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Welcome to the final installment of InsidePulse’s exclusive Eminem: Beyond the Encore feature. This column is brought to you by the 2005 Nissan Maxima. Listen to Overseer’s “Horndog” as you drive it.
In January of 2000, Eminem’s “My Name Is” hit MTV. The single was the first off of the rapper’s major-label debut, The Slim Shady LP, and it brought something new to the mainstream that had not been as prevalent in past hip-hop releases-comedy. That’s not to say that other hip-hop personalities hadn’t explored that realm previously (see, e.g., Kool Keith, Beastie Boys, et c.), but Eminem took it to an entirely different level, abrasively poking fun at various celebrities who were enjoying notoriety at the time, including, but not limited to, the Spice Girls, Marilyn Manson, and Pamela Anderson [Lee]. He was also willing to poke fun at himself, or the Slim Shady character that he plays, rapping about having done massive amounts of drugs, being suicidal, growing up under shitty circumstances, and having various venereal diseases. It was received well, due to the fact that it was in heavy rotation, along with the fact that Eminem had the backing of the legendary Dr. Dre, who also helped produce his Interscope debut. “My Name Is” was followed up by “97 Bonnie and Clyde” (a song in which he raps about having killed his wife and having his baby daughter help him hide the body, complete with voice-overs from the toddler) and “Guilty Conscience,” which featured the aforementioned Dre and showed a series of young men in compromising situations, including one finding his wife in bed with another guy, and another being faced with the opportunity to rape an underage girl.
That said, it is safe to come to the conclusion that since releasing his 2000 debut, Eminem has become a household name, garnering praise from music fans, and disdain from conservatives (as well as other music fans). However, rap’s “great white hope” (as he’s been referred to) has been performing since 1986 (with a group called Champtown), and had an impressive run before his big breakout.
UNDERGROUND DISCOGRAPHY
SOUL INTENT
(1994)
“Fucking Backstabber”
“Biterphobia”
This EP, featuring M&M (as he spelled it at the time) and DJ Buttafingas, contained only two songs, and was only released in cassette and 12″ format.
INFINITE
(1996)
“Infinite”
“WEGO”
“It’s OK” f/ Eye-Kyu
“313” f/ Eye-Kyu
“Tonite”
“Maxine” f/ Denaun & 3
“Open Mic” f/ Thyme
“Never 2 Far” f/ Denaun
“Searchin”
“Backstabber”
“Jealousy Woes”
Infinite was Eminem’s solo debut, featuring production from The Bass Brothers and Denaun, who is currently known as Kon Artis, and is part of Eminem’s group D12. Denaun also appears two of the tracks. A total of 500 copies were originally pressed, and Eminem sold them at local hip-hop shows and clubs in Detroit, and to people on the street, out of his trunk.
THE SLIM SHADY EP
(1997)
Intro (Slim Shady)
“Low, Down, Dirty”
“If I Had”
“Just Don’t Give a Fuck”
“Mommy”
“Just the Two of Us”
“No One’s Iller”
“Murder, Murder”
“If I Had” (Radio Edit)
“Just Don’t Give a Fuck” (Radio Edit)
This one clearly helped lay the groundwork for Eminem’s big label debut, as “Just Don’t Give a Fuck,” “If I Had,” and “Just the Two of Us” ended up being revamped and appeared on The Slim Shady LP. The aforementioned “Just the Two of Us” was remixed and renamed “97 Bonnie & Clyde” in order to avoid the wrath of Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers. “No One’s Iller” features guest vocals by Bizarre, another member of D12. You know, the fat one.
OTHER NOTABLE RECORDINGS
Da Ruckus f/Eminem, “We Shine”
Eminem lent his vox to fellow Detroit rappers Da Ruckus for this track, found on the duo’s 1998 EP Episode 1. Lyrics like, “I’ll leave you with more shit missing than a Lil’ Kim radio edit” shows his trademark humorous approach, but are also accompanied by him dropping pimps for Detroit. This is something that is rarely heard at all in Eminem’s newer material, and is kind of cool to hear.
