Eminem Net Worth, Rapper, Early Life

But what do you really know about Eminem? Let's dig beneath the surface to learn all about Eminem's net worth, career, family, early life, and more. Read on to learn everything you never thought you wanted to know about Eminem.

Eminem's Net Worth

It's hard to pin down Eminem's exact net worth. Eminem has sold over 500 million records so far, and that doesn't include singles and Eminem's other financial ventures (including acting, merchandise, and more).

At the time of this article, it seems as though Eminem's net worth is roughly 230 million dollars. That's a lot of money for a rapper who rose up from nothing!

Does Eminem Have a Salary?

Being a rapper isn't a traditional job, so Eminem doesn't have a salary, per se. He makes money off of record sales, individual song sales, interviews, meet and greets, and even royalties from acting experiences.

It is estimated that he makes about 10 million to 20 million dollars per year. If he's touring or actively promoting, that number may rise up to somewhere between 30 million and 50 million.

If Eminem isn't actively working, he'll still be collecting royalties. His long career has made it so he's set for life!

Eminem: Early Life

Eminem was born Marshall Bruce Mathers the third. Marshall Mathers, after all, can be shortened to "M&M" or Eminem. It's a cheeky nickname that he made for himself.

Marshall Mathers was born on October 17th, 1972. While many people think that he was born in Michigan, he was actually born in St. Joseph, Missouri. His father is Marshall Bruce Mathers the second (or jr.) and his mother is Deborah Rae Mathers (Nelson).

Marshall was the only child of these two parents, but he also has half-siblings on both sides. His father has Michael and Sarah while his mother has Nathan.

Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. left the family to go to California while Marshall Mathers III stayed with his mother.  He and his mother went back and forth between Detroit and Missouri.

Marshall would attempt to get in contact with his namesake often, but all letters were marked "return to sender," implying that his father was uninterested in maintaining a relationship.

Unfortunately, his home life with his mother was also tumultuous.

Marshall went to school in a working-class Detroit neighborhood. He often got into fights with other students, one of which was mentioned in his song, Brain Damage.

He dropped out of high school at the age of seventeen while he was still in the ninth grade. He struggled to maintain good grades due largely to truancy. Instead, he'd work to help support his mother.

Career

Believe it or not, Marshall Mathers the third started rapping while he was still in school. At 14, he started rapping with a friend and called himself M&M (which would later evolve into Eminem).

He started writing rap songs and studying language, spending a lot of time trying to figure out rhymes, even if his initial raps were nonsense as a result.

His first album, Infinite, was released in 1996, but it was a failure. Eminem was working a traditional job at a restaurant called Gilbert's lodge.

He and his family were in poverty, and this almost made Marshall take his own life. Luckily, good fortune was on the horizon.

Becoming Slim Shady

When Eminem become Slim Shady, his life changed.

Slim Shady is a character that Eminem created as an alter-ego for himself. Slim Shady is crude, quippy, sometimes violent, and totally irreverent. It's important to note that this character is not truly "Eminem," but rather, a caricature.

He rapped about topics like murder, drugs, and even rape as this character. While this stirred up controversy, it also allowed him to sell the Slim Shady EP. Later on, that EP turned into an LP that went platinum (as a matter of fact, it's officially 5x multi-platinum).

Slim Shady wouldn't go away after that album, but Eminem did branch out and start rapping with his own persona later on after reaching so much success.

Meeting Dre

Rap legend Dr. Dre heard Eminem's Slim Shady EP and was shocked. He claimed to have never heard anything like that on a demo in the past, and he was enthusiastic to meet this new and mostly-unknown rapper. Dre helped Eminem flesh out the EP into an LP under Aftermath Record.

Eminem had just been evicted from his home, and he traveled to Los Angeles to try to make a name for himself. Meeting Dr. Dre changed the trajectory of his life and career.

Many people criticized Dr. Dre for taking on a white rapper. Dre, however, stands by his decision and thought that Eminem had a unique talent that the world needed to see despite the color of his skin.

