He was being this crazy character with this great sense of humor. He started being himself, not trying to sound like anybody else, not rapping about what every rapper in New York did. (Eminem) sent me a cassette, the bare bones of what would become the 'Slim Shady EP.' I was blown away. PAUL ROSENBERG, Eminem's manager (Detroit Free Press interview, 2003): DJ Head called me one day (in 1997) and said, 'You have to check out Eminem’s new stuff. Slang Ton, of the rap group Outsidaz, holds a cassette tape of the 'Slim Shady EP' circa 1997. Why don't you try alternative? Blah blah blah.' A lot of that s- was pissing me off, and I started releasing that anger in songs. So Slim Shady, the alter ego, was created.ĮMINEM (DFP '99): (People were saying,) 'You shouldn't rap. To a very small extent, he noticed the Insane Clown Posse and Esham thing (in Detroit) - how this negativity was selling out venues and record stores. KEMPF: He switched up a lot from the 'Infinite' sound, which had been influenced by a lot of positive rappers - street but positive - like Nas and AZ. I had any excuse in the book thrown at me - from being white to I can't rhyme or I'm biting someone else's style. It's like crabs in a bucket, and everybody's trying to fight to get their way to the top and pulling the next one down. I was giving tapes out - like, 'Here, take it.' Nobody was trying to hear me when I was coming up. MARC KEMPF, former Eminem manager: He was starting to consider, 'Should I just give this up and keep flipping burgers?' I pushed him not to, because I saw the talent.ĮMINEM (DFP '99): The lack of love (in Detroit) was bulls. I knew I could put words together, but I just didn’t have the whole formula yet. Now the 24-year-old was flipping the creative script: He hatched his new alter ego, as the mythology famously goes, while sitting on a toilet.ĮMINEM (Detroit Free Press interview, 1999): We tried to do some s- back in the day, but I was too young. Hometown producers Mark and Jeff Bass were firmly aboard, while then-manager Marc Kempf, who ran a Detroit rap magazine, was working to stir interest in the Midwest and beyond.Įminem’s obscure indie release 'Infinite' in 1995 came and went. There was also Paul Rosenberg, a trusted ally from his early days and now a rookie attorney in New York. In 1997, east-side resident Eminem - financially strapped and raising a toddler daughter - was sustained by just a handful of believers, including a crew of rapper friends from the city's small, ever-hustling, ever-struggling hip-hop circle.

Slim shady cassette extended edition