''My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem'' is a 2008

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

by Debbie Nelson, the mother of American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

Marshall Mathers, also known as

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

. The British author Annette Witheridge helped her with the book. It was reported in September 2008 that the book sold over 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.

Description

It includes all of Nelson's life, and includes her troubles with Eminem growing up and dealing with fame. According to her, Eminem's side of the story is full of lies he concocted in order to become a successful rapper. Nevertheless, she says that she is not angry at her son. She also says in her book that she sued her son in 2000 for

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

to stop the foreclosure on her house. Nelson's aim in writing the book was to show her side of the story about her relationship with Eminem. She stated that she "regrets keeping quiet as Em cultivated his public persona of a trailer dweller with a crazy welfare mom." The book has photographs of Nelson with Eminem, and poems and lyrics written by Eminem that were rarely or never seen before.

Legal

Nelson was sued a week before the book was released in the United States. According to the man who sued Nelson, Neal Alpert, he helped her with the book, and pursuant to a 2005 contract with Nelson, he should have received 25 percent of the profit.

Reception

Nathan Rabin of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' said that her book "is almost perversely devoid of the irony, humor and self-deprecation that pervades her son's music." A ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' review says that " ough readers may find it hard to reconcile Debbie's claim never to have exploited her son in the pages of a

tell-all An unauthorized biography is a biography written without the subject's permission or input. The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after their death; as such, it is not applied to biographi ...

about him, Nelson's portrait of her son is tense but sympathetic." Mike Sweeney of ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'' listed the book among five of the most controversial memoirs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem Eminem Hip hop books Biographies about musicians Unauthorized biographies 2008 non-fiction books Collaborative non-fiction books