Eminem Reveals Why He Started Rapping And Who We Have To Thank

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Even the most casual of Eminem fans will know that he didn't exactly have the easiest of upbringings.

Born in Kansas City, his father left when he was still a baby. At five he moved to Detroit but was beaten up so much his mother returned the family to Kansas City before moving back to Detroit when he was 11.

His mother had next to nothing and two children to raise leaving Marshall Mathers to fend for himself on the rough streets of Detroit.

Eminem is of course white but he was raised in black neighbourhoods and quickly embraced the culture around him.

In an interview with Spin Magazine in 2000, a year after his first record The Slim Shady LP was released, the rapper talked at length about his influences and how he first got into the rap game.

Credit: PA

"When you're a little kid, you don't see colour, and the fact that my friends were black never crossed my mind. It never became an issue until I was a teenager and started trying to rap," he said.

"The first hip-hop shit I ever heard was that song "Reckless" from the Breakin' soundtrack; my cousin played me the tape when I was, like, nine.

"I thought it was the most incredible shit I'd ever heard."

But it was when Eminem heard The Beastie Boys for the first time that he decided he wanted to become a rapper.

The Beastie Boys. Credit: PA

"That's what really did it for me. I was like, 'This shit is so dope!' That's when I decided I wanted to rap," he said.

From then on, Eminem played as many shows as he could, breaking down the 'white rapper' barrier which dogged him in the early days. And the rest, as we know, is history.

No Beastie Boys, no Eminem. Or at least, a lesser version of Eminem.

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Topics: eminem