Eminem - like Toy Soldiers

Marshall Bruce Mathers III aka Eminem was born on October 17, 1972. He was born in St. Joseph hospital in Missouri. Marshal's mother Debbie was only seventeen when he was born. His father, Marshall Bruce Mathers II, was twenty four. His parents had only been married two years earlier. As a child he never had a stable home life. His parents were divorced when he was only two years old. After his mother left Missouri and moved to Detroit, his life changed forever. Growing up they never had much money. The family lived in public housing and run-down trailer parks. Eminem told interviewers, "we kept getting kicked out of every house were in. Six months was the longest we ever lived in a house" ( Eminem). He was the only white kid in these African American neighborhoods. This is when he started to pick up black culture and music.

"Like Toy Soldiers" is the fifth track in Eminem's album Encore. This album is his ninth album, it was released on November 12, 2004. The album went on to sell over nineteen million copies worldwide. In the music video for this song you see a man laying on a hospital bed. There are doctors fighting to save his life

while Eminem is watching with blood all over him. Your first impression to this video might be that Eminem just lost a close friend. Maybe to a gang fight or a shoot out. But the video was really trying to empathize rappers and their "battles" between each other. A rap battle is when two people rap against eachother infront of a crowd to see who is better. Sometimes it becomes really competitive to the point where the rappers develop enemies. The video goes on to show how far battles between enemies can go. If these battles go too far someone will end up getting hurt. It might not be you but the people around you. It's looking down on all the rap battles and basically saying it's not worth it.

This song is mainly about Eminem's battle between himself and Ja Rule. It all started when Shady/Aftermath records signed 50 Cent from Murder Inc. 50 Cent had ongoing battles with Ja Rule. When Shady records signed him they had to take on all the problems he came with. "Ja Rule then threatened Eminem , that if they allowed 50 Cent to release a diss track towards him or Murder Inc. that he would take action against Eminem " (Ja Rule). Eminem talked to 50 cent and they decided to drop it. But Ja Rule went around saying he stabbed 50 Cent, Shady records then allowed him to record a diss track. The track " Hail Mary" was released in 2003. It also featured Eminem and Busta Rhymes.

After they let 50 Cent record that diss track Ja Rule like he said took action

against Eminem. That's when he came out with his diss track against him,

"Loose Change" which mentioned Eminem's