variety of names – including "Mirpuri", "Pothwari" and "Pahari" – and is closely related to the Pothwari proper spoken to the east in the Pothohar region of Punjab. The dialects of the central districts of Azad Kashmir are occasionally referred to in the literature as "Chibhali" or "Punchi", but the speakers themselves usually call them "Pahari", an ambiguous name that is also used for several unrelated languages of the lower Himalayas. Going north, the speech forms gradually change into Hindko. Today, in the Muzaffarabad District the preferred local name for the language is "Hindko", although it is still apparently more closely related to the core dialects of Pahari. Further north in the Neelam Valley the dialect, locally also known as "Parmi", can more unambiguously be subsumed under Hindko.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Another major language of Azad Kashmir is Gujari. It is spoken by several hundred thousand people among the traditionally nomadic Gujars, many of whom are nowadays settled. Not all ethnic Gujars speak Gujari, the proportion of those who have shifted to other languages is probably higher in southern Azad Kashmir. Gujari is most closely related to the Rajasthani languages (particularly Mewati), although it also shares features with Punjabi. It is dispersed over large areas in northern Pakistan and India. Within Pakistan, the Gujari dialects of Azad Kashmir are more similar, in terms of shared basic vocabulary and mutual intelligibility, to the Gujar varieties of the neighbouring Hazara region than to the dialects spoken further to the northwest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and north in Gilgit.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: There are scattered communities of Kashmiri speakers, notably in the Neelam Valley, where they form the second-largest language group after speakers of Hindko. There have been calls for the teaching of Kashmiri (particularly in order to counter India's claim of promoting the culture of Kashmir), but the limited attempts at introducing the language at the secondary school level have not been successful, and it is Urdu, rather than Kashmiri, that Kashmiri Muslims have seen as their identity symbol. There is an ongoing process of gradual shift to larger local languages, but at least in the Neelam Valley there still exist communities for whom Kashmiri is the sole mother tongue.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: There are speakers of Dogri in the southernmost district of Bhimber, where they are estimated to represent almost a third of the district's population. In the northernmost district of Neelam, there are small communities of speakers of several other languages. Shina, which like Kashmiri belongs to the broad Dardic group, is present in two distinct varieties spoken altogether in three villages. Pashto, of the Iranian subgroup and the majority language in the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is spoken in two villages, both situated on the Line of Control. The endangered Kundal Shahi is native to the eponymous village and it is the only language not found outside Azad Kashmir.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: As of 2021, GDP of Azad Jammu and Kashmir was estimated to be 10 billion pounds, giving per capita an income of £5604. Historically the economy of Azad Kashmir has been agricultural which meant that land was the main source or mean of production. This means that all food for immediate and long-term consumption was produced from the land. The produce included various crops, fruits, vegetables, etc. The land was also the source of other livelihood necessities such as wood, fuel, grazing for animals which then turned into dairy products. Because of this land was also the main source of revenue for the governments whose primary purpose for centuries was to accumulate revenue.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Agriculture is a major part of Azad Kashmir's economy. Low-lying areas that have high populations grow crops like barley, mangoes, millet, corn (maize), and wheat, and also raise cattle. In the elevated areas that are less populated and more spread out, forestry, corn, and livestock are the main sources of income. There are mineral and marble resources in Azad Kashmir close to Mirpur and Muzaffarabad. There are also graphite deposits at Mohriwali. There are also reservoirs of low-grade coal, chalk, bauxite, and zircon. Local household industries produce carved wooden objects, textiles, and dhurrie carpets. There is also an arts and crafts industry that produces such cultural goods as namdas, shawls, pashmina, pherans, Papier-mâché, basketry copper, rugs, wood carving, silk and woolen clothing, patto, carpets, namda gubba, and silverware. Agricultural goods produced in the region include mushrooms, honey, walnuts, apples, cherries, medicinal herbs and plants, resin, deodar, kail, chir, fir, maple, and ash timber.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The migration to the UK was accelerated and by the completion of Mangla Dam in 1967 the process of 'chain migration' became in full flow. Today, remittances from British Mirpuri community make a critical role in AJK's economy. In the mid-1950s various economic and social development processes were launched in Azad Kashmir. In the 1960s, with the construction of the Mangla Dam in Mirpur District, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Government began to receive royalties from the Pakistani government for the electricity that the dam provided to Pakistan. During the mid-2000s, a multibillion-dollar reconstruction began in the aftermath of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: In addition to agriculture, textiles, and arts and crafts, remittances have played a major role in the economy of Azad Kashmir. One analyst estimated that the figure for Azad Kashmir was 25.1% in 2001. With regard to annual household income, people living in the higher areas are more dependent on remittances than are those living in the lower areas. In the latter part of 2006, billions of dollars for development were mooted by international aid agencies for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of earthquake-hit zones in Azad Kashmir, though much of that amount was subsequently lost in bureaucratic channels, leading to considerable delays in help getting to the neediest. Hundreds of people continued to live in tents long after the earthquake. A land-use plan for the city of Muzaffarabad was prepared by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The literacy rate in Azad Kashmir was 62% in 2004, higher than in any other region of Pakistan. The current literacy rate of Azad Kashmir is 76.60% in 2018. And it remained at 79.80% in 2019. According to the 2020–2021 census, the literacy rate in Azad Kashmir was 91.34% However, only 2.2% were graduates, compared to the average of 2.9% for Pakistan.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: The following is a list of undergraduate medical institutions recognised by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) .


title: Azad Kashmir

text: Football, cricket, and volleyball are very popular in Azad Kashmir. Many tournaments are also held throughout the year and in the holy month of Ramazan, night-time flood-lit tournaments are also organised.


title: Azad Kashmir

text: New Mirpur City has a cricket stadium (Quaid-e-Azam Stadium) which has been taken over by the Pakistan Cricket Board for renovation to bring it up to the international standards. There is also a cricket stadium in Muzaffarabad with a capacity of 8,000 people. This stadium has hosted 8 matches of the Inter-District Under 19 Tournament 2013.


title: KL Rahul

text: Kannanur Lokesh Rahul (born 18 April 1992) is an Indian international cricketer who currently is the vice-captain of the Indian cricket team . He is a Right-handed batter and wicketkeeper. He plays for Karnataka in domestic cricket and captains Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League.


title: KL Rahul

text: He made his international debut in 2014 and scored his maiden Test century in his second Test match. He was the first Indian to score a century on men's One Day International debut, and the third Indian cricketer to score a century in all three formats of international cricket.


