Chapter 1: One Shot, One Opportunity

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I walked down the dark streets of Detroit, making my way back home after another failure. "You're so fucking stupid," I muttered to myself. "How do expect to take care of your daughter if you can't even get signed to a fucking label???" I got to my trailer and unlocked the door. I walked in and flopped onto the couch and closed my eyes.

"How did it go?" I heard Kim ask. I opened my eyes and she was standing beside the couch looking down at me.

"The same way it always does. I'm never going to get signed onto anything." I sighed grumpily, wishing she would just leave me alone.

"Don't you fucking talk to me li-" Kim started, but was cut off by the adorable little girl running up to me at full speed.

" DADDY!" Hailie screamed, jumping onto me and landing on my stomach. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a big hug. I smiled. At least there's one thing in this world that makes my shitty life worth living.

"Hey baby girl, did you have a fun day with mommy?" I asked, looking up at Kim then back to Hailie. She nodded excitedly.

"We drew some pictures! I made this one for you!" Hailie exclaimed as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that was folded many times. She opened it up and presented the drawing to me with a huge smile on her face. It was a drawing of three stick people holding hands: Me, Hailie, then Kim. I laughed under my breath when I saw that my free hand had what appeared to be a microphone in it. I smiled at her.

"I love it, thanks Hailie. You know what I'm gonna do with this?" I asked, a mischievous glint in my eyes.

"What?" Hailie asked, clearly excited about the fact that I liked her gift.

"Follow me." I grabbed her hand and brought her outside to my old, beat-up Mercedes. I opened the driver's side door and put the drawing on my dashboard. "Now whenever I go somewhere else, you and Mommy will always be with me." I said, pulling her into another hug. We walked back inside and I started trying to put Hailie to bed, what usually proves to be a difficult task. After running after her around the cramped trailer for about 5 minutes, I finally managed to pick her up and start tickling her.

"DADDY! S-STOP!" She managed to shout between giggles. I stopped tickling her and laid her down in her bed.

"Alright, but you've gotta go to sleep now, okay baby girl?" I said to her, sitting on the edge of her bed and breathing heavily from running around.

"Okay." She whispered, already drifting off to sleep. I kissed her on the forehead, whispered goodnight, and left the room. I wandered back into the main room of the trailer where I found Kim sitting on the couch, her arms crossed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, almost immediately regretting my decision to ask.

"You're what's wrong Marshall!" She exclaimed, glaring at me. "We're running out of money! Do you honestly expect me to just sit around and let this family die along with your career?!" I glared back at her. Does she seriously expect me to just let what she said go?

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been working my ass off to keep this family going. I'm trying every record label I can. I've sent copies of my music to every single producer I can think of!" I shouted at her, getting really pissed off already. This was not the first fight we've had about this subject. "If it's a fucking problem for you, just leave."

"Maybe I will!" She screamed, starting to pack a bag with clothing and the rest of her belongings. "I'm fucking done with you Marshall! Don't ever talk to me again!"

"Oh so you're just going to leave Hailie like that?!" I shouted angrily at her.

"Come on Marshall, we both know she loves you more. If she was given the choice she would choose you. It'll just be easier this way." She spat as she opened the door and slammed it in my face. I was furious. How could she do this to Hailie? She left her daughter, just like that. Suddenly a thought dawned on me. She had grabbed my car keys. I ran out the door and stood outside to see her driving away.

"GIVE ME BACK MY CAR BITCH!" I yelled. It was no use, she was long gone. Even if she had heard me I know it wouldn't have made her return it. I stormed back inside to find Hailie standing in the middle of the trailer, tears in her eyes.

"Where's mommy going?" She whispered, her voice shaking. It killed me to see her this way. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her, feeling tears starting to come to my eyes as well.

"She's not coming back...I'm sorry Hailie baby." I whispered, trying to hide the shakiness of my voice. We stood there for a long time, I'm not sure how long, when the phone snapped me out of my trance. I walked over to it and answered it. "Hello?" I said, my voice barely audible.

"Marshall Mathers?" A deep voice from the other end of the phone asked. I didn't recognize the voice so I checked the phone number. I didn't recognize it either.

"Who is this?" I asked suspiciously, not trusting this mysterious phone call. I heard a low chuckle from the person on the other end.

"My name is Andre Young...but you probably know me as Dr. Dre. I want you to come down to the Interscope studio and show us what you've got."

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