Albums: Then and Now

From the time the Slim Shady LP was released, Eminem was on a roll. His next album, the Marshall Mathers LP, was the fastest-selling hip-hop album of all time, and it sold over 21 million copies in the year 2000.

Eminem has studio albums, collaborative albums, and soundtracks. His most popular albums are his studio albums. They include (at the time of this article):

• Infinite (1996)
• The Slim Shady LP (1999)
• The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
• The Eminem Show (2002)
• Encore (2004)
• Relapse (2009)
• Recovery (2010)
• The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013)
• Revival (2017)
• Kamikaze (2018)
• Music to Be Murdered By (2020)

Eminem has been keeping himself busy for the past twenty years releasing music that continues to delight (and sometimes disturb) his audience.

Awards

Eminem holds too many awards to adequately list. Because he's so prolific, it's likely that the list will continue growing as his career continues.

He has been nominated for 383 awards and he's won 149 awards. These awards vary between MTV music awards, Grammy awards, and more.

He also holds several Guinness World Records. They include (among others):

• Fastest-selling rap artist (2000)
• Best-selling rap album in week one of the UK chart release (2002)
• Most Successful rap artist in the UK (2005)
• Rapper with most number 1 albums in the UK (2010)
• Most successful solo albums to debut at #1 (2010)
• Most words in a hit single (2015)
• Largest vocabulary for a recording artist (2015)
• Fastest rap in a #1 single (2020)

Acting

While Eminem isn't exactly known for his acting, he does have a few roles under his belt.

Eminem's first feature film was 8-Mile, a movie about a rapper engaging in rap battles in Detroit. The main character is based on Eminem's own life, so it makes sense that he'd play the role.

The movie was a huge success.

He also acted in the 2014 comedy, The Interview. Again, in this movie, he was primarily playing himself (but an over-the-top version of himself).

Eminem: Family and Relationships

Speaking of controversy, when it comes to Eminem, relationship problems are near-constant, at least in his early years.

Any Eminem fan knows about Kim.

Kim, or Kimberly Anne Scott, was Eminem's spouse. Kim was from an abusive household. She and her twin sister fled their mother's abusive partner and Kim ended up living with Marshall Mathers and his mother.

In 1999, Marshall Mathers and Kim got married. A few years prior, in 1995, Marshall and Kim had a baby: Hailie Mathers.

Kim and Marshall had a tumultuous on-again-off-again relationship. His songs often talk about fights between them, or at least the trials and tribulations of their relationship. They divorced in 2001, tried to reconcile in 2006, and then called it quits for good (though they are allegedly on good terms as of now).

FAQ

That's a lot of information to absorb about Eminem! What else are you interested in knowing? Here are a few fun frequently-sked questions and answers about Eminem.

Did Eminem Always Want to Rap?

While Eminempicked up rapping as a young teenager, he didn't actually always want to be a rapper! When he was young, he was interested in writing comic books.

He allegedly has an extensive collection of comic books, and he's even featured in a real comic book!

There's nothing stopping this rapper from potentially pursuing a career in comics in the future (after all, Gerard Way did it), but right now, he's tabled that dream for his rap career.

Does Eminem Struggle With Addiction?

Eminem has allegedly been sober for over a decade, but in the past, he did struggle with various forms of addiction. He was addicted to prescription pills.

After realizing how much harm his addiction was doing to his children (biological and otherwise) he decided to commit to recovery.

Is Eminem Friends With Elton John?

Eminem and Elton John seem like an unlikely duo, but they're actually good friends! Elton John stirred up controversy after painting up with Eminem for a performance of Stan. People in the audience who believed that Eminem was a homophobe criticized this.

Elton John is actually one of the celebrities who helped Eminem through his sobriety. He was Eminem's AA sponsor!

Eminem Will Go Down in History

Eminem's net worth is the least interesting thing about him. He's had a fascinating life and career so far, and he doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

While Eminem has slowed down a bit, he's still releasing high-quality music and staying creative. Each new album is just as delightful as the last. What will he produce next?

Our net worths are for entertainment purposes only. We do our best to provide accurate figures, but we cannot guarantee their accuracy. The figures are based on public information and estimates, and may not reflect the true value of assets or liabilities.