Eminem was a struggling teenager growing up. With all the negativity in his life, making music was the only positive aspect of it. Before hitting it big with his global fame and Grammy awards, before the hundreds of millions in sales, he was just another aspiring roadside hip-hopper.
By the year 1996, Eminem headed into a Detroit studio for the first time. There, he recorded his foremost album, Infinite. Just 500 copies were produced in 1996 and they were desperately handed out in parking lots and record stores in Detroit. The album's flop in 1996 spurred a reckoning for Eminem.
"The rapper was so far ahead of his time, even back then," says music producer Jeff Bass. "I listen to the lyrics on 'Infinite,' the songs he was coming up with, and he really was special. I think he knew that was some of his best work, especially where he was at in life."
After lying low for a few months, he emerged to tell the Bass team that he'd overhauled his creative concept, complete with a darker second persona: Slim Shady. Things started to look up when Dr. Dre signed Eminem to a big label contract. Three years after moving to Detroit, Eminem released "The Real Slim Shady LP" album. This album became the turning point of the rapper's life. This gave him the fame of a world renowned rapper.
It has been 20 years since Eminem recorded his maiden album "Infinite." The Bass Brothers, with the intention of releasing it to the public, had it reworked. With the original vocals remaining untouched they amplified it. Stripping the samples and substituting it with live guitars, bass, keyboard and drums revealing how it would have sounded if they produced it. Eminem's 20-year-old album, "Infinite," will be released on Friday, November 18.
