0:00:00.790,0:00:02.601
His real name is Marshall Mathers,

0:00:02.601,0:00:05.079
but you probably know him as Eminem.

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He's the biggest selling artist [br]of the past decade

0:00:07.519,0:00:09.873
earning 11 Grammys, 1 Oscar,

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and mountains of criticism for lyrics

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that are as profane as they are poetic

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Whether you are a fan of rap or not,

0:00:16.644,0:00:21.438
Eminem's life story is an extraordinary tale [br]of success against all odds

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A story he hasn't talked much about, [br]until now.

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We met up with him [br]in his hometown Detroit,

0:00:27.052,0:00:29.101
in order to find out how a white kid,

0:00:29.202,0:00:31.194
who never made it past the ninth grade

0:00:31.264,0:00:33.757
was able to propel himself to the top

0:00:33.777,0:00:36.479
of a predominantly [br]African-American art form.

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(Clock ticking)

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The story will continue in a moment.

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(Music playing)

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When Eminem stepped out of the shadows

0:00:50.187,0:00:52.886
last month in Detroit [br]in front of 40,000 people,

0:00:53.128,0:00:59.952
It was a triumphant comeback for a superstar,[br]who had all but disappeared. (Music)

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At 37, sober after struggling with [br]addiction for the past 5 years,

0:01:07.289,0:01:12.404
Eminem has the energy and intensity[br]of a boxer. (Eminem - Not Afraid)

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A fighter trying to win from the crowd,[br]one simple thing:

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Eminem: "Respect."[br]A. Cooper: "Respect?"

0:01:19.312,0:01:21.703
Eminem: "Respect. You know, [br]not so important now

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but I felt like the fighter coming up

0:01:23.483,0:01:27.179
man, I felt like, you know, I'm being attacked[br]for this reason, for that reason and,

0:01:27.179,0:01:29.088
I've gotta fight my way through this."

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He's been fighting since he was a kid,[br]living on the rough side of Detroit's 8-mile,

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the road dividing the white suburb from[br]the mostly black city.

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8 Miles, also the title of the[br]critically acclaimed movie Eminem starred in,

0:01:41.441,0:01:43.878
his character based largely on himself, [br]

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an aspiring white rapper [br]with a dead end job,

0:01:46.918,0:01:50.665
a troubled mother, and a dream[br]of escaping his bleak life.

0:01:50.665,0:01:53.112
AC: "I mean, you still come back here?"[br]Eminem:"Yeah"

0:01:53.352,0:01:56.470
To understand how Eminem got [br]to where he is today,

0:01:56.665,0:01:58.387
you need to know where he came from.

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Not just a broken home,[br]but a series of them.

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Raised by a single mom,[br]they lived hand to mouth,

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on and off welfare, constantly moving [br]from one place to another

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AC:"So you had to change schools [br]every couple of months?"

0:02:11.804,0:02:14.188
E: "Yeah, I would change schools [br]2-3 times a year,

0:02:14.188,0:02:16.298
And that was probably the roughest part."

0:02:16.485,0:02:21.269
The roughest, and most formative. [br]He was a shy kid in tough public schools,

0:02:21.275,0:02:22.770
and was frequently bullied.

0:02:22.770,0:02:24.623
AC: "You got beat up a lot as a kid?"

0:02:24.623,0:02:27.457
Eminem: "Yeah, there was a lot of instances..."

0:02:27.500,0:02:29.670
AC: You got beat up [br]coming home from school?"

0:02:29.670,0:02:33.276
Eminem: "Beat up in the bathroom,[br]beat up in the hallways,

0:02:33.545,0:02:36.879
shoved into lockers, you know.

0:02:37.095,0:02:40.098
For the most part, man you know, [br]just being the new kid."

0:02:40.327,0:02:42.649
He discovered rap as a teenager,

0:02:42.930,0:02:45.159
and in its tough talk [br]and street smart sound,

0:02:45.383,0:02:46.314
found his voice.

