Eminem: The Stories Behind Every Song »

David Stubbs has written for Uncut, the Times (London), the Guardian, NME, GQ, Spin, and Arena among others, profiling and interviewing figures including De La Soul, Public Enemy, R.E.M., Morgan Freeman, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Steve Coogan, and Tim Robbins. He lives in Blackheath, London.

Emerging from a poor, stereotypically white-trash childhood in Detroit, this vengeful hip-hop devotee soon turned his anger into an art form and shot to global notoriety. Eminem has written two multi-platinum bestselling albums of surreally inventive, vicious, scattergun brilliance and become the world's premier rapper and and icon for disaffected teenagers everywhere. Along the way, though, he's been accused of homophobia, endorsing drug abuse, encouraging violence against women, and flirting with incarceration — a fate many see as inevitable for this psychologically flawed modern antihero.

So where does Marshall Mathers end and Slim Shady begin? Who, in short, is Eminem? This fantastic biography is a celebration of the uniquely provocative and complex rapper who advises his young fans, "Don't do drugs, have unprotected sex, or be violent — leave that to me."