One year before Eminem recorded the Slim Shady EP, the project that would eventually catch Dr. Dre’s ear and catapult the Detroit rapper into Hip Hop fame, Em had released his debut album titled Infinite.
When the rare indie album was first released in 1996, only 1,000 pressings were made, but now it can now be downloaded for free at ThisIs50.com.
“I recorded Infinite in 1995, my first album,”Em said in his 2008 autobiography, The Way I Am. “It sold maybe 70 copies and didn’t get great feedback. A lot of people said it sounded like Nas, and he was a heavy influence at the time. But I had an album out, and I could say that. With The Slim Shady EP, it was a different story. That sh– got some buzz in the underground, and online sites couldn’t keep it in stock. I started getting calls about shows.”
Infinite showcases Em during a pre-shock rap era when he was trying to find his lyrical voice. The album gives insight into his life before rap stardom.
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“On [Infinite] you can hear the pain and the woes of just growing up and being poor and having a baby on the way,” he said in a 2004 interview with Vanity Fair. “I started taking all the feedback and started throwing it back in my music: ‘Yeah, I am white trash, I am whatever you’re gonna say about me.’ Somehow started taking the disadvantages and used them to my advantage. I reached a point where I stopped caring what people thought about me. And the second I stopped caring, people started caring about me.”
The 11-track debut features a few guests including D-12 member, Kon Artis, who would later come to be known as producer Denaun “Mr.”Porter [click to read].
Infinite track list:
1. “Infinite”
2. “W.E.G.O. (Interlude)”
3. “It’s O.K.” (featuring Eye-Kyu)
4. “313” (featuring Eye-Kyu)
5. “Tonite”
6. “Maxine” (featuring Denaun Porter)
7. “Open Mic” (featuring Thyme)
8. “Never 2 Far”
9. “Searchin’ ” (featuring Denaun Porter)
10. “Backstabber”
11. “Jealousy Woes”
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Eminem’s sixth full-length album, Relapse hits stores on May 19.
