Eminem: The musician, producer and actor is 43 today

No star since the golden years of Motown has been more closely associated with Detroit than Eminem

Eminem uses a massive 8,818 words in his 100 most lyrically dense songs (PA)

Hometowns mean a lot to hip-hop artists. Dr Dre recently released Compton, an LP-length tribute to the LA city that he first immortalised on NWA's debut Straight Outta Compton. Jay Z's biggest hit was “Empire State of Mind”, an ode to his beloved New York.

Meanwhile, no star since the golden years of Motown has been more closely associated with Detroit than Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, who was born in St Joseph, Missouri, but put down roots in the Motor City after moving there with his mother at the age of 12.

For his recent single “Detroit vs Everybody”, the latest in a line of tributes he has paid to the city, he assembled a cohort of top Detroit collaborators in defence of the beleaguered metropolis.

Today, he owns two houses in an upscale part of Clinton Township, a dozen miles and a world away from the tough neighbourhood near 8 Mile Road where he grew up. As a teenager he competed in open-mic contests at the Hip-Hop Shop, the heart of the city's rap scene.

It was there he first proved that being a blue-eyed rapper didn't have to mean being Vanilla Ice. Eminem's was an underdog story, dramatised in the 2002 movie 8 Mile, in which he played a thinly veiled version of himself. Its theme song, “Lose Yourself”, won him an Oscar.

There was a career hiatus just before the recession crushed Detroit, but he made a comeback in time to aid its revival: in 2011 he appeared in a Super Bowl ad for Chrysler, touting the city's resurgent car industry. At two minutes, the ad was the longest in Super Bowl history. It was also the first time he had licensed “Lose Yourself” since 8 Mile – reportedly for a fraction of what he could have charged.

Eminem later posted a YouTube video he called “A Letter to Detroit”: “There is a resilience that rises from somewhere deep within your streets,” he said, over scenes of the city. “You can feel it overflowing from the people who call you home – from people who are always proud to declare: 'I'm from Detroit.'”