Using a variety of Shady Records artists, as well as those heavily involved with the label, Complex TV recently documented the success of the label powerhouse as part of their newly-released documentary, “Not Afraid: The Shady Records Story.”
Among those featured in the half-an-hour long documentary are Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Peter Rosenberg, and Royce Da 5’9.
“Not Afraid: The Shady Records Story” begins with both Eminem and Peter Rosenberg speaking on the birth of their artist/manager relationship. Rosenberg revealed that he met Eminem through Proof and added that at that particular moment, he wasn’t fully convinced of the Detroit, Michigan emcee’s potential.
Additionally, Eminem stated that he didn’t expect Rosenberg to “be the coolest manager ever,” but was excited about his soon-to-be manager’s connections in New York.
“I wasn’t like ‘Oh my God, this guy is gonna be the coolest manager ever. Oh my God,’” Eminem said. “At that time, on some real shit, I’m sure I was just excited to have anybody even listen to me. You know what I’m saying? And take me seriously. Especially Paul being based in New York or whatever. Even the excitement of that. ‘Oh my God, he’s got connections in New York. He could—.’ Anything was a lead. Anything was a ray of hope. Back then it was like everybody’s just trying to make connections and Paul was a really good one.”
Another relationship that was discussed in the video was the one between Eminem and longtime collaborator, Dr. Dre. In the documentary, Dre stated that he first heard Eminem’s music while at Jimmy Iovine’s house and “thought it was incredible.”
The famed producer then recalled working on “My Name Is,” the first song the two worked together on.
“Well, I first heard Eminem’s music at Jimmy Iovine’s house,” Dr. Dre said. “He just happened to have gotten Eminem’s tape maybe a couple of days before. He actually got it from an intern that used to work at Interscope. He popped it in and then I heard it. And I thought it was incredible. At this time, I had no idea he was a white guy. I didn’t find that out until a few days later. And I was just like ‘What the fuck is this? I really need to meet this guy.’ The first thing that we did was ‘My Name Is.’ I had already prepared a sample that I thought he would sound great on. Immediately after I put it on he just went ‘Hi, my name is’…When I heard he was gonna start his own label, I thought it was an amazing idea. I was excited to see what they were going to be able to do with it.”
The full “Not Afraid: The Shady Records Story” documentary can be found below.
For additional Eminem coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
These guys sure have fallen the fuck off. Eminem is now a pop star, 50 cent keeps taking L after L against MMG, Dr Dre can’t even get an album out, no one gives a shit about mr porter, and royce and his slaughterhouse group bombed big. Yela’s going to be ignored rightfully, obie got demoted to independent, and you don’t hear shit about cashis. Shady records is a joke.
officer ricky put out 2 albums last year and combined they didnt even go gold
Rick Ross went platinum with these albums worldwide. 50 can’t even go gold anymore.
It’s like they all fell off and landed in a billion dollars… laughing at all you losers!!
There’s no such thing as platinum worldwide, Ross doesn’t have any platinum and his last two records didn’t even make it to gold.
I haven’t listened to Em in a while, but seeing how he’s still one of, if not the most, sucessful rapper out, I don’t see how he fell.
Dre doesn’t give a fuck about putting out an album. He’s running a business, and is the first rapper to be labeled a BILLIONAIRE.
50’s shelf life was never going to be long. How many gangster rappers strike it rich, and continue to still be gangsters? Plus, you act like MMG is winning…what exactly have they done.
Royce / Slaughterhouse are emcees, not commercial rappers. They put out lyrical hip hop. Lyrical shit rarely ever sells, especially not for guys who have been in the game for 15-20 years each.
It must be a miserable life being such a hater.
And what the hell do they mean by family? Heard from some former artists like stat quo that eminem was abusing them and then not giving a shit because, as a druggie, he focused on the drugs than artists. Cash Money is a family. MMG is a family, Shady Records is a joke.
Cash Money is a family? Riggght. Wayne suing and is making every last attempt to get off the label. Drake dropped a surprise album to get the fuck off. Nicki is as good as gone. Birdman all alone lol. Well he has his girls with him…Young Thug and Quan lol.
MMG is and will always be irrelevant, so not even a comment.
Shady Records doesn’t even need to be relevant anymore…it did it’s thing already. Was as big and successful as a label could possibly be in early 2000s. EVERYBODY [that should have anyway..Stat Quo, Cashis, Bobby Creek SUCK so of course they failed] was successful and sold millions of records.
Wayne’s a disloyal fuck, and drake and birdman are loyal to birdman. Quan is a disloyal fuck as well but young thug’s still cool with birdman.
Wayne ain’t disloyal and neither is Quan. Drake is only loyal to Wayne, not Birdman.
@saber aka Dan, you’re wrong about everything. None of these guys fell off. Eminem is not a pop star, 50’s not taking LS, and Dre is a billionaire who can do whatever he wants. Also, Stat Quo lied as Eminem didn’t abuse his artists like Birdman did. Cash Money and MMG are not a family, they’re jokes, which Shady is not.
no, op right. eminem being a wack corny pop star, 50 losing, dre sucking, and cash money far better than shady. BUrrr
^ Hi, Danny boy. No, Eminem is not a pop star, 50 ain’t losing, Dre is a billionaire, and Cash Money is not better than Shady.
yo saba and uuta are right. eminm really dos suk and so dos 50. btw, just bouht the onli coopy of the shaolin albuum from wuuuuu tan clannnn
^ ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER. DO YOU SPEAK IT?
dont be suck a bich. just sayig that i bougt the one cpy of once upn a timme in shaolllin.
hate it or love it, em is still the #1 rapper in the game. ain’t no body outseling da white boy
“Among those featured in the half-an-hour long documentary are Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Peter Rosenberg, and Royce Da 5’9.”… Haven’t watched it all yet but I’m pretty sure you guys meant to say PAUL ROSENBERG NOT PETER
Shady is not over Yelawolf is the future Love Story will be crazy dope I’ll be picking it up first day on 4-21 I’m betting it will be album of the year!!
Love Story will suck and will flop outside the top 20 like last time.
Peter Rosenberg?, lol