title: KL Rahul

text: In January 2022, he debuted as captain of Indian test team as a standing captain. He was also named the captain of the Indian test team on tour of Bangladesh in December 2022 after Rohit Sharma was injured.


title: KL Rahul

text: KL Rahul was born on 18 April 1992 to KN Lokesh and Rajeshwari in Bangalore. His father Lokesh, who was born in Kannanur, Magadi taluk, is a professor and former director at the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) in Mangalore. His mother Rajeshwari is a professor at Mangalore University. Lokesh, who was a fan of the cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, wanted to name his son after Gavaskar's, but mistook Rohan Gavaskar's name as Rahul.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul grew up in Mangalore, completing his high school at NITK English Medium School and pre-university at St. Aloysius College. He started cricket training at the age of 10, and, two years later, started playing matches for both Bangalore United Cricket Club and his club in Mangalore. At age 18 he moved to Bangalore to study at Jain University and pursue his cricket career.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul made his first-class cricket debut for Karnataka in the 2010–11 season. In the same season he represented his country at the 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, scoring a total of 143 runs in the competition. He made his debut in the Indian Premier League in 2013, for Royal Challengers Bangalore. During the 2013–14 domestic season he scored 1,033 first-class runs, the second highest scorer that season.


title: KL Rahul

text: Playing for South Zone in the final of the 2014–15 Duleep Trophy against Central Zone, Rahul scored 185 off 233 balls in the first innings and 130 off 152 in the second. He was named the player of the match and selection to the Indian Test squad for the Australian tour followed.


title: KL Rahul

text: Returning home after the Test series, Rahul became Karnataka's first triple-centurion, scoring 337 against Uttar Pradesh. He went on to score 188 in the 2014–15 Ranji Trophy final against Tamil Nadu and finished the season with an average of 93.11 in the nine matches he played.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul made his Test debut in the 2014 Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He replaced Rohit Sharma and was presented with his Test cap by MS Dhoni. He batted at number six and made three runs in the first innings; in the second innings, he played at number 3 and made only 1 run but retained his place for the next Test at Sydney where he opened the innings with Murali Vijay and made 110 runs, his maiden international hundred.


title: KL Rahul

text: He was part of the 15-man squad for the Indian tour of Bangladesh in June 2015 but withdrew due to Dengue fever. He returned to the side for the first Test of the Sri Lankan tour after Murali Vijay was ruled out due to injury, scoring his second Test century and winning the Man of the Match award. During the match, he kept wicket after Wriddhiman Saha was injured.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul was named in the squad to tour Zimbabwe in 2016 and made his One Day International (ODI) debut against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club. Rahul scored an unbeaten 100*(115) on debut, thus becoming the first Indian cricketer to score a century on ODI debut. He was adjudged the man of the series. He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut later in the same tour.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul was picked in the Indian squad for the tour of West Indies in 2016. Rahul played in the second Test at Jamaica and scored 158, his highest Test score to that point. In the process, he became the first Indian opener to score a century in his debut Test in the West Indies. In the first match of the T20I series in the United States, he scored


title: KL Rahul

text: an unbeaten 110* off 51 balls in a losing cause, which was the second-fastest century (46 balls) ever and the fastest by an Indian. He was the first player to score a hundred in their first innings as an opener in both Tests and ODIs.


title: KL Rahul

text: In his 20th international innings, Rahul became the fastest batsman to have scored centuries in all three formats, surpassing the record of Ahmed Shehzad who took 76 innings. He is the first player in T20I history to score a century (110*) while batting at number 4 position or lower. On 3 July 2018, Rahul smashed his second T20 International ton against England. He is also the first Indian batsman to be dismissed hit-wicket in T20Is.


title: KL Rahul

text: On 11 January 2019, Hardik Pandya and K. L. Rahul were suspended by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) following controversial comments they made on the Indian talk show "Koffee with Karan" earlier in the month. They were both sent home ahead of the ODI series against Australia and the fixtures of India's tour to New Zealand. On 24 January 2019, after lifting the suspension on Pandya and Rahul, the BCCI announced that Rahul would re-join the squad for India A matches.


title: KL Rahul

text: In April 2019, he was named in India's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. He played at number 4 in the first 2 games but got back to opening the innings alongside Rohit Sharma as Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to injury. Overall, Rahul scored 361 runs with 2 fifties and 1 hundred in the tournament and finished as India's third highest run scorer in the tournament after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.


title: KL Rahul

text: Due to lack of form in the Test format, Rahul was dropped from the Test squad for the Home tests against South Africa. However, he remained in the limited over sides.


title: KL Rahul

text: In December 2019, in the first T20I match against the West Indies, Rahul scored his 1,000th run in T20I cricket. He scored 62 (40) in the first T20I against West Indies. He scored 91 (56) in the third T20I for which he was adjudged the Man of the match. He scored his 3rd ODI century in the 2nd ODI against West Indies. In the 2 match T20I series against Sri Lanka, Rahul scored 45 in the first match and 54 in the second T20I.


title: KL Rahul

text: In January 2020, Rahul made 80 (52) batting at number five in the second ODI against Australia and was rewarded as the man of the match.


title: KL Rahul

text: In India's tour of New Zealand in 2019–20, Rahul was declared man of the series in the five-match T20I series for scoring 224 runs at an average of 56. He was also the stand in captain in the 5th T20I after Rohit Sharma suffered a hamstring injury during the 1st innings. In the ODI series against New Zealand, he scored 88* (64) in the first ODI and scored his fourth ton in ODIs, 112 (113) in the third ODI.


title: KL Rahul

text: In October 2020, Rahul was named as India's vice captain for the ODI and T20I series against Australia. Rahul had a moderate ODI and T20I series against Australia. He made 77 against Australia in the second ODI and 51 in the first T20I. India lost the ODI series 2–1, but won the T20I series by the same margin.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul was included in the test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but was not picked in the playing XI for the first two Tests. He injured himself during practice and was ruled out of the remaining part of the tour.


title: KL Rahul

text: As a result, he also missed the home Test series against England in February 2021. He returned to the national side for the T20I and ODI series against England. There was a dip in his form in the T20I series. He returned to form in the ODI series scoring a match-winning 62* and was involved in a 100-run partnership with debutant Krunal Pandya who scored a fifty. He continued his form by scoring 108 runs in the second ODI and was involved in another 100-run partnership with Rishabh Pant.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul was named in India's test squad for their tour of England in 2021. As Shubman Gill and Mayank Agarwal were injured, Rahul opened alongside teammate Rohit Sharma.In the first test at Trent Bridge, Rahul scored 84 and 26. He went on to score 129 (250) at Lords and was awarded the man of the match in the second test. Rahul scored 315 runs in eight innings of four matches played and was the second highest run scorer for India in the tour behind Rohit Sharma.


