Eminem is 16-years sober. Quite an accomplishment, especially considering how bad his drug addiction got at one time.
As we mentioned on Shannon’s Scoop today, Eminem celebrated 16-years sober over the weekend. He shared a sobriety coin on Instagram and got a lot of props for the accomplishment.
He’s had a lot of struggles over the years that he’s talked about in places like his manager Paul Rosenberg’s Paul Pod podcast and in interviews with XXL Magazine. He’s said in the past that he and some friends frequently went to Tijuana to purchase drugs such as Vicodin. And then he once said that he was coming off of the Marshall Mathers LP and going into Encore when his addiction really started to get bad. He was taking Vicodin and Valium and drinking alcohol and fell off the map a little bit.
Eminem said that the heaviest period of drug addiction spanned 5-years of his life and that he had 10 drug dealers at one time, and would sometimes take 75 to 80 Valiums a night. Wow. Em has said that he had a really rough patch when Proof died in 2006 and experienced a near-fatal drug overdose in 2007.
So, this is a big deal for him. It’s great that he celebrated it publicly because it’s always a good thing when others can see that and say, ‘if he can do it, I can too’. If someone else is struggling with something similar, that’s just the kind of encouragement they may need. You can read more below.
Eminem, born Marshall Matters, is a Grammy-winning rapper, entrepreneur, and producer. He got his big break starring lead in the film 8 Mile back in 2002. His song from the film, “Lose Yourself,” won Best Original Song at the Oscars, the first hip-hop song to win the award. Throughout his career, he has released 11 solo studio album; the latest is Music to Be Murdered By By in 2020. His last full-length project was a compilation album titled Curtain Call 2 which was released in 2022.
Some of his biggest hits include “The Real Slim Shady,” “My Name Is,” “The Way I Am,” “Love the Way You Lie,” “The Monster,” “Rap God,” “Not Afraid,” and more.
Last year, Eminem was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. He joins Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Tupac, Biggie, and more.
Eminem’s Personal Life
Ever since Eminem has been in the spotlight, when people weren’t talking about his music, the struggles in his personal life were the center of attention. While he was trying to get his rap career off the ground, he worked at a diner while he tried to support his then-girlfriend and later-wife Kim Scott and daughter Hailie Jade. However, it was until his debut EP in 1997 Slim Shady EP that the rapper took on this alter ego which showed a side into his drug use. Many of the lyrics in several of the songs on the debut EP for the rapper talked about his addiction as he rose to fame.
“My addiction didn’t start in my early days when I was coming up. We used to drink 40s on the porch and just battle rap each other. My drug usage started at the beginning of that first album,” he explained to Billboard last year.
While he battled his addiction amid his success in music, along the way he’s stirred the pot and has gotten himself into many rap beefs with various artists. From Mariah Carey to Ja Rule check out eight of his infamous rap beefs ranked:
8. Moby
Musician and producer Moby and Eminem’s beef occurred during the 2001 Grammys where he called the rapper “misogynistic and homophobic,” per Highsnobriety. Eminem didn’t take it too well and called him out in “Without Me.” Take a look at the diss track below:
7. Joe Budden
“The tracklist, without the benefit of a doubt, appears to be utter garbage,” Budden said about Eminem’s 2017 album Revival on his podcast. He then called the single “Untouchable” “trash” and “one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard.” Em retaliated on “Chloraseptic” and then later on his 2018 album Kamikaze, dissing Budden on the track “The Fall.”
6. Nick Cannon
Nick Cannon started beef with Eminem when he was with then-wife Mariah Carey. However, the riff esculated when Eminem brought it up 10 years later. At first, Eminem decided not to respond but then hopped on Fat Joe’s and Dre’s “Lord Above” and aimed straight for Cannon.
“I know me and Mariah didn’t end on a high note/ but that other dude’s whipped, that p—- got him neutered,” Eminem raps on the track.
Cannon later responded in a series of tracks titled, “The Invitation,” “The Invitation Canceled,” and “Pray for Him.”
5. Machine Gun Kelly
Machine Gun Kelly didn’t get the memo to not talk about Eminem’s daughter Hailie. MGK infamously referred to Eminem’s daughter as “hot as f—” in a now since-deleted tweet back in 2018. That’s when the Detroit native released the diss track “Killshot” with album artwork with the likeness of MGK. In the song, Eminem came for his hair, lack of hits, and his ex-girlfriend Halsey. MGK also responded to Eminem in a diss track of his own called “Rap Devil.”
4. Will Smith
At the 1999 MTV VMAs, during Will Smith’s acceptance speech for Best Male Video award, where Eminem was also one of the nominees, Smith slighted the rapper saying that he didn’t need to use “profanity or threaten people” to sell records. Eminem didn’t take it lightly and released “The Real Slim Shady” with the line directed at the actor: “Will Smith don’t gotta cuss in his raps to sell records / Well, I do, so f— him and f— you too.” Smith responded by releasing “Mr. Niceguy.”
3. Ja Rule
Eminem stayed out of Ja Rule’s and 50 Cent’s beef until Ja Rule took mentioned his daughter in his song “Loose Change.” Slim Shady doesn’t play about his daughter and released a series of diss tracks including “Doe Rae Me (Hailie’s Revenge),”“Bully,” and “Hail Mary” with 50 and Busta Rhymes. Take a look at “Hail Mary” below:
2. Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey’s and Eminem’s back-and-forth definitely tops as some of the best diss tracks from these influential artists. The beef started when Eminem sparked speculation that there was a relationship between the two in a 2002 interview with Larry King. He said that they have “hung out multiple times.” Mariah alleges a relationship never occurred so Eminem released private voicemails of her during his Anger Management Tour. The MC also attacked Mariah and Nick Cannon’s relationship in the track “Bagpipes From Baghdad.” Mariah responded by releasing the song and music video “Obsessed” where she dressed up looking like the “Lose Yourself” rapper.
1. Christina Aguilera
In 1999, Eminem married Kim Scott and was trying to keep the ceremony under wraps until Christina Aguilera told press for her What A Girl Wants MTV special in 2000. The songstress also talked about “physical abuse in relationships” warning women to look out for certain behaviors, something else the MC did not take likely. Instead of having a sit-down interview on the incident he went straight to the booth and did what he does best and called out the pop star in the iconic diss track “The Real Slim Shady.” Aguilera wasn’t taking it either and showed she has some bars as well and did a remix of his diss track called, “The Real Slim Shady (Please Shut Up).”
Jonel Jaksa is the producer for The All-New Morning Bounce with Mean Jean and Shannon Renee. He’s been with 105.1 The Bounce since 2020 and has been in radio for over 20 years. He’s worked at several stations and in a wide array of radio formats, from hip-hop to rock to country music to sports talk, and is a three-time Michigan Association of Broadcasters award winner. As a content creator for 105.1 The Bounce, Jonel writes articles on hip-hop music, movies, WWE and pop culture.
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