Detroit · Seven Mile Road to the river · 1993–2024
He learned by writing a long word at the top of a page and stacking rhymes for every syllable under it. Try the drill · Second place
The drill · four names from his Detroit
His practice was a drill: a long word or phrase across the top of the page, and rhymes for each syllable worked out underneath. Do it with four places from his map. Every syllable needs two rhymes; when the page is full, the place opens. The words are ordinary words, not his.
Pick a syllable, then tap two words from the pile that rhyme with it.
Writing long words or phrases and working rhymes for each syllable underneath.
East Seven Mile · West Seven Mile · Warren · St. Clair Shores
Before the records, his Detroit was a lunchroom he wasn’t meant to be in, a shop where the battles started at four on Saturdays, a school he left at 17 and a restaurant kitchen in St. Clair Shores. Osborn and the shop are 16.4 km apart along Seven Mile, as the crow flies.
Lunchroom
11600 East Seven Mile Road, Detroit
He and his friend Proof would sneak into Osborn High School for the freestyle battles in the lunchroom.
Proof is listed among Osborn’s former students.
Laura F. Osborn High School opened in February 1957 and is still a public high school for grades 9 to 12.
A working public high school. See it from East Seven Mile Road; it is not open to visitors.
Saturdays, 4 to 6
15736 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit
The designer Maurice Malone opened the Hip Hop Shop, a clothing store, in 1993. It became better known for its open-mic contests than its clothes.
Proof ran and hosted the contests on Saturday afternoons, from 4 to 6.
Eminem and Proof went to the Saturday open mics; Wikipedia calls the shop the Detroit rap scene’s “ground zero”.
The shop recorded videos in 1996 of Eminem battling other rappers. Its battles later inspired scenes in 8 Mile.
It closed in 1997, when Malone and his partner Jerome Mongo moved to New York.
The original shop closed in 1997. The address is on a public road; look from the pavement. The photograph is Seven Mile Road over a freeway, not the shop’s block.
Out at 17
22900 Federal Avenue, Warren
He spent three years in ninth grade, for truancy and poor grades, and dropped out of Lincoln High School at 17. He later said he got a GED.
The school is on Federal Avenue in Warren, the only high school in Van Dyke Public Schools. The present building was finished in 1953.
A working school in Warren, just north of 8 Mile Road. Not open to visitors. The photograph is 8 Mile Road in Warren in 1986.
The kitchen
22335 Harper Avenue, St. Clair Shores
He cooked and washed dishes for minimum wage at Gilbert’s Lodge, a family restaurant in St. Clair Shores. He was fired for the last time by March 1997.
It is still open at 22335 Harper Avenue.
Still a restaurant. Open every day: Monday to Saturday 11.30am to midnight, Sunday 10am to 11pm. The photograph is the town sign, not the restaurant.
The Rap Olympics · Los Angeles · 1997
He went to Los Angeles for a battle contest and lost to Otherwize. Choose a step and see what each one won.
Los Angeles, 1997. Two rappers left on the podium. Choose a step.
Second place to Otherwize; the intern, Iovine and Dre; signed on 9 March 1998.
Near LAX; the $500 and the Rolex.
The venue is not on record
Los Angeles, near LAX
At the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles he came second, losing to Otherwize of Project Blowed.
The event was held near LAX. The winner’s prize was $500 and a Rolex watch.
An Interscope intern, Dean Geistlinger, asked him for a copy of the Slim Shady EP. It reached Jimmy Iovine, who played it to Dr. Dre.
He signed with Aftermath and Interscope on 9 March 1998.
The venue is not on record, so it is not mapped. The photograph is the Theme Building at the airport.
Ferndale · 2002
Lose Yourself was written on the 8 Mile set, between takes, and worked on at 54 Sound in Ferndale, north of the city. The film’s own places are in the 8 Mile World.
The 8 Mile WorldWritten on set; portable studio; 54 Sound.
54 Sound in the engineering profile.
Pro Audio Review, February 2003: Single Slice, Lose Yourself
Not mapped
Ferndale, Michigan
The engineering profile of Lose Yourself lists 54 Sound as one of its studios.
