Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (/ˌɛmɪˈnɛm/; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, film producer, and actor. He is consistently cited as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time and was labeled the "King of Hip Hop" by Rolling Stone.[2][3] In addition to his solo career, Eminem was a member of the hip hop group D12. He is also known for his collaborations with fellow Detroit-based rapper Royce da 5'9"; the two are collectively known as Bad Meets Evil. After his debut album Infinite (1996) and the extended play Slim Shady EP (1997), Eminem signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and subsequently achieved mainstream popularity in 1999 with The Slim Shady LP, which earned him his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.[4] His next two releases, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002), were worldwide successes, with each being certified Diamond in U.S. sales and both winning Grammy Award's for Best Rap Album—making Eminem the first artist to win the award for three consecutive albums. They were followed by Encore in 2004, which was another commercial success, but did not receive the amount of critical success his previous albums had received. Eminem went on hiatus after touring in 2005 partly due to a prescription drug addiction.[5] He released Relapse in 2009 and Recovery in 2010. Both won Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album and Recovery was the best-selling album of 2010 worldwide, the second time he had the international best-selling album of the year (after The Eminem Show). Eminem's eighth album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013), won two Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album; it expanded his record for the most wins in the category.[4][6] These were followed by 2017's Revival and 2018's Kamikaze,[7] the latter being the best-selling hip hop album of 2018.[3] In November 2002, he starred in the drama film 8 Mile playing a fictionalized version of himself, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself", making him the first hip hop artist to ever win the award.[8] Eminem has made cameo appearances in the films The Wash (2001), Funny People (2009), and The Interview (2014), and the television series Entourage (2010). Eminem has developed other ventures, including Shady Records, with manager Paul Rosenberg, which helped launch the careers of artists such as 50 Cent, Yelawolf and Obie Trice, among others. Eminem has also established his own channel, Shade 45, on Sirius XM Radio. With over 230 million records sold globally, Eminem is among the best-selling music artists of all time. He is the best-selling music artist in the United States in the 2000s. He has won numerous awards including fiften Grammy Awards, eight American Music Awards, seventeen Billboard Music Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original for "Lose Yourself) and a MTV Europe Music Award for Global Icon Award.[9] Throughout his career, Eminem has had nine number-one albums on the Billboard 200, which all consecutively debuted at number one on the chart making him the only artist to achieve this, and five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100.[3] Rolling Stone placed Eminem in their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[10] (CLOSE)