title: KL Rahul

text: In September 2021, Rahul was named in India's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. He was the highest run scorer for India in the tournament, scoring 194 runs including three consecutive fifties. He also scored the tournament's joint fastest fifty in just 18 balls, against Scotland.


title: KL Rahul

text: After Virat Kohli stepped down as Indian T20i captain, Rahul was appointed the Vice-captain of Indian Cricket Team in T20i as former Vice-captain Rohit Sharma was appointed the new Captain of T20i format. Later, Rahul was appointed ODI vice-captain as well due to change of captaincy in white ball format of Indian team.


title: KL Rahul

text: In December 2021, Rahul was named as India's test vice-captain for the away series against South Africa after India's regular vice-captain Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the series. Rahul was also named as the ODI captain for the One Day series of the same tour as India's regular ODI captain Rohit Sharma was ruled out of the series due to a hamstring injury. In the first test match against South Africa in December 2021, he scored 123 in India's first innings and 23 in India's second innings. For this performance, he was awarded the Man of the Match award.


title: KL Rahul

text: In the second test against South Africa in January 2022, Rahul captained India for the first time in test cricket and became the 34th Test captain of India. He scored a half-century on captaincy debut. Despite his best efforts, Rahul couldn't lead the team to victory and India lost the second Test by seven wickets. In first ODI against South Africa, he made his debut in ODI Captaincy and became the 26th ODI captain of India, however India lost the series 3–0 to South Africa.


title: KL Rahul

text: In February 2022, During the second ODI of India against the West Indies, Rahul scored 49 (48) and completed 6000 runs in International cricket across all formats. In the same ODI, Rahul sustained an upper left hamstring strain, and was ruled out of the next ODI as well as the upcoming T20Is series against the West Indies. Rahul was named captain for the South African tour of India in June, but was later ruled out of the series due to a groin injury. After a successful sports hernia surgery, Rahul came back to the team and was named captain for the India Tour of Zimbabwe in August.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul was the stand-in captain for the team during the last match played by team India in the 2022 Asia Cup against Afghanistan.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul made his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as a wicket-keeper batsman during the 2013 competition. Ahead of the 2014 IPL, he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 1 crore, before returning to RCB ahead of the 2016 IPL season.


title: KL Rahul

text: In the 2016 IPL season with Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rahul finished the season as the 11th highest run-scorer, and RCB's third, with 397 runs from 14 matches. For his performances in the 2016 IPL season, he was named as wicket keeper in the Cricinfo and Cricbuzz IPL XI.


title: KL Rahul

text: In the 2018 IPL Auction, he was bought by Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) for INR 11 crore, the joint-third highest price. In the team's first match of the season he scored the fastest 50 in IPL history, taking 14 balls to reach the milestone and breaking the record of Sunil Narine.


title: KL Rahul

text: KL in total scored 659 runs in the season at a strike rate of 158.41 and an average of 54.91. He finished the season as third highest run scorer in the 2018 IPL Season. For his performances in the 2018 IPL season, he was named in the Cricinfo and Cricbuzz IPL XI.


title: KL Rahul

text: After making scores of 90+ three times during 2018, he reached his maiden IPL century in 2019, scoring 100 not out from 64 against Mumbai Indians.In total KL scored 593 runs in the season with average of 53.90 and strike rate of 135.38. He finished the season as second highest run scorer in the season after David Warner(692 runs). For his performances in the 2019 IPL season, he was named in the Cricinfo IPL XI.


title: KL Rahul

text: On 19 December 2019, Rahul was officially announced as captain of the Kings XI Punjab for the 2020 IPL, after former captain Ravichandran Ashwin was traded to Delhi Capitals.


title: KL Rahul

text: In the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on 24 September 2020, he scored an unbeaten 132* off just 69 balls. He was declared the man of the match for this record breaking innings. With that century, he broke the record of the most runs scored by an Indian batsman in an IPL match. He also broke the record of the most runs scored by a captain in an IPL match.


title: KL Rahul

text: However, team performance was very poor as they lost 6 out of their first 7 games with some nail-biting games. But suddenly team made terrific comeback as they won next 5 consecutive games against top teams on Points table. Even though they failed to qualify for playoffs finishing at sixth position once again.


title: KL Rahul

text: In the IPL 2020 season, he scored 670 runs in all the 14 matches he played. He scored 5 fifties and 1 hundred with the highest score of an unbeaten 132 against RCB and also had an average of 55.83.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul won the Orange Cap in IPL 2020 for scoring most runs in IPL 2020 (670 runs). He was also awarded as the Dream 11 Game changer of the season.


title: KL Rahul

text: KL Rahul was retained as the captain by the Punjab Kings ahead of the 2021 IPL season. KL scored 91(50) in their first fixture against Rajasthan Royals.KL scored match winning 60*(52) against Mumbai Indians and 91*(57) against Royal Challengers Bangalore and won Man of the Match in both the games.


title: KL Rahul

text: In the final league game of Punjab Kings, KL scored unbeaten 98*(42) against Chennai Super Kings, helping the team get the target in 13 overs to give them a slight chance to qualify, however, the team ended up at sixth position. He scored 626 runs in IPL 2021, finishing as the team's highest scorer in the season.


title: KL Rahul

text: Prior to the 2022 season, Rahul parted ways with the Punjab Kings and was drafted by Lucknow Super Giants as their captain for INR 17Cr making him the joint highest paid cricketer in the Indian Premier League alongside Virat Kohli. On 16 April 2022, Rahul scored his first century for Lucknow (103* off 60) against the Mumbai Indians and became the first and only player to score a century in one's 100th IPL match. He followed this up with another unbeaten century(103* off 62) against the same opposition eight days later.


title: KL Rahul

text: Rahul plays as an opening batter. He is a part-time wicketkeeper. Cricket pundits and media often criticize him for his inconsistency in run scoring.


title: KL Rahul

text: Brian Lara heaped praise for KL Rahul, when he was asked to name the current batsman who he loves to watch:


title: Larry Hoover

text: Larry Hoover (born November 30, 1950) is a former American gang leader, co-founder of the Chicago street gang Gangster Disciples. Hoover is serving six life sentences at the ADX Florence prison in Florence, Colorado. He was sentenced to 200 years for a 1973 murder, and in 1997 (after a 17-year investigation of conspiracy, extortion, money laundering, and running a continuing criminal enterprise by leading the gang from state prison) he received a life sentence. Larry Hoover has stated he is no longer part of the Gangster Disciples.