0:02:46.506,0:02:48.852
(Eminem rapping)

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After dropping out of high school,[br]he began competing in local rap battles,

0:02:58.978,0:03:01.960
depicted in the movie, [br]one-on-one verbal fights[br]

0:03:02.134,0:03:06.185
where the goal was to come up with [br]the cleverest rhymes and the best insults.

0:03:10.482,0:03:13.223
Hip hop, it has always been about[br]bragging and boasting ,

0:03:13.223,0:03:15.556
and I am better than you at this [br]and I am better than you at that,

0:03:15.556,0:03:19.477
and I finally found something that[br]'Yeah this kid over here, you know,

0:03:19.477,0:03:24.455
he may have more chicks,[br]he may have better clothes or whatever,

0:03:24.456,0:03:27.028
but he can't do this like me.[br]You know what I mean,

0:03:27.028,0:03:29.233
he can't write what I am writing right now

0:03:29.233,0:03:32.423
and it started to feel like, you know,

0:03:32.429,0:03:34.592
'May be Marshall's getting [br]a little respect.'

0:03:35.134,0:03:36.729
That respect was a hard one.

0:03:36.895,0:03:40.915
He was often the only white guy competing [br]in underground clubs like this one.

0:03:40.940,0:03:46.176
AC: "Did you feed off the fact that,[br]people may be underestimated you,

0:03:46.550,0:03:48.082
or didn't respect you early on?"

0:03:48.310,0:03:50.194
Eminem: "Oh, definitely. I think that,

0:03:50.403,0:03:56.492
you know, there was certainly like a [br]rebellious, youthful rage, kind of, in me,

0:03:56.492,0:04:00.636
and there was also, you know, the fact of,[br]

0:04:02.326,0:04:05.702
the no getting away from fact that, I am white,[br]

0:04:05.702,0:04:09.830
and this is predominantly black music.

0:04:09.830,0:04:13.130
and people tellin' me, you don't belong,[br]you are not going to succeed,

0:04:13.142,0:04:14.465
because you are this color.

0:04:14.465,0:04:18.179
Then you wanna show these people[br]that you can and you will.

0:04:19.569,0:04:22.013
Ever since Eminem broke out[br]from the underground and

0:04:22.013,0:04:24.077
into the mainstream in 1999,

0:04:24.307,0:04:26.904
he's amazed audiences and critics alike,

0:04:27.085,0:04:30.823
with his ability to tell [br]stories through music, (Music)

0:04:34.653,0:04:38.621
and rapid fire word-play. (fast rapping)

0:04:47.451,0:04:51.440
He writes his own songs and[br]delights in rhyming words others can't.

0:04:51.704,0:04:54.993
(rapping)

0:05:03.222,0:05:05.201
Eminem: "So, I would start out slow..."

0:05:05.201,0:05:08.503
We talked to him about how he does it[br]in his private recording studio.

0:05:08.519,0:05:10.385
AC: "I've heard you say that [br]you bend the words."

0:05:10.385,0:05:12.711
Eminem: "Yeah, is just in the [br]enunciation of it

0:05:12.711,0:05:19.288
like people say that, the word orange[br]doesn't rhyme with anything.

0:05:19.288,0:05:21.279
And that kinda pisses me off

0:05:21.279,0:05:23.170
because I can think of a lot of things[br]that rhyme with orange.

0:05:23.170,0:05:24.960
AC: "What rhymes with orange?"

0:05:24.960,0:05:29.308
Eminem: If you're taking the word [br]at face value, and just say orange,

0:05:29.451,0:05:31.984
nothing is gonna rhyme with it exactly.

0:05:33.181,0:05:38.721
If you enunciate it and make it,[br]like more than one syllable, orange,

0:05:38.887,0:05:40.751
you could say it like:

0:05:43.269,0:05:52.029
"I put my orange, 4-inch door hinge [br]in storage, in a porridge, with George...

