Slim Shady EP

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The Slim Shady EP is a debut EP by American rapper Eminem, released on the Detroit-based record label Web Entertainment in 1997. The Slim Shady EP was released on cassette, vinyl, and CD (The vinyl and CD versions were all released at the same time as the cassette.) Unlike Infinite, The Slim Shady EP helped Eminem garner significant underground attention and eventually garnered the interest of famous West Coast hip-hop producer Dr. Dre, who subsequently signed Eminem to his Aftermath label, and executive-produced his breakthrough major-label debut The Slim Shady LP. Eminem first introduced his "Slim Shady" persona on this EP, and his lyrics are a marked departure from those found on Infinite, featuring constant references to drug use, sexual acts, mental instability, and over-the-top violence. Another departure was his exploration of more serious themes of dealing with poverty, his direct and self-deprecating response to criticism, and of marital and family difficulties. His flow is also noticeably different than on Infinite; whereas critics claimed he sounded too much like Nas and AZ on that album. Eminem also began utilizing story telling on this EP. The production value of the music on the tracks — from previous collaborators DJ Head, The Bass Brothers, and Mr. Porter — was also noticeably higher than on prior album efforts. According to Billboard, at this point in his life Eminem had "realized his musical ambitions were the only way to escape his unhappy life". Eminem was featured in the March 1998 edition of The Source magazine's (#102), "Unsigned Hype" column. The author of the column highlighted two tracks from Eminem's The Slim Shady EP; "Just The Two Of Us," and "Murder, Murder." The column was written about a month or two prior to Eminem's record deal with Aftermath Entertainment but wasn't published until March 1998. Later in Eminem's career, he experienced conflict with Benzino, the co-owner of the magazine.

via Last.fm