Lose Yourself was written on the 8 Mile set from September 2001; the studio engineer recalled verses recorded in a portable studio there, one take each.
It was released on 28 October 2002, went to number one in the United States for twelve weeks and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the first rap song to do so.
A private recording studio, not open to visitors and not mapped. The photograph is downtown Ferndale.
Congress Street · Woodward Avenue · Corktown
A basement club he played early on, a window in an alley selling spaghetti, a ballpark he played two nights running and a station whose reopening concert he closed. From the Shelter to Mom’s Spaghetti is 1.1 km in a straight line; Comerica Park is 0.3 km further; Michigan Central is 2.4 km west.
Downstairs
431 East Congress Street, Detroit
The hall is known as one of the first stages Eminem played. The Shelter is the separate club underneath it.
The hall opened on 18 January 1908 for the Saint Andrew’s Society of Detroit, which still owns it. Live Nation runs it, with room for 1,000.
Mom’s Spaghetti began as pop-ups in 2017, for the album Revival; one was at the Shelter.
The Shelter still books its own nights.
A working venue. The Shelter is the club in the basement; buy a ticket to a show to go in.
The window
2131 Woodward Avenue, Detroit
Eminem opened the restaurant on 29 September 2021 and served the first ten customers himself.
It sits between Union Assembly and the Fillmore. Food comes through a walk-up window in the alley, and a shop upstairs called the Trailer sells his merchandise.
Shady Records and the Union Joints group own it. Spaghetti comes in a takeaway carton with a plastic fork and garlic toast.
A walk-up window in the alley beside Union Assembly, with a little seating. Check opening times before you go.
Two nights
Woodward Avenue, Detroit
Eminem and Jay-Z opened the Home & Home Tour with two nights at Comerica Park, on 2 and 3 September 2010, before two at Yankee Stadium.
The Detroit Tigers’ ballpark, a short walk from Mom’s Spaghetti. Go to a game or a concert.
Downtown Detroit
A 106-room hotel in the old Wurlitzer Building downtown, near Comerica Park and the theatre district, and a walk from Mom’s Spaghetti. Pictured: Comerica Park.
Check roomsUnannounced
2405 West Vernor Highway, Corktown, Detroit
On 6 June 2024 he closed the sold-out concert for the station’s reopening, unannounced, in front of about 20,000 people. He was also an executive producer of the show, with his manager Paul Rosenberg.
The station had stood empty for more than three decades; Ford announced in 2018 that it was buying it. It opened to the public the next day.
Restored, and open to the public again since 7 June 2024.
Munich · 31 October 1999
Proof was his friend from childhood. He went to Osborn, ran the Saturday open mics at the Hip Hop Shop and was in D12, the group they started in 1996 as the Dirty Dozen. Here they share a stage in Munich, eight months after The Slim Shady LP. Proof died in April 2006.
Childhood friend; the Saturdays; D12 formed in 1996; Proof’s death in April 2006.
Proof hosting the open mics.
Proof at Osborn.
Veterans Day, 2014
National Mall, Washington, D.C.
He played the Concert for Valor here on Veterans Day, 11 November 2014, a concert for veterans arranged by HBO.
He played three songs, among them Lose Yourself.
A public park, open all day.
2022
1100 Rock & Roll Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio
He was inducted as a performer in 2022, by Dr. Dre. His signature is on his inductee plaque in the museum.
It was his first year of eligibility.
Open every day 10am to 5pm, Thursdays to 9pm, September to June. Adult tickets $45.
Cleveland, Ohio · Daily 10am–5pm, Thursdays to 9pm (September–June) · adults $45
The museum on Cleveland’s lakefront, where his signature is on the 2022 inductee plaque.
