So, it’s official, the iconic rap battle movie 8 Mile is 15 years old today, and we feel really old. The Eminem classic hit the big screen back in 2002, and honestly, we’ve been non-stop watching it on the small screen cause it’s basically always on TV. The story is semi-autobiographical, based loosely on Slim Shady’s life.
Back when the film was released, he sat down with Access Hollywood to reveal how much of the story was really based on truth and how much was enhanced. “It’s symbolic,” he said. “Like, obviously everything that happened in the movie didn’t happen in my real life, you know. I’ve lived in trailers, but I didn’t grow up in a trailer.”
One thing that Eminem and his character B-Rabbit do have in common is the way in which they prepared for their freestyle battles. As depicted in the film, B-Rabbit goes to a rap battle with words written out on little scraps of paper, with Eminem did as well. “It was like chicken scratch,” the rapper said. “It’s scattered all over the paper. I don’t really write my rhymes out. It’s kind of all over the paper. It’s not in any particular order.”
These days, Shady, whose real name is Mashall Mathers, is getting some publicity for his very grown-up daughter Hailie. An insider recently opened up to Hollywood Life about what a proud father he is.
“Eminem is really proud of Hailie, she’s the very best of him and Kim [Mathers],” a source said. “Hailie is smart, popular, motivated, kind, and really down-to-earth. Eminem was determined that his daughter would be raised out of the spotlight, as the last thing he wanted was a ‘showbiz kid,’ and he really did a good job. Considering the problems that both her mom and dad have had, she’s incredibly well balanced. Hailie is really committed to her studies, she works really hard, and she has a great head on her shoulders.” Keep scrolling to see the whole case then and now!
