The
average rapper wouldn't be able
to grace the pages of Rap
Pages, VIBE, Rolling Stone, Spin, The
Source, URB and Stress and go on a national tour months
before their major-label debut
album is released. Then again, Eminem isn't
an average rapper. He's phenomenal.
The impending release of the
The Slim Shady LP,
his first set on
Aftermath/
Interscope
Records, already has
underground hip-hop heads fiending
for
Eminem.
Chock full of dazzling lyrical
escapades that delve into the
mind of a violently warped and
vulgar yet extremely talented
wordsmith, the 14-cut collection
contains some of the most memorable
and demented lyrics ever recorded.
For
Eminem,
his potentially controversial
and undoubtedly offensive songs
will strike a chord with a multitude
of hip-hop loyalists who believe
they have little to lose and
everything to gain.
"
I'm not alone in feeling
the way I feel," he
says. "
I believe that
a lot of people can relate to
my sh*t--whether white, black,
it doesn't matter. Everybody
has been through some sh*t,
whether it's drastic or not
so drastic. Everybody gets to
the point of 'I don't give a
f**k.'"
Those words are more than just
a slogan for the Detroit resident. "
I Just
Don't Give A f**k" and "
Brain Damage" are the two songs comprising
Eminem's initial
single from
The Slim
Shady LP. Each tune
is sure to paralyze meek listeners
with their relentless lyrical
assault. Produced primarily
by long-time collaborators
FBT Productions, the
Slim Shady LP also features beatwork from
Aftermath CEO
Dr. Dre. The
N.W.A. alum
handled beats for "
My
Name Is" (the
second single), "
Guilty
Conscience" and "
Role Model."
Dr. Dre was
so impressed after hearing
Eminem freestyling on a Los
Angeles radio station
that he put out a manhunt for
the Michigan rhymer. Shortly thereafter,
Dre signed
Eminem to his
Aftermath imprint
and the two began working together.
Thoroughly impressed with
Eminem's previously released independent
Slim Shady EP,
Dre said they
would include many of the EP's
tracks on the album.
"
It was an honor to
hear the words out of Dre's mouth that he liked my sh*t,"
Eminem says. "
Growing up, I was
one of the biggest fans of N.W.A,
from putting on the sunglasses
and looking in the mirror and
lipsinking to wanting to be Dr. Dre, to
be Ice Cube.
This is the biggest hip-hop
producer ever."
But like many other rappers,
Eminem's rise
to stardom was far from easy.
After being born in Kansas
City and traveling
back and forth between KC and the Detroit metropolitan area,
Eminem and his mother moved into the Eastside of Detroit when he was 12. Switching schools
every two to three months made
it difficult to make friends,
graduate and to stay out of
trouble.
Rap, however,
became
Eminem's solace. Battling schoolmates
in the lunchroom brought joy
to what was otherwise a painful
existence. Although he would
later drop out of school and
land several minimum-wage-paying,
full-time jobs, his musical
focus remained constant.
Eminem released
his debut album,
Infinite,
in 1996. Desperate to be embraced
by the Motor City's hip-hop scene,
Eminem rapped in such a manner that
he was accused of sounding like
Nas and
AZ.
"
Infinite was me trying to figure out
how I wanted my rap style to
be, how I wanted to sound on
the mic and present myself," he recalls. "
It was
a growing stage. I felt like Infinite was
like a demo that just got pressed
up."
After being thoroughly disappointed
and hurt by the response
Infinite received,
Eminem began working on what would
later become the
Slim
Shady EP - a project
he made for himself. Featuring
several scathing lines about
local music industry personalities
as well as devious rants about
life in general, the set quickly
caught the ear of hip-hop's
difficult-to-please underground.
"
I had nothing to lose,
but something to gain,"
Eminem says
of that point in his life. "
If
I made an album for me and it
was to my satisfaction, then
I succeeded. If I didn't, then
my producers were going to give
up on the whole rap thing we
were doing. I made some sh*t
that I wanted to hear. The Slim
Shady EP, I lashed
out on everybody who talked
sh*t about me."
By presenting himself as himself,
Eminem and
his career took off. Soon after
giving the Rap Coalition's
Wendy Day a copy of
the
Infinite album at a chance meeting, she
helped the aspiring lyrical
gymnast secure a spot at the Coalition’s 1997
Rap Olympics in Los
Angeles, where he won
second place in the freestyle
competition. During the trip,
Eminem and
his manager,
Paul Rosenberg,
gave a few people from
Interscope
Records his demo and
he made his major radio debut
on the world famous
Wake
Up Show with
Sway and Tech.
Realizing that this was the
opportunity of his lifetime,
Eminem delivered
a furious medley of lyrics that
wowed his hosts and radio audience
alike.
"
I felt like it's my
time to shine,"
Eminem says of that performance. "
I
have to rip this. At that time,
I felt that it was a life or
death situation."
Eminem would
soon record the underground
classic "
5 Star
Generals." This
record helped establish him
in Japan, New
York and Los
Angeles. It also helped
him earn a spot on the inaugural Lyricist Lounge tour,
which took him to stages from Philadelphia to Los Angeles.
Set to take the hip-hop world
by storm with his unique lyrical
approach and punishing production,
Eminem and
his
The Slim Shady LP are sure to have listeners captivated.
"
I do say things that
I think will shock people," he says. "
But I don't
do things to shock people. I'm
not trying to be the next Tupac,
but I don't know how long I'm
going to be on this planet.
So while I'm here, I might as
well make the most of it."
