Eminem

Bursting out of Detroit in a whirlwind of controversy, hype and snarling put-downs, Dr. Dre's protege took the hip-hop world by storm in 1999 with his major label debut The Slim Shady LP. Singles My Name Is, Guilty Conscience and Forget About Dre gate-crashed the charts and instantly introduced him as a celebrity-baiting, acerbic comic bound for superstardom. The Marshall Mathers LP went even further, with Stan reaching No 1 in the UK and showing a genuinely sharp talent far beyond the headline grabbing stunts and cartoonish bad boy image. Emerging from trailer trash beginnings to enter hostile freestyle rap battles, Eminem told his life story in the movie 8 Mile (2001). Lose Yourself, from the film's soundtrack, claimed the Academy Award for Best Original Song and a more reflective character emerged, battling with fame and personal issues on The Eminem Show (2003) and Encore (2004). After a three-year hiatus during which he entered rehab, he returned in 2009 with the Rehab album and won the Best Rap Album Grammy Award for Relapse in 2010 and for Recovery in 2011, and a MOBO for Best International Act in 2010.