Infinite Possibilities!

Eminem.

There's talk about Eminem reissuing his rare debut album Infinite.

Infinite is raw uncut and underground Detroit hip-hop. 

Eminem, basically known as M&M at the time release his debut album out the trunk of his car. 

The album is hard to find (unless you get it off the torrents). The album is just a cassette tape.

The album had 11 tracks. It is a decent album. Raw hip-hop. Em wanted to make the album "radio friendly" and try to push it into Detroit radio stations. He couldn't make a break because he was a White rapper.

Before he signed to Interscope and became the world's best rapper, Eminem was Marshall Bruce Mathers III, a struggling single parent trying to find a place.

In 1996. Em was working a fast food joint in Detroit and doing freestyle rapping on the side. He decided to use his skills as a lyricist and save enough of his paychecks to release an album.  He teamed up with the Bass Brothers and Denaun Porter (aka Mr. Porter/Kon Artis) to release the raw Em.

Em cites the album's influence to AZ, a Queens based rapper who told stories about the struggle. The album received mixed reviews. Many said while his style was true, it wasn't unique. 

Rare album may be released this year.

Em would recruit his friend Paul Rosenberg who was working at Goliath Artists to help him get his music out into the mainstream.

So he would release The Slim Shady EP and that ended up landing in Jimmy Iovine's office.

Iovine wanted to create a superstar. He asked Dr. Dre if he was interested in working with Eminem.

The good doctor said "let get to work!." 

Eminem would sign to Aftermath in 1998 and release the commercial debut The Slim Shady LP in 1999. That album would sell 8 million copies and launched his career as one of the most famous rappers in the genre. 

And of course, his legacy as the greatest rapper comes with controversy. Many critics think Em's lyrics encouraged drug use and criminal deviancy. Some complained that his lyrics were homophobic, sexist, misogynistic, anti-cop, anti-establishment. Even some rappers were concerned that his music destroys hip-hop. 

Em ignored the critics and kept the music going. And for that he's earned that success. 

Denaun Porter was on a radio show recently. This interview with “The Cypher,” Porter was asked about whether the album will ever be re-released.The only thing that stops the release is the ongoing feud with his former record label. 

“That might have a lot to do with the Bass Brothers,” Porter said, citing Mark and Jeff Bass who released the effort through their Web Entertainment imprint in the mid-’90s. “If they were to release that right now, they would have to pay me a grip. I got screwed around way early messing around with them dudes. I don’t know what they’re doing right now, but it seems like it’s something that should happen.”

While Porter said he’d be down for a reissue, he also explained that he’d prefer if Em’s manager, lawyer and friend Paul Rosenberg handled it.

WEB Entertainment still owns the rights to most of Eminem's albums and they are the ones who can clear Infinite for a full release.

“Paul is more creative when it comes to how to do that sh-t,” he explained. “If [the Bass Brothers] did it themselves, they would have to do it in a special way because that’s a special project. For whatever reason, a lot of these younger kids, I think they gravitate towards that retro sound. It was a dope album.”

If you're interested in more Em, don't forget to get the soundtrack to the movie Southpaw. It is executive produced by Eminem and it's released on Shady/Interscope.

Also The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is out on Aftermath/Shady/WEB Entertainment/Interscope.

Have you heard Infinite?