0:05:52.202,0:05:55.957
just had to figure out the science to [br]breaking down words and try to..."

0:05:55.957,0:05:58.402
AC: "And do you think about this[br]throughout the day?"

0:05:58.434,0:06:02.124
I mean, you're driving along and [br]you think about rhyming words?"

0:06:02.124,0:06:04.935
Eminem: "Yeah, all day. I actually[br]drive myself insane with it"

0:06:04.935,0:06:07.260
AC: "But, unusually for a guy [br]who hated school,

0:06:07.435,0:06:10.391
who was in he 9th grade 3 times,

0:06:10.569,0:06:13.411
you spend all your time [br]thinking about words?"

0:06:13.548,0:06:16.505
Eminem: I found it, no matter[br]how bad I was in school,

0:06:16.651,0:06:20.579
no matter how low my grades mighta been,

0:06:20.681,0:06:24.023
sometimes, I always was good at English.

0:06:24.030,0:06:26.532
AC: I heard that you used to [br]read the dictionary."

0:06:26.532,0:06:30.426
Eminem: I just felt like, I wanna be able[br]to have all these words at my disposal,

0:06:30.427,0:06:34.941
in my vocabulary, at all times,[br]whenever I need to pull em out,

0:06:34.950,0:06:37.204
somewhere they'll be stored, [br]locked away..."

0:06:37.204,0:06:40.563
His words are stored but[br]not exactly locked away.

0:06:40.729,0:06:42.380
He actually keeps them in boxes.

0:06:42.380,0:06:45.148
AC: "You store stuff in [br]chests and boxes like this?"

0:06:45.164,0:06:45.883
Eminem: "Yes."

0:06:46.166,0:06:48.522
Inside are hundreds of scraps of paper,

0:06:48.591,0:06:51.653
in which he's obsessively scrawled down[br]words and phrases.

0:06:51.747,0:06:56.465
AC: "This is a pad from [br]a hotel in Paris, looks like.

0:06:56.599,0:07:00.154
and you just scribble like some [br]4 little words or something like.

0:07:00.217,0:07:02.227
How do you even read this, [br]this is tiny."

0:07:02.227,0:07:04.382
E: "I know what it says. It says, I guess

0:07:05.918,0:07:09.129
I don't think that, [br]I might use that, actually."

0:07:09.267,0:07:12.356
They're not lyrics really, [br]they're just ideas that he collects.

0:07:12.480,0:07:14.879
He calls it 'Stacking Ammo'.

0:07:15.012,0:07:17.720
E: "So its just, like, when I feel..."

0:07:17.723,0:07:19.225
AC: "I've done some stuff [br]with some crazy people

0:07:19.225,0:07:20.307
and they kind of look like this."

0:07:20.307,0:07:21.012
E: "Yeah?"

0:07:21.027,0:07:23.994
AC Sometimes, either they're all[br]in capital letters or

0:07:24.004,0:07:25.807
sort of scrawled on pages like this."

0:07:27.507,0:07:30.524
E: "Well, that's probably [br]because I'm crazy."

0:07:32.840,0:07:35.321
Listen to the lyrics of [br]many of his early songs

0:07:35.321,0:07:39.711
and you do get the feeling, his music has been[br]a painfully public way of settling score.

0:07:41.198,0:07:43.257
Including with his mother,

0:07:45.017,0:07:48.201
and his father who left him [br]when he was 6 months old.

0:07:48.307,0:07:49.658
E: "I never knew him, so..."

0:07:49.722,0:07:50.980
AC: You never met him?"

0:07:51.108,0:07:53.063
E: "Never met him, never knew him..."

0:07:53.167,0:07:54.478
AC: "You want to, or..."

0:07:55.510,0:07:57.859
E: "I don't know, I don't know.

0:07:57.859,0:08:01.085
Some people ask me that,[br]I don't think I do.

0:08:01.355,0:08:03.348
I just... I can't understand how,

0:08:05.330,0:08:07.888
if my kids move to the edge of the Earth,

0:08:07.888,0:08:13.131
I'd find them. No doubt in my mind.

