Eminem was once evicted from his house and lost at the Rap Olympics in a matter of hours
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: REUTERS/ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo
You might think you've had a bad day, but have you been evicted from your home AND lost the Rap Olympics in the space of just a few hours?
Admittedly the latter might not be too heartbreaking for you if you're not a rapper, but when your skill literally earns you the nickname 'Rap God', it's got to sting.
Eminem experienced both blows in less than two days in 1997, after music consultant Wendy Day put the rapper on her 'battle team' for that year's Rap Olympics - a free-style rap event created in 1993 in New Jersey.
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Em's event took place in LA, and after travelling to the city he succeeded in making it all the way to the final - even after having just been evicted from his house.
Recalling the events during an appearance on Hotboxin' With Mike Tyson, the rapper explained that he'd been kicked out of his home because the landlord hadn't been keeping up his payments, despite Eminem handing over rent money every month.
"This is literally the day before I go to the rap Olympics," he said.
Em continued: "Thank God for Wendy Day because she paid for my plane ticket, but that day I come home from work, me and my boy, and we're like 'what the f**k', all our s**t is on the lawn.
"People was rummaging through it and s**t."
Eminem had to break into the home just to have somewhere to sleep, and after spending the night on the floor he woke up and set off to the Rap Olympics.
His success throughout the competition proved his skills were obviously up there, but they were apparently no match against his competitor Otherwize, and Eminem lost the battle.
He described himself as being 'super discouraged', adding: "The first prize was $500 (£408), and I needed that $500, and I lost.
"I was like, f**king devastated."
It was undoubtedly a rough few hours for Eminem, but things soon took a turn for the better as after he finished his set at the Rap Olympics he was approached by Dean Geistlinger, who worked at Interscope Records at the time.
Geistlinger asked the rapper for a CD, and Eminem handed over the Slim Shady EP which was eventually passed on to Dr. Dre.
Just a couple of weeks later, after Eminem had returned to Detroit with no home to go to, he got the call that kicked off his career as he secured a deal with Dr. Dre.
More than 25 years later, with Eminem still known to be one of the best rappers out there, his loss at the Rap Olympics might just be one of the best things that ever happened to him.