Take a look back at Marshall Mathers’ journey to the 2010 VMAs, airing this Sunday, September 12. By Gil Kaufman Eminem at the 2002 VMAs Photo: Theo Wargo/ Getty Images Eminem has been to this party before. With nine wins, he’s one of the most rewarded artists ever at MTV’s Video Music Awards (ahead of Michael Jackson, in fact.) So it kind of makes sense that after almost five years spent out of the spotlight dealing with a nearly fatal addiction to prescription medication and a year after an attempted relaunch of his career with the Relapse album, Em is headed into Sunday night’s show with the second-most nominations, the promise of yet another sure-to-thrill performance and a chance to reclaim his VMA throne. He may even slip into third or fourth place on the all-time list. Behind only Lady Gaga’s record 13 nods, Eminem banked eight bids , including Best Male Video and Video of the Year for the emotional “Not Afraid.” It’s fitting that Shady gets resurrected after a nearly fatal car crash in his VMA promo , since just a year ago, some of his fans were wondering if Eminem had lost the golden touch that has earned the Detroit MC more than 80 million in global sales and made him one of the biggest breakout music stars of his generation. Though Relapse notched the biggest Billboard debut at one point in 2009 with 608,000, some critics noted that it lacked some of the lyrical crispness of Em’s past work. Though he’s since said Relapse was recorded while he was still struggling to emerge from the fog of his addictions, Eminem showed he still had a sense of humor, taking it in stride at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards when gay Austrian fashion reporter Br