title: Larry Hoover

text: On the evening of February 26, 1973, William "Pooky" Young, a 19-year-old neighborhood drug dealer, was abducted and later shot to death in an alley near 68th Street and Union Avenue in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood. His killing was ordered by Hoover after his name was mentioned as one of three people accused of stealing drugs and money from the gang six days earlier. On March 16, 1973, Hoover—along with Young's killer, Black Disciple member Andrew Howard—were both arrested. In November 1973, Howard and Hoover were both charged with murder and sentenced to 150 to 200 years in prison. Hoover was sent to Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois, to serve out his term. Today Larry Hoover is still connected to other GD members and his top lieutenant, A'Marion Taylor, as well as being involved in fighting cold cases about murders that are only now coming to light, also tied to the GD organization.


title: Larry Hoover

text: In 1974, after the leader of the Black Disciples, David Barksdale, died from kidney failure by an injury due to an earlier shooting, Hoover took the reins of the Black Gangster Disciples Nation. At the time, the group had control of Chicago's South Side. Under Hoover's rule, the Black Gangster Disciples took over the South Side drug trade. While incarcerated, Hoover, with help from the Folk Nation, which added other gangs such as: Black Disciples, Satan Disciples, Ambrose, Two-Two Boys, Gangster Two-Six, Simon City Royals, North Side Insane Popes, La Raza Nation, Spanish Cobras, Imperial Gangsters, Maniac Latin Disciples, Harrison Gents, Spanish Gangster Disciples and Latin Eagles. In 1989, The Black Gangster Disciples started to go against their own merger and ally, the Black Disciples, over a drug-dealing dispute in the neighborhood of Englewood, Chicago, that escalated into a shooting that killed several people. This infuriated members of BGDs and resulted in them changing their name to the "Gangster Disciples." While Hoover was incarcerated, he ran the gang's illicit drug trade both in prison and on the streets, starting from Chicago's West Side and later extending throughout the United States. By early 1993, Hoover claimed to have renounced his violent criminal past and became an urban political celebrity in Chicago. Hoover proclaimed that GD's initials had changed to mean "Growth & Development." A lengthy federal investigation using wiretaps led to Hoover getting another life sentence in 1995. Prosecutors alleged that Hoover's gang had 30,000 "soldiers" in 35 states and made $100 million a year. As of July 2022, Larry Hoover has denounced the Gangster Disciples and stated that he wants nothing to do with it.


title: Larry Hoover

text: While in prison for murder, on August 22, 1995, after a 17-year undercover investigation by the federal government, Hoover was indicted for drug conspiracy, extortion, and continuing to engage in a criminal enterprise. He was arrested at the Dixon Correctional Center by federal agents, and moved to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago to stand trial. In 1997, Hoover was found guilty on all charges. Hoover is currently serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Security Facility in Florence, Colorado.


title: Larry Hoover

text: Hoover also appears via phone from prison on multiple tracks of Geto Boys' 1996 album "The Resurrection" where he discusses his views on the prison system and the youth of the black community.


title: Larry Hoover

text: In 1996, Hoover's teachings were published. The book is titled "The Blueprint of a New Concept, From Gangster Disciple to Growth & Development".


title: Larry Hoover

text: Rapper and Chicago native Kanye West has, for many years, been vocal about wanting Hoover to be released from prison. West has taken significant action towards his goal of releasing Hoover from prison.


title: Larry Hoover

text: On one of the demo versions of his song "Hurricane", which was meant to appear on his since-scrapped project, "Yandhi", West suggested calling his then-wife, Kim Kardashian, to help release Hoover, following Kardashian's success on working with President Trump to free a number of federal prisoners.


title: Larry Hoover

text: On October 11, 2018, during a luncheon with then-President Donald Trump, West pleaded for clemency for Hoover.


title: Larry Hoover

text: West's 2021 album "Donda" contains the tracks "Jesus Lord" and "Jesus Lord, Pt. 2", which both feature a recorded message by Hoover's son, Larry Hoover Jr., in which he discusses the "cracks" in America's criminal justice system, and talks about the impact of Hoover's incarceration on his family.


title: Larry Hoover

text: On December 9, 2021, West, along with fellow rapper Drake, hosted a "Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert" at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The main goal of the concert was to bring awareness to Hoover's case; West and Drake called for the release of Hoover and sought to raise awareness about prison and sentencing reform in the United States. Though West and Drake had previously been involved in an ongoing rivalry, they decided to put an end to their feud, and focus on putting their fame and influence to use by bringing awareness to Hoover's case, by organizing the benefit concert.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Daniel Hooker (born 13 February 1990) is a New Zealand mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Hooker was the King in the Ring Middleweight Kickboxing Champion and WKBF X-Rules Welterweight Champion. As of November 15, 2022, he is #11 in the UFC lightweight rankings.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker made his professional mixed martial arts debut in March 2009. He fought primarily in his native New Zealand and amassed a record of 10–4 before joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Dan is also a professional kickboxer with a 9–1–3 record, winning the King In The Ring Middleweight Kickboxing Championship and WKBF X-Rules Welterweight Championship.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker also has a 3–2 submission grappling record. On 18 October 2009 he took part in the ICNZ Contender Series 1 No-Gi Submission Wrestling Tournament. He beat Thomas Kwok and Bass Khou by guillotine choke and lost to Pumau Campbell on points. He also competed in the New Zealand 2011 No-Gi Nationals, in the Advanced under 77 kg / 170 lbs division, he beat Paul Faavaoga in the first round and lost to LJ Stevenson in the second round.


