8 Mile (film)
8 Mile is a 2002 American drama film written by Scott Silver, directed by Curtis Hanson, and stars Eminem, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy, Michael Shannon and Kim Basinger.
The film, set in 1995, is an account of a young white rapper named Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr. (Eminem), who lives in a mobile home park in Warren, Michigan, and his attempt to launch a career in rap, a genre dominated by African Americans. The film's title is derived from 8 Mile Road, the highway that runs along the border between lower class, predominantly black Detroit neighborhoods, and its predominantly white middle class Oakland County and Macomb County suburbs.
Filmed mostly on location in Detroit and its surrounding areas, the film was both a critical and financial success. Eminem won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself", the song which was iconic to this film. A decade after its release, Vibe magazine called the film a "rap movie masterpiece."
Plot
Jimmy Smith Jr. , a blue-collar worker from a poor family, struggles with various aspects of his life. Jimmy and his friends, simple-minded Cheddar Bob (Evan Jones); fun-loving Sol George (Omar Benson Miller); socially minded DJ Iz (De'Angelo Wilson); and Jimmy's best friend, the charismatic Future (Mekhi Phifer) all of whom have also formed a rap crew together named "Three-One-Third" (a play on the Detroit area code 313), aspire to fame and notoriety.