Old World Disorder f/Eminem, “3hree6ix5ive”
This one is almost impossible to find in its original incarnation, which is Old World Disorder’s “Shyhalude/3hree6ix5ive” 12-inch single. The instrumental is a trip-hop gem on its own, and has been used before by DJ Krush on his Code 4109 mix. The song features Eminem’s self-deprecatory rhymes accompanied by the little noises that he often would make after each verse (i.e., “You know you’re spaced the f*ck out like George Lucas (alien noise) when you’re puke has turned into a yellowish-orange mucus (heaving noise)” and “A freak genius, too extreme for the weak and squeamish, burn you alive ’til you’re screamin’ to be extinguished” (Eminem making a burning sound, along with “Aahhh! Put me Out!”)). Another thing that makes this song badass is that it samples the following, from the movie Seven, “When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you’re insane? Maybe you’re just sitting around, reading Guns & Ammo, masturbating, in your own feces… do you just stop and go, ‘WOW! It is amazing how f*cking crazy I really am’.”
From Mike Eagle…
“Five Star Generals” Shabaam Sahdeeq, Eminem, Skam (from old world disorder), and Kwest the Madd Ladd.
In the minds of many of the fans of em’s early work, his verse on this Rawkus single stands as one of his finest. Half of the rappers came off kinda mediocre but Kwest and Em destroy this joint. It’s also kinda neat for the Muppets sample that begins the songs. It sounds like the commencement address at a furby convention.
Also noteworthy are Em’s recordings with New Jersey collective the Outsidaz. Consisting of Rah Digga, Young Zee and Pacewon among others. This is one of the sickest underground squads ever and his association with them definitely helped in his transition from Infinite‘s slightly disturbed Eminem to the Slim Shady EP‘s certified lunatic Eminem. That whole noise-making-in-the-background thing was bitten from them, too. Young Zee in particular was a master of this recording technique (technically titled “overdubbing”). Zee’s recordings dating back to 1995 have this element, whilst Mr. Mathers didn’t pick it up until he dropped verses on a couple of Outsidaz classics: “Hard Act to Follow” and “Macosa”.
Both of these records showcase the madness of the Outs and it’s easy to see how Marshall had to step up the insanity of his content to get down with them. Incidentally Pacewon, one of the prominent members of the group hates him now and could probably be found even now recording battle tracks against Em that no one will pay attention to.
Also still available for peer-to-peer theft are the Wake-up Show freestyles featuring Em and Royce. The important fact of these being that these are the rhymes that Dr. Dre heard when he decided to Sign Em to Aftermath. And thusly an infamous career began…
Thanks to Mike Eagle for his input. Here a couple of my favorite Royce and Eminem tracks that are musts for downloading…
Royce Da 5’9″ & Eminem, “Nuttin’ to Do”
After hearing this song, you’ll be as perplexed as I am in relation to why Royce Da 5’9″ has never gotten big when 50 Cent is f*cking huge. This song wouldn’t fit in well on any of Em’s major releases, except for possibly The Slim Shady LP. It has one of the bast Eminem verses, “Forget a chorus/ My metaphors are so complicated it takes six minutes to get applause (yeah)/ And by the time you all catch on/ Im’a end your career and walk away with the whole floor so you have nothing to fall back on” The beat is very early Death Row-like, and I think it is produced by DJ Head. Actually, if this song ever were played in a hip-hop club, it would probably be received very well. It oughta happen.
Royce Da 5’9″ & Eminem, “Scary Movies”
More goodness from the Royce and Em duo; in fact, Eminem should have recorded an album with Royce instead of the last D12 CD. This song is better that any single track on that. Royce f*cking tears it up in this one, and if you ever hear one Royce song it would have to be this one. As far as Eminem goes, this might be his best performance. An insane, abrasive monologue that spans over a minute sounds like it might have been belted out in one single breath. “Any man plannin’ to battle will get snatched out of his clothes so fast it’ll look like an invisible man standing … If they don’t like the track f*ck ’em/ The rap’s struck ’em harder than gettin’ hit by a Mack truck and then backed up on … So tell the medic to bring the medication and quickly/ I’m sicker than a 2Pac dedication to Biggie” Fucking amazing.
Hopefully this was worth the wait. If you are an Eminem fan, all of the aforementioned material is obligatory to your collection. Even if you’re not an Eminem fan, but a purveyor of more underground hip-hop, try this stuff on for size, as you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Cheers
-JF2k4!
