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Eminem is mourning the loss of his former stunt double, Ryan Shepard.
Shepard was rushed to the hospital after getting hit by a pickup truck while attempting to cross the road, ultimately ending his life at age 40. During his younger days, the doppelgänger had played the rapper’s superhero character, Rap Boy, at the MTV Movie Awards ceremony in 2002. A memorial service has since been held for Shepard on February 4.
Eminem’s Former Body Double Confirmed Dead After Getting Knocked Down By A Car
Amid playing Eminem’s superhero alter ego on stage, Ryan had joined the rapper on the Europe and Japan legs of his “Anger Management Tour” that year. Soon after, he was featured in D12’s “Purple Hills” music video as the 50-year-old’s “clone.”
With his role as a test automation engineer at Elon Musk’s SpaceX, it seemed Ryan’s post-Eminem life was going well. Unfortunately, he lost his life on January 31 after the tragic accident that occurred in Washington state.
His brother, Kyle, subsequently informed TMZ that even though he had been rushed to the hospital by first responders, it was too late. While the driver behind the wheels of the car that knocked Ryan down was not injured, he stayed at the scene to talk to authorities after the incident happened, shortly after 2:45 am.
The former Disney ride mechanical engineer resided in Kennewick and is survived by his two daughters, aged 11 and 7.
The “Sing For The Moment” Rapper Earns New Certifications From The RIAA
Since starting his rap career at age 14, Eminem — real name Marshall Bruce Mathers III, has earned more than a name for himself in the industry. His fame and accomplishments have become so widespread that last March, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that he had received fresh certifications from the Gold and Platinum Program worth 73.5 million.
The Blast noted that the record-making feat upped the “Mockingbird” hitmaker’s career to a total of 227.5 million single and award certifications from the RIAA. Sharing the exciting news with the world, Mitch Glazier, the RIAA CEO and Chairman had stated:
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“With today’s announcement, Eminem becomes the top certified singles artist in our program’s history and adds a rare third Diamond Album to his many creative accomplishments. Congratulations to Eminem and his entire label team, who have set the bar higher than ever!”
Created by the RIAA in 1958, the Gold & Platinum Awards Program serves as a standard for calculating how commercially successful a song or sound recording is, with many regarding it as one of the best ways to recognize the achievements of artists within the music industry.
So far, the trademarking of the Gold Record (500,000) has contributed to the formalization of presenting the awards for the commercial success of their songs to artists. That prestige is followed by the Platinum Award (1,000,000), the Multi-Platinum Award (over 2,000,000), and the Diamond Award (over 10,000,000).
The RIAA also created the Premios de Oro y Platino Awards to shine more light on Latin music, focusing on audio productions, which included over 50 percent of the Spanish language.
As for Eminem, he was congratulated by the Vice Chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M, Steve Berman, who gave a statement that read in part, “Interscope joins Aftermath in congratulating Marshall, Paul, and the entire Shady team on this remarkable achievement.”
Berman added that he was honored to have worked with the father-of-three on “one of the greatest journeys in the history of recorded music.” The vice chairman finished by claiming that “the most beautiful part of this is it feels like the journey has just begun.”
Apart from getting RIAA-certified, Eminem has gotten credit for popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclaimed as one of the greatest rappers of all time. In fact, the “Love the Way You Lie” rapper snagged the fifth spot on the GOAT list recently released by Billboard.
The Bad Meets Evil band member also made his mark on Hollywood with his debut in the musical drama film “8 Mile,” playing a fictionalized version of himself. From its soundtrack, his “Lose Yourself” single won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making Eminem the first hip-hop artist to ever win the award.
