It’s been 22 years since Slim Shady took home his first AMA.
Eminem has won favorite male hip-hop artist at the 2025 American Music Awards. Twenty-two years after taking home his first AMA in the same category, Slim Shady returned to win against some loaded competition on Monday night (May 26).
The Detroit rapper took home the win over the likes of Drake, Future, Tyler, the Creator and Kendrick Lamar. It’s the ninth American Music Award victory for Em to add another accolade to his decorated trophy case.
Project Runway‘s Heidi Klum presented the award, and the supermodel joked about once recording a track with Snoop Dogg, which makes her “the most unexpected hip-hop artist to come out of Germany.”
Unfortunately, Em wasn’t in attendance as he remained home in Detroit, but delivered an acceptance speech via video for his millions of fans across the globe.
“AMAs, what’s up? Favorite male hip-hop artist, thank you, I appreciate that. I think it’s been 23 years since I won my first AMA and I’m 24 years old. That’s crazy. Seriously, man, thank you to the fans. Thank you to everyone who voted for me. I appreciate y’all. Thank you so much.”
It’s been more than 10 years since Em won an American Music Award, with his last victory coming in 2014 for favorite rap/hip-hop album thanks to The Marshall Mathers LP 2.
2024 was a busy year for Eminem, who returned with his The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) in July. The project debuted atop the Billboard 200 — Em’s 11th album to go No. 1 — with 281,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending July 18, according to Luminate. At the time of its arrival, TDOSS was the largest week of any rap album in 2024.
Watch Em’s acceptance speech below:
The American Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