0:08:13.131,0:08:16.069
No money, no nothing. [br]If I had nothing, I'd find my kids.

0:08:16.759,0:08:18.264
So there's no excuse."

0:08:19.445,0:08:22.341
Eminem may be fiercely protective of his kids,

0:08:22.416,0:08:25.986
but he's been accused of being harmful[br]to just about everybody else's.

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The language he's used in songs[br]spark protests and accusations

0:08:30.356,0:08:32.736
that he promoted violence [br]against women and gays.

0:08:32.768,0:08:35.938
He's been branded [br]a misogynist and a homophobe.

0:08:35.938,0:08:37.719
E:"I felt like I was being attacked"

0:08:37.749,0:08:38.811
AC: "Like you were being singled out."

0:08:38.860,0:08:41.619
E: "I was being singled out,[br]and I felt like, is it because

0:08:41.619,0:08:45.105
of the color of my skin? Is it because [br]of that you're paying more attention?

0:08:45.105,0:08:49.184
Because there's certain rappers that[br]do and say the same things that I'm saying

0:08:49.184,0:08:51.648
and I don't hear no one saying[br]anything about that.

0:08:51.648,0:08:54.813
I didn't just invent [br]saying offensive things."

0:08:55.419,0:08:57.241
AC: "Some of the lyrics, like you know

0:08:57.316,0:08:59.887
In the song Kill You, you're saying[br]'Bitch, I'mma kill you',

0:08:59.887,0:09:02.230
'You don't wanna f- with me.'

0:09:02.261,0:09:04.878
You say 'My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge. [br]

0:09:04.921,0:09:07.542
That'll stab you in the head,[br]whether you're a fag or lez,[br]

0:09:07.622,0:09:09.894
Hate fags?The answer's 'yes'.'[br]

0:09:11.905,0:09:15.714
E: "This scene that I came up in. [br]That word was thrown around so much

0:09:15.791,0:09:21.061
you know, "faggot" was like thrown around [br]constantly to each other, like in battling.[br]

0:09:23.199,0:09:27.319
Do you not like gay people?[br]E: "No, I don't have any problems with nobody.

0:09:27.424,0:09:29.811
You know what I mean like,[br]I'm just, whatever."

0:09:29.811,0:09:33.445
AC:"And for, you know, some parent who is[br]listening to this says, 'Well, you know,

0:09:33.544,0:09:37.931
my kid hears this, hears you [br]calling somebody bitch or using the f-word

0:09:38.008,0:09:39.931
and starts to use it themselves.'

0:09:40.016,0:09:42.000
Do you feel a sense of responsibility?

0:09:42.000,0:09:44.191
E: "I feel like its your job to parent them.

0:09:44.191,0:09:47.361
If you're the parent, be a parent,[br]you know what I mean,

0:09:47.361,0:09:49.828
I'm a parent, I've had daughters.

0:09:49.928,0:09:51.914
I mean, how would I really [br]sound as a person,

0:09:51.914,0:09:53.940
like walking around my house, you know

0:09:54.004,0:09:56.574
'Bitch, pick this up...' [br]You know what I mean, like

0:09:56.699,0:09:59.087
AC: That's not how you are[br]in your life."

0:09:59.087,0:10:00.721
E: "Profanity around my house, no

0:10:00.789,0:10:03.885
but this is music, this is my art.[br]This is what I do."

0:10:03.975,0:10:05.869
(Rapping)

0:10:09.740,0:10:12.507
Despite the controversy, [br]or maybe because of it,

0:10:12.507,0:10:15.468
he's sold more than [br]80 million albums worldwide.

0:10:15.593,0:10:18.761
He admits he had a hard time [br]adjusting to all the attention.

0:10:21.199,0:10:23.814
For much of his career he was [br]high during performances,

0:10:23.943,0:10:27.714
and eventually became addicted to [br]Vicodin, Valium and Ambien.

