Once upon a time in the early 2000s, Eminem's Shady Records venture was one of the most promising labels in hip-hop.
Formed with Paul Rosenberg after Eminem's success with his debut breakthrough album, The Slim Shady LP, in 1999, Shady Records was once (and it still is) home to some of the most promising talents in hip-hop. Speaking to Rap Basement, Paul revealed that the idea started after Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment refused to sign Em's D12 group.
"He really wanted to put D12 out, and I really wanted to start a label. Those two goals worked well together," the former Def Jam honcho explained.
In 2003, Shady Records exploded with a stellar release from 50 Cent, Get Rich or Die Tryin. It didn't stop there, as six months later, another Shady's promising talent Obie Trice released his debut album, Cheers. Stat Quo, Bobby Creekwater, and Cashis joined the label, respectively, in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Eminem also signed supergroup Slaughterhouse and Alabama rapper Yelawolf, but they all left the label, respectively, in 2018 and 2019.
Today, Shady Record houses Buffalo supergroup Griselda (Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine and Benny the Butcher) and Compton-bred rapper, Boogie. Here's what former Shady Record artists, then, and everything they've been up to now.
12 Slaughterhouse (Then)
In the age of lazy bars and mumble rapping, Slaughterhouse was once a peak of hope in hip-hop. Consisted of rappers like Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Kxng Crooked, and Eminem's very own Bad partner in rhymes, Royce da 5'9", the group independently released their self-titled debut album back in 2009 before they were signed to Shady. All the members, minus Joe Budden, was featured on Session One from the deluxe version of Eminem's 2010 album, Recovery. Their debut album under Shady, Welcome to: Our House, was released in 2012.
11 Slaughterhouse (Now)
The group was eventually disbanded in 2018. We all know how it turned out: Joe Budden is now in the middle of bad blood with Em, while the rest of the members were featured on I Will from Eminem's 2020 Music to be Murdered By album.
"When we signed our deal with Shady (Records), it turned into this environment where everybody turned into a chef. It was like everybody in the kitchen was a cook. Everybody wanted to start the records. Now, too much of our brains started being involved," Royce told AllHipHop.
"We started looking at the criticism," the veteran rapper added. "'Will they be able to make songs for the radio?' 'Will they be able to live up to the hype of being signed to Shady and making songs that can be commercially viable?'"
10 Cashis (Then)
After making a significant break with his mixtape Stars with Stripes, Cashis joined the Shady Records family in 2006. The world got to hear Cashis for the first time when he was featured on You Don't Know from Shady Records 2006 compilation album, Eminem Presents: The Re-Up. His debut album, The County Hound EP, hit the stores on May 22, 2007, and Eminem heavily produced it.
9 Cashis (Now)
It's hard to live up to the expectations when you're surrounded by the big cats in the game like Eminem and 50 Cent. His Shady's debut album, initially titled Loose Cannon, had been pushed back for several years by the record's parents company, Interscope. Frustrated, Cashis left the Shady family in 2011.
It wasn't anything over at Shady. It was just over at Interscope. They were like, "We can get Cashis, and he can do a few hundred thousand, but Em and 50, they was doing 10 million at the time," the rap king of Orange County said. "It's the politics of the game. Sometimes at a label, you spend too much, and you gotta bring something into your parent company, and they have to go with the top acts at that time."
However, after Shady, he still maintains a good friendship with Em. Eminem was involved as a produced on his 2013 sophomore album, The County Hound 2. He is now signed to Bogish Brand Entertainment.
8 Obie Trice (Then)
Obie 'Real Name No Gimmicks' Trice was introduced to Eminem by his D12 compadre Bizarre and eventually signed to the label after dinner with Em at a Kid Rock party. He is famous for his ad-libs 'real name, no gimmicks' from Without Me and Drips (The Eminem Show), and the parking lot rapper on 8 Mile. Cheers, Obie's debut album, hit the stores on September 23, 2003, and scored a whopping 226.000 sales within the first week.
7 Obie Trice (Now)
Obie, just like Cashis, decided to leave the family after feeling that he received a lack of promotion from his label. His sophomore album, Second Round's on Me, only managed to sell 74.000 copies within the first week. That's a meager and disappointing number for someone with a massive hype like him. After his departure, he launched his own label, Black Market Entertainment. When Eminem and Nick Cannon exchanged a few not-so-nice comments about each other, Obie joined his former boss and released his own diss track against the Nickelodeon actor, titled Spanky Hayes.
6 D12 (Then)
D12 was the first act to be signed to Shady Records. Formed by Proof and other members back in 1996, D12's popularity skyrocketed after Eminem's signed them to the label. They have sold over four million copies of their two albums, Devil's Night and D12 World. However, after an ill-fated night at the CCC Club in Detroit in 2006, the group's de jure leader Proof passed away tragically, leaving the rest of the members to lose their direction.
5 D12 (Now)
The group has never been the same after their leader's death. Eminem shockingly put the group to an end in 2018 with his song Stepping Stone from power-diss Kamikaze album, "The less is left for closure, so let's let this go / It's not goodbye to our friendship, but D12 is over."
However, the friendship between them remains tight, and they are still in the game. Mr. Porter replaced Proof's position as Eminem's hype man and even produced his latest Music to be Murdered By with another member, Bizarre. Kuniva and Swift released a joint album, titled My Brothers Keeper, in February 2020.
4 Yelawolf (Then)
The Alabama rapper released his debut album, Radioactive, and its follow-up, Love Story, respectively, in 2011 and 2015.
"Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse, it's kinda phased two of Shady," Eminem told XXL, excited about his newest signee. "It's the new generation of Shady Records, and as we're trying to rebuild our label, it's exciting for hip-hop, and with all of these forces coming together and with what everybody's capable of on the mic, it's gonna be fun."
3 Yelawolf (Now)
The hype slowly died down. Yela's 2017 album, Trial by Fire, didn't even break the top 20 of the Billboard 200 chart, and only sold 12.000 copies in its first week compared to Love Story's 61.000. He amicably departed from Shady Records, "Five f***n' albums on Shady Records. I feel blessed for that. Make some noise for Marshall Mathers!"
But what did prompt the decision? It's likely a creative difference, as he told HipHopDX, "It was like, 'Oh Marshall signed a white boy.' Everybody wanted a piece of that fucking project. Producers were coming out of the woodworks, writers were coming out of the f*****g woodworks, and all these songs were being pitched to me and Marshall."
2 50 Cent (Then)
After being shot nine times and dropped from Columbia Records, 50 Cent took his mixtapes to the street to build his reps. His debut mixtape, Guess Who's Back, caught Eminem's attention, and the rest is history. Signed to Shady in 2002, the most exciting hip-hop artist at that time released his debut classic album, Get Rich or Die Tryin', in 2003. He still rolled with Shady for the next couple of albums: The Massacre (2005), Curtis (2007), and Before I Self Destruct (2009).
1 50 Cent (Now)
After over nine years at Shady/Aftermath, the In da Club rapper jumped off the ship and called it an end. Again, it was highly likely because of creative differences.
"It's also because of the leverage of having the strong relationships with Eminem and Dr. Dre," Fiddy told Forbes. "They don't want me to be uncomfortable. They value our friendship to the point that they would never want (to jeopardize) it over that little bit of money."
Now, the rapper is signed to Caroline Records/UMG.
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