The property was seriously damaged in a fire on 7 November 2013, while the rapper was in Amsterdam for the MTV European Music Awards. The property was later deemed ‘structurally unsafe’ by the Michigan Land Bank, a government agency who owned the property. The land bank has issued a statement claiming that knocking the property down was to keep the neighbourhood safe for existing residents.
Officials reached out to Eminem to see if he was interested in purchasing the space at 19946 Dresden Street, just south of 8 Mile Road, but to no avail. Em’s publicist told MLive that there likely “won’t be a comment” from the “Rap God” regarding the home’s destruction.
According to public records, Marshall Mathers’ mother, Deborah Nelson, bought the house in 1987 for $19,900. The property then changed hands roughly 10 times before finally being foreclosed upon in 2001. The state of Michigan apparently plans to sell the land once the site is cleaned.
Scroll down to watch video footage of Eminem’s childhood home being demolished (via MLive), and be sure to read SPIN’s outstanding review of MMLP2.