title: Dan Hooker

text: He has also competed in a heavyweight fight, for which he weighed in at 86 kg / 189 lbs, against Mark Creedy, winning by knockout in the second round. He also competed in a heavyweight tag team kickboxing match against Antz Nansen.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker has been coaching MMA since 2008, spending time as head coach at City Kickboxing gym in Auckland. In mid 2018 Hooker opened his own gym Combat Academy in Ellerslie, Auckland, a state-of-the-art gym that included a full-sized boxing ring and an octagon.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker made his promotional debut against fellow newcomer Ian Entwistle on 28 June 2014 at UFC Fight Night 43. Hooker won the back-and-forth fight via TKO in the first round.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced Maximo Blanco on 20 September 2014 at UFC Fight Night 52. Hooker lost the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced Hatsu Hioki on 10 May 2015 at UFC Fight Night 65. He won the fight via knockout due to a combination of head kick and punches in the second round. With this win, he became the first man to knock out Hioki in a MMA fight. The win also earned Hooker his first "Performance of the Night" bonus award.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker next faced Yair Rodríguez on 3 October 2015 at UFC 192. He lost the fight by unanimous decision.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker next faced Mark Eddiva on 20 March 2016 at UFC Fight Night 85. He won the fighting from a high-elbow mounted guillotine choke in the first round.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced Jason Knight on 27 November 2016 at UFC Fight Night 101. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Moving up from featherweight to lightweight, Hooker fought Ross Pearson on 11 June 2017 at UFC Fight Night 110. He trained locally in City Kickboxing in Newton, Auckland. He won the fight via knockout in the second round. The win also earned Hooker his second "Performance of the Night" bonus award.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced Marc Diakiese on 30 December 2017 at UFC 219 He won the fight via guillotine choke submission in the third round.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced Jim Miller on 21 April 2018 at UFC Fight Night 128. He won the fight via knockout in round one.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced James Vick on 20 July 2019 at UFC on ESPN 4. He won the fight via knockout in the first round. This win earned him the Performance of the Night bonus.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced former UFC title challenger Al Iaquinta on 6 October 2019 at UFC 243. He won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced Paul Felder on 23 February 2020 at . Hooker won the fight by a controversial split decision. Out of 17 media members, 12 scored it for Felder, and only 4 for Hooker. This fight earned him a "Fight of the Night" award.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced returning UFC title challenger Dustin Poirier on 27 June 2020 at . He lost the fight via unanimous decision. This contest earned him the "Fight of the Night" award. This bout was widely considered one of the greatest fights of the year, due its back-and-forth bloody exchanges.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced former three-time Bellator MMA lightweight champion and UFC newcomer Michael Chandler at UFC 257 on 24 January 2021. He lost the fight via technical knockout in the first round. After the bout, Hooker placed his gloves in the middle of the octagon as a sign of retirement. However, he then clarified that after reconsideration, he would not retire from the sport.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced Nasrat Haqparast on 25 September 2021 at UFC 266. He won the fight via unanimous decision.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced Islam Makhachev as a short notice replacement for Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 267. He lost the bout via submission due to a kimura in round one.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced Arnold Allen in a featherweight bout on 19 March 2022 at UFC Fight Night 204. He lost the fight via technical knockout in the first round.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker faced Claudio Puelles on November 12, 2022, at UFC 281. He won the bout in the second round via TKO stoppage, dropping Puelles with a teep kick to the body.


title: Dan Hooker

text: Hooker runs and teaches mixed martial arts at his own gym The Combat Academy in Auckland, New Zealand. In September 2021, Hooker announced that he was relocating to the United States due to problems he experienced with lockdown measures in New Zealand as well as obtaining a work visa to travel to the US from NZ.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: The Marshall Mathers LP is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem, released on May 23, 2000, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album was produced mostly by Dr. Dre and Eminem, along with The 45 King, the Bass Brothers, and Mel-Man. Recorded over a two-month period in several studios around Detroit, the album features more introspective lyricism, including Eminem's thoughts on his rise from rags to riches, the criticism of his music, and his estrangement from his family and wife. A transgressive work, it incorporates horrorcore and hardcore hip hop, while also featuring satirical songs. Featured appearances include Dido, RBX, Sticky Fingaz, Bizarre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Nate Dogg, and D12.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: Like its predecessor, "The Marshall Mathers LP" was surrounded by significant controversy upon its release, while also propelling Eminem to the forefront of American pop culture. Criticism centered on lyrics that were considered violent, homophobic, misogynistic, as well as the reference to the Columbine High School massacre. Lynne Cheney criticized the lyrics at a United States Senate hearing, while the Canadian government considered refusing Eminem's entry into the country. Despite the controversy of the album, it received acclaim from critics, who praised Eminem's lyrical ability and considered the album to have emotional depth.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: The album debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200, staying atop for eight consecutive weeks. A significant commercial success compared to the release of "The Slim Shady LP" just the previous year, the album sold 1.78 million copies in its first week, which made it among the fastest-selling studio albums in the United States. The album produced the singles "The Real Slim Shady", "The Way I Am", "Stan", "I'm Back" and "Bitch Please II". Among other publications, "Rolling Stone" named it the best album of 2000.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "The Marshall Mathers LP" has been included in several lists of the greatest albums of all time and is widely regarded as Eminem's best album. It has sold 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, and is certified 11× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Rap Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards, while "The Real Slim Shady" won Best Rap Solo Performance. "The Marshall Mathers LP 2", the album's sequel, was released in 2013.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: Inspired by the disappointment of his debut album, "Infinite" (1996), Eminem created the alter ego Slim Shady, whom he introduced on the "Slim Shady EP" (1997). After placing second in the annual Rap Olympics, Eminem was noticed by the staff at Interscope Records and eventually CEO Jimmy Iovine, who played the "Slim Shady EP" for hip hop producer Dr. Dre. Eminem and Dr. Dre then met and recorded "The Slim Shady LP" (1999), which was noted for its over-the-top lyrical depictions of drugs and violence. "The Slim Shady LP" was a critical and commercial success, debuting at number two on the "Billboard" 200 chart and selling 283,000 copies in its first week. At the 42nd Grammy Awards in 2000, the record won Best Rap Album, while the album's lead single "My Name Is" won Best Rap Solo Performance.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "The Slim Shady LP" turned Eminem from an underground rapper into a high-profile celebrity. The rapper, who had previously struggled to provide for his daughter Hailie, noted a drastic change in his lifestyle. In June 1999, he married his girlfriend Kimberly Ann "Kim" Scott, the mother of Hailie, despite the fact that the song "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" from "The Slim Shady LP" contains references to killing her. The rapper became uncomfortable with the level of fame he had achieved, and said, "I don't trust nobody now because everybody I meet is meeting me as Eminem...I don't know if they are hanging with me 'cause they like me or because I'm a celebrity or because they think they can get something from me." Eminem also became a highly controversial figure due to his lyrical content. He was labeled as "misogynist, a nihilist and an advocate of domestic violence", and in an editorial, "Billboard" editor in chief Timothy White accused Eminem of "making money by exploiting the world's misery".