Plan a visit10 places you can visit: 4 on the mile roads, 4 downtown and 2 on the road. The two schools are seen from outside. 54 Sound and the Rap Olympics venue have no street address on record and are named, not mapped.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working public high school. See it from East Seven Mile Road; it is not open to visitors.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The original shop closed in 1997. The address is on a public road; look from the pavement. The photograph is Seven Mile Road over a freeway, not the shop’s block.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working school in Warren, just north of 8 Mile Road. Not open to visitors. The photograph is 8 Mile Road in Warren in 1986.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still a restaurant. Open every day: Monday to Saturday 11.30am to midnight, Sunday 10am to 11pm. The photograph is the town sign, not the restaurant.
11600 East Seven Mile Road, Detroit
He and his friend Proof would sneak into Osborn High School for the freestyle battles in the lunchroom.
A working public high school. See it from East Seven Mile Road; it is not open to visitors.
15736 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit
The designer Maurice Malone opened the Hip Hop Shop, a clothing store, in 1993. It became better known for its open-mic contests than its clothes.
The original shop closed in 1997. The address is on a public road; look from the pavement. The photograph is Seven Mile Road over a freeway, not the shop’s block.
22900 Federal Avenue, Warren
He spent three years in ninth grade, for truancy and poor grades, and dropped out of Lincoln High School at 17. He later said he got a GED.
A working school in Warren, just north of 8 Mile Road. Not open to visitors. The photograph is 8 Mile Road in Warren in 1986.
22335 Harper Avenue, St. Clair Shores
He cooked and washed dishes for minimum wage at Gilbert’s Lodge, a family restaurant in St. Clair Shores. He was fired for the last time by March 1997.
Still a restaurant. Open every day: Monday to Saturday 11.30am to midnight, Sunday 10am to 11pm. The photograph is the town sign, not the restaurant.
Stay
A hotel in the old Wurlitzer Building, a walk from the ballpark and the window.
Downtown Detroit
A 106-room hotel in the old Wurlitzer Building downtown, near Comerica Park and the theatre district, and a walk from Mom’s Spaghetti. Pictured: Comerica Park.
Check roomsGo there
The Rock Hall in Cleveland, and Detroit music tours from the marketplace.
Cleveland, Ohio · Daily 10am–5pm, Thursdays to 9pm (September–June) · adults $45
The museum on Cleveland’s lakefront, where his signature is on the 2022 inductee plaque.
Plan a visitDetroit
Live marketplace results for Detroit music tours. None is run with Eminem; check each itinerary for the places you want.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
The basement club still books its own nights.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
Infinite on vinyl, his own book and a biography.
Eminem · 12-inch vinyl, Web Entertainment, 1996
His first album, recorded for Jeff and Mark Bass’s Web Entertainment label; this pressing is dated 12 November 1996.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyEminem
His own book, published by Dutton in 2008.
Find the bookAnthony Bozza
A biography by Anthony Bozza, published by Crown in 2003.
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this World, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 15 of 15 Moments
11600 East Seven Mile Road, Detroit
He and Proof sneak into Osborn for the lunchroom freestyle battles.
15736 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit
Proof hosts the open mics on Saturday afternoons; Eminem battles there.
The Hip Hop Shop closes when its owners move to New York.
22900 Federal Avenue, Warren
After three years in ninth grade, he drops out of Lincoln High School at 17.
22335 Harper Avenue, St. Clair Shores
He cooks and washes dishes at Gilbert’s Lodge until he is fired for the last time.
Ferndale, Michigan
Lose Yourself is worked on at 54 Sound.
431 East Congress Street, Detroit
He plays the Shelter under Saint Andrew’s Hall early on.
A Mom’s Spaghetti pop-up at the Shelter for the album Revival.
2131 Woodward Avenue, Detroit
Mom’s Spaghetti opens on Woodward; he serves the first ten customers.
Woodward Avenue, Detroit
Two nights with Jay-Z at Comerica Park open the Home & Home Tour.
2405 West Vernor Highway, Corktown, Detroit
He closes the reopening concert at Michigan Central, unannounced.
Los Angeles, near LAX
He comes second at the Rap Olympics; an Interscope intern asks for his EP.
He signs with Aftermath and Interscope.
National Mall, Washington, D.C.
He plays the Concert for Valor on the National Mall.
1100 Rock & Roll Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio
Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by Dr. Dre.
