The Slim Shady LP was the 1999 debut commercial album from Detroit rap superstar Eminem aka Slim Shady. Since its release you'd have to have been living in a cave not to have heard of Eminem, he's probably one of the most successful rappers ever, with a bank roll that only Dr Dre and Jay-Z and their business projects can compare to, love him or hate him Eminem is one of the all time greats in rap. The album debuted at #2 in the US Billboard Album charts and sold 283,000 copies in its first week, it has since gone 5x Platinum.

"Obviously, I was young and influenced by other artists, and I got a lot of feedback saying that I sounded 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. It was a growing stage. I felt like Infinite was like a demo that just got pressed up."

Eminem would gain exposure entering the rap Olympics, a mixture of battles and freestyles,in which Eminem would be robbed in the final to a African-American rapper, with the general consensus that they had ruled again Slim because he was white, never the less head of Interscope Records Jimmy Iovine saw his talent and requested a demo. Iovine later took the demo to Dr Dre, who quickly signed the Detroit mc and started the beginning of a long partnership which would involve both rappers (and producers) working on each of the others albums as they were made, Dre has appeared on all of Eminems albums, whilst Eminem has made several tracks with Dre. The rest as they say is history.

(Sample information taken from Wikipediea)

A funny track that may have aged a little over the years but still entertains, I've heard this is one of Slim's least favourite songs and, like most of the album, he certainly didn't perform it either time I've seen him live, the beats are pretty silly but match the subject matter, a great song to introduce yourself to the world.

Eminem's lyrics on this one really show the fact he grew up listening to the underground Detroit rap scene, dominated by Horrorcore rap acts Esham, Natas, and of course Insane Clown Posse. The lyrics are pretty crazy, with Eminem rapping about many different violent encounter as he was growing up, this ones storytelling not fact, not many rappers would make a track like this, Eminem raps with pure anger on this one, just a insane track with a pumping base line.

A thoughtful track about life and the things Eminem is sick of, I'm guessing these days it's been a long time since Eminem had to do (or be) many of these things anymore, quite a deep song for Shady, very laidback production, it's interesting to look at this track now and look at how far he's come in his career since.

7 - 97' Bonnie & Clyde

9 - Role Model

The beats on this one during the verses sound like an old-school hip-hop beat, think Grandmaster Flash style, while they switch up into a more modern sound for the chorus, I do like the sound on this one, the lyrics are all over the place and don't really have any theme, there more a chance for Eminem to show of his skills and use more multi-syllable rhymes, I wonder how much of this one was a freestyle in the studio, it certainly sounds that way.

Sample

Another one of my favourites on here, the lyrics are top quality on this one, Em doesn't really have anymore to say than the fact he 'Just don't give a f*ck' what other people do or say, this is another I remember hearing for the first time and just sitting back listening to the track 4 or 5 times in a row being amazed at the lyrics and Eminem's rapping ability, I wish he'd do more tracks like this these days, I also have a pretty clear memory getting excited about how good this song was with one of my old basketball team mates but anyway, the beats are some of my favourite on here, the kind you only find in rap, songs like this are the reason I love hip-hop.

18 - I'm Shady

'I'm a cross between Manson, Esham and Ozzie.'

Overall a 9/10 from me for the album, very few mc's have made a debut LP so strong, ok Eminem had other releases earlier in his career ('Infinite' and 'The Slim Shady EP' come to mind) but this was his break through record, helped by the backing of Dr Dre and Aftermath records, at a time when almost no record company would gamble on a white rapper Dre saw past the skin colour and saw the unlimited talent in Slim and took a chance, thank god he did as this record allowed a wealth of talented white rappers the chance to break through in the commercial scene. Eminem always struggled to match the sound of the record on future releases; 'The Marshall Mathers LP' was the only one of his albums for me to do so, this for me is the man working to the best of his ability, I recommend this to all rap fans, a true classic.