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: Eminem considered naming the album "Amsterdam" after a trip to the city shortly after the release of "The Slim Shady LP", in which he and his friends engaged in heavy drug use. The "free" use of drugs Eminem observed during his time in Amsterdam greatly influenced his desire to openly discuss drug use in his music and inspired some of the content on the album.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "The Marshall Mathers LP" was recorded in a two-month-long "creative binge", which often involved 20-hour-long studio sessions. Eminem hoped to keep publicity down during the recording in order to stay focused on working and figuring out how to "map out" each song. He described himself as a "studio rat" who benefited creatively from the isolated environment of the studio. Much of the album was written spontaneously in the studio; Dr. Dre noted, "We don't wake up at two in the morning, call each other, and say, 'I have an idea. We gotta get to the studio.' We just wait and see what happens when we get there." Eminem observed that much of his favorite material on the album evolved from "fucking around" in the studio; "Marshall Mathers" developed from the rapper watching Jeff Bass casually strumming a guitar, while "Criminal" was based on a piano riff Eminem overheard Bass playing in studio next door. "Kill You" was written when Eminem heard the track playing in the background while talking to Dr. Dre on the phone and developed an interest in using it for a song. He then wrote the lyrics at home and met up with Dr. Dre and the two recorded the song together.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "Kim" was the first song the rapper recorded for the album, shortly after finishing work on "The Slim Shady LP". Eminem wrote "Kim" at a time in which he and his wife were separated, and he had just watched a romantic movie alone at a theater. Originally intending to write a love song for her while using ecstasy, the rapper hoped to avoid overt sentimentality and thus began writing a song of hate. With the track, the rapper aimed to create a short horror story in the form of a song. Once the couple reconciled, Eminem recalls, "I asked her to tell me what she thought of it. I remember my dumb ass saying, 'I know this is a fucked-up song, but it shows how much I care about you. To even think about you this much. To even put you on a song like this'." The song "Stan" was produced by The 45 King. Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg, sent Eminem a tape of the producer's beats, and the second track featured a sample of English singer-songwriter Dido's "Thank You". Upon hearing the song's lyrics, Eminem felt they described an obsessed fan, which became the inspiration for the song. The writing process for "Stan" differed greatly from Eminem's usual strategy, in which song concepts form during the writing: Stan' was one of the few songs that I actually sat down and had everything mapped out for. I knew what it was going to be about." Dido later heard "Stan" and enjoyed it, and observed, "I got this letter out of the blue one day. It said, 'We like your album, we've used this track. Hope you don't mind, and hope you like it.' When they sent ['Stan'] to me and I played it in my hotel room, I was like, 'Wow! This track's amazing.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: The record label speculated that Eminem would be the first artist to sell one million copies in an album's first week of release. These expectations placed a large burden on Eminem, who recalled, "I was scared to death. I wanted to be successful, but before anything, I want respect." After the album was finished, the record label felt that there were no songs that had potential to be a lead single. Feeling pressured, Eminem returned to the studio and wrote "The Way I Am" as his way of saying, "Look, this is the best I can do. I can't give you another 'My Name Is.' I can't just sit in there and make that magic happen." However, after the song was added to the album, Eminem felt the urge to write another song, and gave a hook to Dr. Dre for him to create a beat, and went home to write new lyrics; the song eventually became "The Real Slim Shady". The song also discusses Eminem killing Dr. Dre. The producer stated, "It was funny to me. As long as it's hot, let's roll with it ... in my opinion, the crazier it is the better. Let's have fun with it and excite people."


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: Considered both a horrorcore album and a hardcore hip hop album, much of the album's first half was produced by Dr. Dre and Mel-Man, who employed their typical sparse, stripped-down beats, to put more focus on Eminem's vocals. The background music on the record employs "liquid basslines, stuttering rhythms, slight sound effects, and spacious soundscapes". Bass Brothers and Eminem produced most of the second half, which ranges from the laid-back guitars of "Marshall Mathers" to the atmosphere of "Amityville". The only outside producer on the album was The 45 King, who sampled a verse from Dido's song "Thank You" for "Stan", while adding a slow bass line.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "The Marshall Mathers LP" is considered a transgressive work, and contains more autobiographical themes in comparison to "The Slim Shady LP". Much of the album is spent addressing his rise to fame and attacking those who criticized his previous album. Other themes include his relationship with his family, including his mother and Kim Mathers, his ex-wife. Unlike Eminem's major-label debut, "The Slim Shady LP", "The Marshall Mathers LP" is more introspective in its lyrics and uses less of the Slim Shady persona, with music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine writing that the album's lyrics "[blur] the distinction between reality and fiction, humor and horror, satire and documentary". The record showcases a variety of moods, ranging from irreverent and humorous to "dark and unsettling enough to make you want to enlarge the parental warning stickers on the album." According to Neil Strauss of "The New York Times", "Eminem never makes it clear which character—Slim Shady or Marshall Mathers—is the mask and which is the real person, because there is no clear-cut answer, except that there's a little bit of each character in all of us."


