The man otherwise known as Junior was christened Marshall Bruce Mathers III, and was born October 17, 1972, in Kansas City, MO.

While raised by his mother, traveling from one trailer park to another was the only tune Junior was singing. His single mother would move her son from Kansas City to Warren, Michigan, only to finally settle down in the East Side of Detroit when Junior was 12.

Thanks to a childhood tainted by constant moving around and a broken family, Junior was a surprisingly quiet child, and delved mostly into comics and TV. While a student at Lincoln Junior High School and Osbourne High School, Junior's interests moved onto '80s rap such as 2 Live Crew, LL Cool J and NWA, and he began to open up more in the form of rapping and rhyming.

But as a white rapper singing predominantly "black" music, Junior got into many fights while in school. Despite his rhyming talents, Junior didn't spend much of his time actually studying, and after mastering the art of skipping school, the teenage delinquent dropped out altogether.

He spent his time working several minimum-wage jobs, while concentrating on rapping. After contributing his rapping skills to groups such as Basement Productions and Sole Intent, and establishing a reputation for himself as the only white rapper taking to the Detroit "talent night" microphones, the master rhymer released a solo independent album, Infinite, in 1996.

Junior did not see the success he's enjoying now; in fact, he received no more than negative comments and criticism. Not discouraged to keep trying, despite hurtful negativity, Junior continued to appear in shows and on radio stations in Detroit, and eventually was mentioned in the Source's "Unsigned Hype" column and won the 1997 Wake Up Show Freestyle Performer of the year award.

He participated in the Coalition's 1997 "Rap Olympics" in LA, where he ranked second place, after he gave someone from the Rap Coalition a copy of his debut, Infinite. After former NWA member Dr. Dre heard Junior's skills on an LA radio station, he was convinced that he wanted to work with the freestyler.

Dre signed Junior to his Aftermath Entertainment label, and together they worked on releasing The Slim Shady LP, which included more songs than the independently, previously released The Slim Shady EP. Released in 1998, The Slim Shady EP (named after Junior's evil alter-ego -- no kidding) made the rapper a star on the rap scene, and led to his appearance on MC Shabaam Sahdeeq's "Five Star General".

In 1999, The Slim Shady LP was released, containing songs such as "My Name Is..." and his collaboration with Dre, "Guilty Conscience". The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Album charts, and has since gone three times platinum, which is nothing compared to the success he would see with his next release.

Chock-full of award recognition, what with an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist, and 2 Grammys (one for Rap Solo Performance for "My Name Is...", another for Best Rap Album), Junior went back to the studio.

When Junior's The Marshall Mathers LP was released in 2000, Junior quickly became the star of the year. The album sold 2 million copies in its first week of release, and it stayed put as number one on the charts for a firm 8 weeks. Spawning huge hits such as "The Real Slim Shady" (which triggered an ongoing war with bubble gum pop princesses Britney Spearsand Christina Aguilera, "The Way I Am" and "Stan" (which catapulted the career of trip-hop artist Dido, Junior's self-titled LP deserved all the recognition it received, despite the controversy.

The multi-platinum selling artist received the Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance for "The Real Slim Shady", Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Forgot About Dre" (he collaborated on Dre's single), and the Best Rap Album of the Year Award, in 2001. He also didn't fail to plug his proteges, the group D-12, whose members came up with him as he accepted an award. Junior was also a winner at the 2001 Brit Awards, where he nabbed the award for Best International Male Artist.

Despite the controversy surrounding Junior's vulgar and suggestive lyrics, not to mention negative press such as being sued by his mother, his wife (and mother of his daughter Hailie Jade) filing for divorce, being charged with gun possession, as well as his wife's suicide attempt, and pretty much being despised by everyone in the free world, it's hard to ignore Junior's sheer talent as a lyricist, and musician.