Dre, who signed him to Aftermath and released The Slim Shady LP in early 1999.
An LA radio appearance brought him to the attention of Dr. The Slim Shady EP succeeded where Infinite failed, leading to a second-place finish in the Rap Coalition’s 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles, an appearance on the underground club hit “5 Star Generals” with Shabaam Shadeeq, and participation in the inaugural Lyricist Lounge tour. Together, “Just Don’t Give a Fuck” and “Just the Two of Us” foretell Eminem’s best work, and both reappear on his major-label debut (the latter under the title “97′ Bonnie & Clyde”). The agile rhymer is revealed as an artist capable of emotionally complex and challenging material and a performer willing and able to fully immerse himself in a performance. An ingenious and horrifying fantasy in which Eminem - speaking in baby talk to his infant daughter - gives a running commentary on the disposal of her mother’s murdered body, the song combines captivating role-playing with a twisted sort of emotional honesty hidden behind (or, more accurately, channeled into) pathologically violent behavior. “Just the Two of Us” is simply startling. “Just Don’t Give a Fuck” makes effective use of the Slim Shady persona, introducing the unique sort of verbal slapstick that would become Eminem’s calling card. Despite a hardened delivery, shifted focus from medium to message and DJ Head pushing the Bass Brothers’ production toward a more commercial (but still down-tempo) G-funk, The Slim Shady EP is only a modest improvement over Infinite, with two notable exceptions. A year later, Eminem, stung by criticism that he sounded too much like Nas and AZ, reemerged with The Slim Shady EP and his alter-ego, an amoral psychopath through whom he could vent anger and indulge in his most reprehensible fantasies. Infinite failed to sell out its initial 500-copy pressing. The subject matter is frequently overshadowed by Em’s attempts to rhyme what seems like every third word (you can just see him poring over Webster’s in search of rhymes), but clear indications of future concerns (including then-newborn daughter Hailie) poke through - notably distrust of women on the tale of disease-spreading “Maxine” and at the album’s close, as the LL Cool J-style love ballad “Searchin” gives way to “Backstabber” and “Jealousy Woes.” Solidly professional, but otherwise unexceptional, Infinite presents a positive and laid-back rapper reeling off rapid-fire rhymes over the Bass Brothers’ jazzy, down-tempo R&B grooves. Six years later they released Eminem’s debut on their fledgling WEB Entertainment label. Perhaps the most significant line he’s blurred is the one dividing art and commerce in a genre typically dominated by the latter.īrothers Jeff and Mark Bass - former members of the forgotten light-funk combo Dreamboy - discovered the teenager freestyling on a Detroit radio program in 1990. Witness the subtle mellowing out that preceded the release of his film debut. Just listen to his self-awareness at the opening of The Marshall Mathers LP or on “White America.” He has chosen multi-platinum teen-pop sensations as “rivals,” reserving his battles with semi-popular rappers for non-album tracks. But what ultimately makes Eminem the cultural force he has become is his tremendous ability to understand and exploit his audience and his position as a white rapper in a mass culture currently dominated by hip-hop. Raising the stakes of music as theater, he performs, often in character, fully committing himself to the emotions of songs. Credit also his outstanding verbal skills - an invigorating use of counter-rhythms, internal rhymes, half-, even non-rhymes that sound like rhymes the clarity and precision of his flow and his tremendously dynamic range of expression. As skilled at deceit as he is at diction, Eminem is brilliant at willfully blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, insults and threats, words and violence, confession and subterfuge, hip-hop and pop. Joseph, Missouri) is that rarity in turn-of-the-millennium popular culture: a tremendously successful artist who makes his audience equally uncomfortable and entertained by refusing to be taken at face value. Almost as infamous for the violence and homophobia in his lyrics as he is famous for his undeniable skills as a rapper, Detroit’s Eminem (born Marshall Bruce Mathers III in St.
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