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: Most songs cover Eminem's childhood struggles and family issues, involving his mother ("Kill You"), the relationship struggles with his wife ("Kim"), his struggles with his superstardom and expectations ("Stan", "I'm Back", and "Marshall Mathers"), his return and effect on the music industry ("Remember Me?", "Bitch Please II"), his drug use ("Drug Ballad", "The Kids"), his effect on the American youth and society ("The Way I Am", "Who Knew"), and reactionary barbs to critical response of his vulgarity and dark themes ("Criminal"). Despite the large amount of controversy regarding the lyrics, the lyrics on the album were overwhelmingly well received among critics and the hip hop community, many praising Eminem's verbal energy and dense rhyme patterns.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: The record also contains lyrics that have been considered to be homophobic. The song "Criminal" features the line "My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge/That'll stab you in the head whether you're a fag or les...Hate fags?/The answer's yes". The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) condemned his lyrics and criticized the album for "encourag[ing] violence against gay men and lesbians". However, writing for the LGBT interest magazine "The Advocate", editor Dave White writes, "If he has gay-bashed you or me, then it logically follows that he has also raped his own mother, killed his wife, and murdered his producer, Dr. Dre. If he's to be taken literally, then so is Britney Spears' invitation to 'hit me baby, one more time'." Eminem noted that he began using the word "faggot" more frequently when "people got all up in arms about it...to piss them off worse", but added, "I think it's hard for some people to understand that for me the word 'faggot' has nothing to do with sexual preference. I meant something more like assholes or dickheads." Evangelical Christian religious figure James Dobson also heavily criticized Eminem.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: The first track, "Kill You", discusses the controversy that surrounded the rapper's first album, nightmares of "ladies' screams", and being raised by a single mother. In the song, Eminem also talks of raping his mother, and "notes the irony of magazines trumpeting his mother-raping self on their covers'." The six-and-a-half minute long "Stan" samples Dido's "Thank You" and tells the story of an exchange between the rapper and an obsessive fan, where the titular character berates Eminem for not responding to his letters, which later turns to the fan committing suicide with his pregnant girlfriend. On "Who Knew", the rapper addresses criticism regarding glorification of violence in his lyrics, pointing out perceived hypocrisy in American society. According to Gabriel Alvarez of "Complex", Eminem's response ranges oscillates from "smart-ass ('Oh, you want me to watch my mouth, how?/Take my fuckin' eyeballs out and turn 'em around?') to smart ('Ain't they got the same moms and dads who got mad when I asked if they liked violence?/And told me that my tape taught 'em to swear/What about the makeup you allow your 12-year-old daughter to wear?')." "Who Knew" is followed by the "Steve Berman" skit, where the president of sales at Interscope Records angrily confronts the rapper about his lyrical content. He notes that Dr. Dre was successful because he rapped about "big-screen TVs, blunts, 40's, and bitches", while Eminem raps about "homosexuals and Vicodin", and believes that the album will be a commercial disaster.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "The Way I Am" is a meditation on the pressure to maintain his fame, and his fear of being "pigeon-holed into some poppy sensation/to cop me rotation at rock 'n' roll stations". He also laments the negative media attention received by controversial public figures such as himself and Marilyn Manson in the wake of shootings, including the Columbine High School massacre and the West Side Middle School shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The rapper criticizes the media for focusing on tragedies such as school shootings while ignoring inner-city violence that occurs on a daily basis. "The Real Slim Shady" pokes fun at pop culture icons such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Will Smith. "Remember Me?" follows and features rappers RBX and Sticky Fingaz, who "kick seriously Stygian darkness on the ominous track". In the song, he states "I'm tryna clean up my fuckin' image / So I promised the fuckin' critics / I wouldn't say 'fuckin' for six minutes/(Six minutes, Slim Shady, you're on)". Despite saying the word "fuck" one more time in "Remember Me", and three times at the beginning of "I'm Back", he does not say the word "fuckin" for seven minutes and 29 seconds after delivering the original promise, saying it again in the song "Marshall Mathers".


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "I'm Back" features Eminem's observations regarding his rise to fame, explaining that he "became a commodity/'Cause I'm W-H-I-T-E". The next song, "Marshall Mathers", mocks the chorus of LFO's "Summer Girls", while criticizing the lack of artistic merit of pop stars such as Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and Ricky Martin. The song also takes aim at rap duo Insane Clown Posse, where Eminem raps about Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope being flaming homosexuals. "Drug Ballad" features Dina Rae and describes the rapper's struggles with his drug addiction, and writes about some of his experiences under the influence, including ecstasy which makes him "sentimental as fuck, spilling guts to you/we just met, but I think I'm in love with you". "Amityville" is a bass-heavy ode to living in Detroit, where the rapper discusses the city's crowning as murder capital of the United States. "Bitch Please II" features Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, and Xzibit, and contains elements of g-funk, as well as R&B crooning from Nate Dogg on the chorus.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "Kim", the prequel to "97 Bonnie and Clyde" from "The Slim Shady LP", features Eminem "screaming at his ex in an insane stream-of-consciousness hate spew". The song begins with Eminem talking softly to his daughter, but as the beat starts, the rapper takes on portraying two characters, utilizing his own enraged, threatening voice, and the terrified shrieks of his wife Kim. As the song ends, Eminem kills her while taunting, "Bleed, bitch, bleed!" "Kim" is followed by "Under the Influence", which sees Eminem speaking in gibberish for the chorus, and later rap group D12 "runs rampant" on the track. "Criminal" features production from F.B.T., which consists of "piano licks, swerving synth, and a deceptively simplistic bass rumble over which Em snakes and snarls and warns that 'you can't stop me from topping these charts...'". He pokes fun at critics who take his lyrical content seriously, explaining that "half the shit I say, I just make it up to make you mad".


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "The Marshall Mathers LP" was released on May 23, 2000, by Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope Records, in the United States, and on 11 September 2000, by Polydor Records in the United Kingdom. "The Marshall Mathers LP" was released with two different album covers. The original features Eminem sitting on the porch of the house he lived in during his teenage years. He reflected on the photo shoot by saying, "I had mixed feelings because I had a lot of good and bad memories in that house. But to go back to where I grew up and finally say, 'I've made it', is the greatest feeling in the world to me." The other cover features the rapper seated in a fetal position beneath a loading dock with alcohol and prescription pill bottles at his feet. Will Hermes of "Entertainment Weekly" likened Eminem's appearance on the cover to a "dysfunctional Little Rascal", viewing the image as indicative of the rapper's musical evolution: "Easy to read, right? The debut: a violent fantasy, the acting-out of a persona. The follow-up: the vulnerable artist unmasked."


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: In his book "Edited Clean Version: Technology and the Culture of Control", author Raiford Guins writes that the clean version of "The Marshall Mathers LP" "resembles a cross between a cell phone chat with terrible reception...and a noted hip-hop lyricist suffering from an incurable case of hiccups." This version of the album often either omits words completely or obscures them with added sound effects. The clean version of the album did not censor all profanity. Words like "ass", "bitch", "goddamn", and "shit" were uncensored. However, on the track "The Real Slim Shady", the words "bitch" and "shit" were censored out, as they used the clean version released for radio. References to violence and weapons were also significantly altered, and the songs "Kill You", "Drug Ballad" and "Bitch Please II" are written as "**** You", "Ballad" and "***** Please II" on the back cover of the album. The song "Kim" is removed completely and replaced by the "South Park"-themed "The Kids".


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: Significant edits were made to aggressive and violent lyrics that were aimed at police, prostitutes, women, homosexuals, bullies and schools. In response to the attack that had occurred at Columbine High School in April 1999, names of guns and sounds of them firing were censored. Interscope Records insisted on censoring the words "kids" and "Columbine" from the line, "I take seven [kids] from [Columbine], stand them all in line" from "I'm Back", even on the explicit version of the album. Mike Rubin of "Spin" called the censorship a "curious decision, given that lyrics like 'Take drugs / Rape sluts' are apparently permissible". Eminem commented on his lyrics regarding the shooting, "That Columbine shit is so fucking touchy. As much sympathy as we give the Columbine shootings, nobody ever looked at it from the fuckin' point of view of the kids who were bullied—I mean, they took their own fucking life! And it was because they were pushed so far to the fucking edge that they were fucking so mad. I've "been" that mad." The full line appears uncensored in Eminem's song "Rap God" from "The Marshall Mathers LP 2". The line "It doesn't matter [your attorney Fred Gibson's a] faggot" was also censored from "Marshall Mathers", which refers to his mother Debbie Nelson's lawyer, who assisted her in filing a lawsuit against the rapper for defamation regarding lyrics from "The Slim Shady LP".


