The 17 Year Anniversary of The Slim Shady LP

That's right, it's been 17 long years since Eminem began terrorizing the minds of people all around the world with The Slim Shady LP. This album resulted in a lot of controversy, ranging from lawsuits with many, (from people in Eminem's life, including his infamous mother Debbie Mathers and childhood bully DeAngelo Bailey) to backlash over his shocking lyrics and wordplay. If there's one word to sum up Em's spectacular, roller coaster career (though I just gave you 3); the best word for it would be controversial. This is one of the reasons Eminem has always peaked my interest. A lot of material was made during the process of Eminem's long career, and leading up to the much anticipated release of his major label debut, Em promoted the hell out of it. Here's a few cool little known videos that were made leading up to The Slim Shady LP's release.

Eminem promotes The Slim Shady LP's release


Dre says at the 1:06 mark; "this is the result of a lot of acid." It's funny because ironically enough, during the making of The Slim Shady LP, Dre has said that they recorded most of Eminem's debut on Ecstasy. Eminem told Rolling Stone about Dre and his recording process in 1999, and Dre responded with: “He didn’t say that! It’s true, though. We get in there, get bugged out, stay in the studio for fuckin’ two days. Then you’re dead for three days. Then you wake up, pop the tape in, like, ‘Let me see what I’ve done.'”

Eminem Freestyles Words Given to Him, + Interview


Here's another cool interview that Em gave with MTV before the release of The Slim Shady LP, discussing growing up and why he raps, including the competitive aspect of it and doing it for the love. He even discussed coming up being compared to Vanilla Ice, and had some not so kind words for him.

Eminem discusses what he's been through, confusion over his lyrics, etc.

(*I do not own any of these videos, or the rights to them*)

Here Eminem discusses some confusion over his lyrics in the song "Guilty Conscience", where a writer (Timothy White) was offended by some things Eminem said (surprise!). Eminem says in the interview; "First of all he doesn't know hip hop so he doesn't belong judging it. He doesn't even know about, so he shouldn't speak on it." Some cold words from Em (which isn't new), but something that has certainly benefitted Em's career has been his way of saying what's on his mind and his "just don't give a fuck" attitude, which seemingly hasn't changed. Anyways, this interview is for sure another interesting look at how it was around the time The Slim Shady LP was pissing off the world.

It seems Eminem will always have something to say that rubs somebody somewhere the wrong way, which ultimately, (if you think about it) is pretty funny. In America, the home of the brave and the land of the free, someone got mad because a rapper jokingly talked about rape for some shock value looks and reactions. Eminem has almost always been a secret comedian it seems; shedding light on the horrors of America (and probably the rest of the world) through comedy. But even after all of it, after all of the things he says, after all of the people he disses, he's still a top notch emcee who should be respected for his craft, and his respect towards hip hop.