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Uncle sells a piece of Eminem's past

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One of the Detroit-area homes that helped spawn rap star Eminem's famed alter ego Slim Shady was sold Thursday and likely will turn up on eBay.


"This is a very emotional thing for me, because this house has been in our family for 50 years," said Todd Nelson, whose sister, Debbie Nelson, is Eminem's mother. "I didn't want to sell it, but I had to because my finances won't allow me to live here any more."

The cash-strapped Nelson said his nephew, who lives in Macomb County and is preparing for the release of his film, "8 Mile," was upset when he learned two months ago that the house in south Warren was up for sale.

The home is where Eminem first began writing the gritty rhymes that would later make him famous in the hip-hop world.

Nelson would not reveal the sale price, but St. Clair Shores lawyer Sebastian Lucido said he and his partner, Macomb County commissioner and real estate developer Roland Fraschetti, bought it for $45,000.

"We'd like to put the house up for sale on eBay sometime in January," Lucido said. "I think we'll have a minimum bid of around $120,000 -- the house appraised for $91,000 -- and go from there. If we don't get any bids, we can just rent it out."

The two-family home in the 8400 block of Timken -- not far from the real 8 Mile Road -- was purchased by Eminem's great-grandmother, Bessi Viola Whitaker, in 1952, Nelson said. The five-bedroom house has sheltered members of the clan ever since, he said.

Nelson said Eminem, also known as Marshall Mathers III, lived there off and on as a young child and when he attended Lincoln High School in Warren.

Eminem liked to draw while sitting at the table that still sits in the kitchen, Nelson recalled.

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Detroit Free Press