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "The Marshall Mathers LP" sold 1.78 million copies in its first week, which made it one of the fastest-selling studio albums in the United States. The album sold twice as much as the previous hip hop record holder for first week sales in the US, which was Snoop Dogg's 1993 album "Doggystyle". "The Marshall Mathers LP" sold over 800,000 copies in its second week, 600,000 copies in its third week, and 520,000 copies in its fourth week for a four-week total of 3.65 million. It also became one of the few albums to sell over half a million copies for four consecutive weeks. In total, the album spent eight weeks at number one on the US "Billboard" 200, ranking it fourth on the current all-time list of weeks spent at number one by a hip hop album. By the end of 2000, "The Marshall Mathers LP" had become the second-best-selling album of the year with over eight million copies sold. "The Marshall Mathers LP" was also the best-selling album of 2000 in Canada, selling 679,567 copies.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: According to "Billboard", as of 2022, "The Marshall Mathers LP" is one of the 15 best-performing 21st-century albums without any of its singles being number-one hits on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The first single, "The Real Slim Shady", became Eminem's biggest hit up to that point. It peaked at number four on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and topped the UK Singles Chart. "The Way I Am", which was released as the album's second single, peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart and 58 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. "Stan", the third single released from the album, became a number-one hit in both the United Kingdom and Australia. The song, which details around a crazed fan of the same name, has been highlighted as a work of poetry by critics, and soon gave rise to the "Oxford English Dictionary" term stan.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: In 2010, Nielsen SoundScan reported that up until November 2009, "The Marshall Mathers LP" had sold 10,216,000 copies in the US, making it the fourth-best selling album of the decade. The album has been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and its sales stand at over 11 million copies in the United States, making it Eminem's best-selling album in his home country. In worldwide sales, the album has sold 25 million copies, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. A sequel to the album, "The Marshall Mathers LP 2", was released on November 5, 2013.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "The Marshall Mathers LP" was met with highly positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78, based on 21 reviews.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: "Rolling Stone" magazine's Touré applauded Dr. Dre's production and Eminem's varied lyrical style on what is a "car-crash record: loud, wild, dangerous, out of control, grotesque, unsettling", but ultimately captivating. "Melody Maker" said that Eminem's startlingly intense vision of "rap's self-consciousness" is truly unique, while Steve Sutherland of "NME" praised the album as a misanthropic and "gruelling assault course of lyrical genius" that critiques malevolent aspects of contemporary society. Chuck Eddy from "The Village Voice" said that Eminem is backed by attractive music and displays an emotionally complex and witting quality unlike his previous work. In the newspaper's consumer guide column, Robert Christgau called him "exceptionally witty and musical, discernibly thoughtful and good-hearted, indubitably dangerous and full of shit", while declaring the album "a work of art whose immense entertainment value in no way compromises its intimations of a pathology that's both personal and political". Will Hermes of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that as the first significant popular music album of the 2000s, "The Marshall Mathers LP" is "indefensible and critic-proof, hypocritical and heartbreaking, unlistenable and undeniable".


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: On the other hand, music journalist Greg Kot said the reaction to "The Marshall Mathers LP" was "mixed", or reluctantly positive, among critics who praised Eminem's "verbal skills and transgressive humor" but decried some of the subject matter. In his review for the "Los Angeles Times", Robert Hilburn reserved his praise because of homophobic lyrics on what he felt is an otherwise conceptual and personal work, "docked a half star because of the recurring homophobia—something that may be de rigueur in commercial rap, but which still is unacceptable." Steve Jones of "USA Today" opined that Eminem's "vicious and patently personal lyrical assaults" would "almost grow tedious if he weren't as inventive as he is tasteless." "Q" magazine felt that the subject matter does not make for an enjoyable listen, even though Eminem's disaffected and nihilistic lyrics can be provocative. "Slant Magazine"s Sal Cinquemani was more critical in a one-and-a-half star review and found his raps extremely distasteful: "The only thing worse than Eminem's homophobia is the immaturity with which he displays it". On the other hand, "Spin" felt that the rapping is excellent, but plagued more so by unremarkable music and lackluster tracks.


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: Among other publications, "Rolling Stone" and "Melody Maker" named "The Marshall Mathers LP" the best album of 2000. In 2000, the album won in the Best Album category at the MTV Europe Music Awards. It also won in the Best Rap Album category at the 43rd Grammy Awards in 2001. "The Marshall Mathers LP" was nominated for Album of the Year, but lost to jazz-rock duo Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature".


title: The Marshall Mathers LP

text: Since its initial release, "The Marshall Mathers LP" has been highly acclaimed in retrospective critic reviews. It has been regarded by critics as Eminem's best album and has been ranked in multiple lists of the greatest albums of all time. According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 192nd most acclaimed album in history. In "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" (2004), Christian Hoard said it "delved much deeper into personal pain [than "The Slim Shady LP"], and the result was a minor masterpiece that merged iller-than-ill flows with a brilliant sense of the macabre." According to Sputnikmusic's Nick Butler, "The Marshall Mathers LP" stands as a culturally significant record in American popular music, but also "remains a truly special album, unique in rap's canon, owing its spirit to rock and its heritage to rap, in a way I've rarely heard". Insanul Ahmed of "Complex" wrote, "At a time when the "Billboard" charts were dominated by squeaky-clean pop acts like NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, Eminem offered a rebuttal to the hypocritical American mainstream that criticizes rap music while celebrating—and, worse, commercializing—sex, violence, and bigotry in other arenas. This album turned Eminem into a global icon. There was a huge amount of hype and controversy around it [...] But none of that takes away from its musical achievement. This album definitively proved that the Detroit rapper was a gifted lyricist, a brilliant songwriter, and a visionary artist." Mike Elizondo, a former collaborator on Eminem's albums, said, “I felt like Marshall was part of this wave with Quentin Tarantino, "Pulp Fiction" (1994) and "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) [...] This next level of art with incredible graphic imagery that Marshall had the ability to paint. Love it or hate it he was obviously very skilled at the stories he was telling.”