So he’s not named after the chocolate…
Sometimes people’s pseudonyms can become so synonymous with their persona that we often don’t even know their real name, or what their nickname stands for in the first place.
This is certainly the case with famous American rapper Eminem, real name Marshall Bruce Mathers III, whose meaning behind his stage name is only just starting to be uncovered by many fans.
Eminem has been a cult icon since the 90s and is largely credited with popularising hip-hop in more suburban areas of America and has also conquered the world along the way too.
However, it was in 1999 when the rapper found true stardom with the release of his debut album The Slim Shady LP.
Despite going by the names of Marshall Mathers, Slim Shady and Eminem, it is the latter that people have been asking about, with one user taking to Reddit to ask the all important question – “Why did he call himself Eminem?”
They queried: “Does anyone know why he called himself that? I have been listening to him for quite a long time but I never understood why he chose Eminem instead of something like Slim Shady.”
As it happens, his rap name originates from his childhood where he decided, along with his high school friend, Mike Ruby, to give themselves nicknames.
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Mike took the name Manix, while the famous rapper took M&M which are, of course, his initials.
Over time this name evolved into Eminem.
Users subsequently responded to the revelation to share their shock at not making the obvious link up until now.
Some users even claimed that he changed his name from M&M to Eminem to avoid a potential lawsuit with a certain chocolate company that we all thought he was named after growing up.
One user said: “He actually used to label his material M&M but he changed it when it started to takes himself more seriously and garner attention to avoid an obvious lawsuit.”
Someone replied to this by saying: “I think in the booklet for MMLP there’s an old pic of him rapping and his outfit has the m&m cartoon characters printed on it.” While another user confirmed: “His initials are MM, or M&M, which is pronounced Eminem when said quickly.”
Meanwhile one person chimed in: “I saw an interview with someone that knew him when he was younger and he actually came up with that when he was messing around with M&M’s and took two of them and put them together, and asked the guy (the guy was someone’s parent or something) what does it say, and he said M&M and then Eminem went yeah, that’s me.”
Regardless of speculation and rumour, it is likely the rapper would have found fame no matter whether he went by M&M or Eminem, however, it cannot be denied his name will go down as one of the most famous of all time.
