page_title: Eminem
section_title: 1988–1997: Early career, Infinite and family struggles
hierarchical_section_title: Eminem / Life and career / 1988–1997: Early career, Infinite and family struggles
caption_attribution_description: English: Proof and Eminem 1999 at the Juice Jam in Munich/Germany
context_page_description: Marshall Bruce Mathers III, known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor and record producer. Credited with popularizing hip hop in Middle America, Eminem's global success and acclaimed works are widely regarded as having broken racial barriers for the acceptance of white rappers in popular music. While much of his transgressive work during the early 2000s made him hugely controversial, he came to be a representation of popular angst and the American underclass. He has been influential for many artists of various genres and is often cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time.
  After his debut album Infinite and the extended play Slim Shady EP, Eminem signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and subsequently achieved mainstream popularity in 1999 with The Slim Shady LP. His next two releases The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show were worldwide successes and were both nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. After the release of his next album, Encore, Eminem went on hiatus in 2005 partly due to a prescription drug addiction.
context_section_description: In 1988, he went by the stage name MC Double M and formed his first group New Jacks with DJ Butter Fingers. In 1989, they later joined Bassmint Productions who later changed their name to Soul Intent in 1992 with rapper Proof and other childhood friends. They released a self-titled EP in 1995 featuring Proof. Eminem also made his first music video appearance in 1992 in a song titled, "Do-Da-Dippity", by Champtown. Later in 1996, Eminem and Proof teamed up with four other rappers to form The Dirty Dozen (D12), who released their first album Devil's Night in 2001. Eminem had his first run-in with the law at age 20, when he was arrested for his involvement in a drive-by shooting with a paintball gun. The case was dismissed when the victim did not appear in court.
  Eminem was soon signed to Jeff and Mark Bass's FBT Productions, and recorded his debut album Infinite for their independent Web Entertainment label. The album was a commercial failure upon its release in 1996. One lyrical subject of Infinite was his struggle to raise his newborn daughter, Hailie Jade Scott Mathers, on little money. During this period, Eminem's rhyming style, primarily inspired by rappers Nas, Esham and AZ, lacked the comically violent slant for which he later became known. Detroit disc jockeys largely ignored Infinite, and the feedback Eminem did receive ("Why don't you go into rock and roll?") led him to craft angrier, moodier tracks. At this time Eminem and Kim Scott lived in a crime-ridden neighborhood, and their house was robbed several times. Eminem cooked and washed dishes for minimum wage at Gilbert's Lodge, a family-style restaurant at St. Clair Shores. His former boss described him as becoming a model employee, as he worked 60 hours a week for six months after Hailie's birth. He was fired shortly before Christmas, and later said, "It was, like, five days before Christmas, which is Hailie's birthday. I had, like, forty dollars to get her something." After the release of Infinite, his personal problems and substance abuse culminated in a suicide attempt. By March 1997 he was fired from Gilbert's Lodge for the last time and lived in his mother's mobile home with Kim and Hailie.
caption: Eminem and Proof performing in 1999
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