0:10:27.825,0:10:32.753
On December 2007, he overdosed,[br]collapsing in the bathroom of his home.

0:10:32.850,0:10:33.988
AC: "You almost died."

0:10:33.988,0:10:35.531
E: "Yeah. Definitely."

0:10:35.603,0:10:38.123
AC: "How close do you think [br]you were to dying?"

0:10:38.184,0:10:42.479
E: "They said 2 hours. If I would have[br]got to the hospital 2 hours later,

0:10:42.541,0:10:45.036
that would've been it. [br]Cuz my organs, everything

0:10:45.052,0:10:48.356
my kidneys, everything were failing,[br]everything were shutting down."

0:10:48.372,0:10:50.920
He's been sober 2 and a half years now,

0:10:50.920,0:10:53.829
but has had to teach himself [br]how to write again, rap again,

0:10:53.829,0:10:55.438
and even how to perform

0:10:55.438,0:11:00.241
as he told us hours before Detroit concert,[br]promoting his new album called Recovery.

0:11:00.241,0:11:03.391
AC: "So, this is your first US stadium concert[br]that you are sober?"

0:11:03.462,0:11:05.108
E: "Yeah, Yep."

0:11:05.174,0:11:06.726
AC: "Do you ever, you know, [br]when you look out

0:11:06.795,0:11:09.278
and you see 40,000 people[br]and they're all singing your song..."

0:11:09.898,0:11:14.768
E: "Crazy. I mean, you know...

0:11:14.768,0:11:17.014
an artist will say that [br]they get used to it,

0:11:17.014,0:11:19.851
but I think that they're [br]probably lying if they do.

0:11:20.183,0:11:22.475
Cuz you gotta be wowed, man,[br]you gotta be like,

0:11:22.569,0:11:29.381
you gotta be taken back by seeing[br]this many people and their faces and..."

0:11:30.516,0:11:32.768
AC: "Do you actually see their faces[br]when you are performing?"

0:11:32.768,0:11:34.376
E: "Oh yeah. Yeah I do now.

0:11:35.892,0:11:37.759
Before it was yeah,[br]was a big blur."

0:11:37.789,0:11:41.323
(Eminem in concert)[br]Everybody in here, tonight

0:11:41.323,0:11:42.711
who is an Eminem fan, man

0:11:42.803,0:11:44.868
I just want to take a minute out to say[br]

0:11:45.409,0:11:48.336
Thank you. For the support that [br]you all have showed me.

0:11:50.016,0:11:52.897
For not giving up in me, that's some[br]real sh-t liking man.[br]

0:11:53.417,0:11:56.749
Especially you Detroit, I love you.

0:11:56.885,0:11:58.619
This song is for you.

0:11:59.151,0:12:00.868
(Eminem-Not Afraid)

0:12:00.983,0:12:02.817
His songs are still deeply personal,

0:12:02.881,0:12:05.267
but some of the [br]hard edged anger has softened.

0:12:05.348,0:12:09.722
In his new song Not Afraid, [br]he offers a hand to those in need.

0:12:09.857,0:12:12.377
AC: "'Everybody come take my hand,[br]We'll walk this road together.'

0:12:12.439,0:12:16.927
10 years ago, could you have imagined [br]yourself rapping something like that?"

0:12:17.000,0:12:20.979
E: "Probably not. You know, I don't [br]want to go overboard with it,

0:12:21.050,0:12:26.295
but do I feel like, if I can help people[br]that've been through a similar situation

0:12:26.405,0:12:27.747
then you know, why not?

0:12:27.778,0:12:31.569
(Music)

0:12:38.565,0:12:39.945
(Clock ticking)

0:12:42.994,0:12:47.556
Go to 60MintuesOvertime.com[br]to go backstage and behind the scenes

0:12:47.606,0:12:51.455
on the Eminem story with Anderson Cooper,[br]sponsored by Pfizer.