Full of lyrical escapades that delve into the mind of a violently warped and talented wordsmith, The Marshall Mathers LP is a collection of some of the most memorable and demented lyrics recorded by a rapper in some time. For Eminem, his potentially controversial and "offensive" songs will strike a chord with a multitude of rap loyalists who believe they have little to lose and everything to gain.

"I'm not alone in feeling the way I feel," he says. "I believe that a lot of people can relate to me--whether black or white, it doesn't matter. Everybody has been through stuff, whether it's drastic or not so drastic. Everybody has been through [difficult situations]."

Those comments are more than just a slogan for him. Eminem writes songs that express his rage. Although Eminem has exposed himself to harsh criticism, the rapper continues to spout harsh songs, paralyzing meek listeners with a relentless lyrical assault. That material, though, has also given Dr. Dre an opportunity to stage a comeback in the rap community. Dre was so impressed when he first heard Eminem freestyling on a Los Angeles radio station that he put out a manhunt for the guy. That wasn't, however, the first time Eminem caught Dre's attention.

"I was in the Rap Olympics," Eminem recalls, "and there was some kids from Interscope there. I had an EP out and slipped them a tape. They gave it to Jimmy Iovine [president of Interscope Records], and Jimmy took it home with him. He was living with it for a couple of days before Dre came over [to Iovine's house]. He seen it on the floor, picked it up, popped the tape in, and listened to it, and was like, 'How do we find this guy?' It just so happened that I was out [in L.A.] two or three days later, rhyming on the radio."

Dre heard Em on the radio and the rest, as the saying goes, is history. However, Eminem's personal history isn't as rose-colored. Raised in a single-parent, inner-city Detroit home, tales of mayhem and gloom pepper Eminem's tunes. Personal tragedies pepper the songs.

"My mother has a drug problem," states Eminem flatly. "She's always had one and still to this day will not admit it. You can look at her and see. My mother weighs 90 pounds. So when I go public with that on some of my songs, my mother will call me, like, 'I don't like the part where you say I do drugs because Marshall, you know I've never done drugs,' and blah blah blah,'" he says, imitating his mother. "The only thing I can do is hang up on her. It's unfortunate."

The rapper also says that material in many of his songs reflects the reality he faced growing up. He's never met or talked to his dad. "I don't know who my dad is," Eminem reveals. "I've never even heard his voice."

After peering into the world of Eminem, you would agree that it's not been "all good."