On this day, Feb. 14, in hip-hop history...

2001: Detroit, MI rapper Eminem pleaded guilty to a gun charge, after being arrested for pistol-whipping a man outside of a bar on this day back in 2001.

At this point in his career, Eminem was an extremely polarizing figure, and had begun running into legal trouble. For this particular run-in, he was charged with a felony -- aggravated assault with a weapon for pistol-whipping a man outside of a Michigan bar. Eminem attacked the man because he said he saw him kissing his wife, Kim, according to the police. Em chose to plead guilty to carrying a concealed weapon.

Thanks to Em's guilty plea, his assault charge was dropped as an exchange. This wouldn't fully get him out of the water, as the concealed weapon charge could have put him in jail for up to five years. It all worked out in his favor, though, and he only ended up being sentenced to two years probation, as opposed to any jail time.

In 2002, Slim eventually settled out of court with John Guerra, the man he pummeled, and was ordered to pay him $100,000 minus attorney fees.

Around the same time, The Marshall Mathers LP was up for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year along with three other nominations for the Real Slim Shady. Significant jail time could have very easily derailed his entire career. Considering he ended up with a very light sentence and took home three Grammy Awards out of his four nominations that year, things went pretty well, even with how badly they could have ended. And the rest is history.