Not to say that that was my alternative to Stretch & Bobbito, but this was the only place where I'd be able to hear Company Flow, Mos Def, and other acts that ended up changing the shape of underground hip-hop. For a while, that hunger was satiated by the Thursday night 'Vibes & Vapors' program on Princeton University's WPRB. Growing up smack dab in the middle of New Jersey (Trenton, to be exact), and being a fan of more than what Philly's Power 99 would play during the day, I had to look towards the college radio scene for my weekly dose of underground hip-hop. Yeah, I was a poser, but the Slim Shady LP was a pretty big turning point in my life. Within a month, Eminem was my favorite rapper, I knew every word to 'Just Don't Give A Fuck,' and I went to the barber and-no lie-brought in a picture of Em and asked if they could make my hair like that. Who the fuck was this nasally, bug-eyed white guy rapping about Nine Inch Nails and impregnating Spice Girls? I didn't get it, and I didn't like it. I liked some hip-hop, but Black Star, A Tribe Called Quest, and Gang Starr had not primed me for what was coming next. I had long, greasy blonde hair because I thought I was Kurt Cobain, and I wore ripped jeans and a lot of plaid. Back then I was at the tail-end of my Nirvana obsession. Hearing/seeing Eminem for the first time was really confusing for me. Written by David Drake ( Jason Parham ( Jacob Moore ( Khal ( and Henry Green. To celebrate the arrival of Slim Shady's explosion on the hip-hop scene, here are a few snapshots of what it was like to experience Eminem's arrival, his record, and the events around it firsthand. But by the time he was introduced to a mass audience, his sound had solidified. This style, of course, didn't just arrive fully-formed he'd already released Infinite and the Slim Shady EP, and spent years battling on the freestyle circuit. But he had a unique enough sensibility, combined with a deft, brutal wit, that he had become his own center of gravity the second he 'made it.' Of course, there were definitely precedents to his style-from Young Zee to Masta Ace, he was not apart from history, and was very much a part of an existing lineage. It can seem difficult to understand if you weren't there how refreshing, how unconventional he really seemed. When Eminem burst onto the scene with his debut record, it was a very different era in hip-hop history. For Em, The Slim Shady LP-what would have been an easy career highlight for the average artist-was just a beginning. It wasn't the peak of Marshall Mathers' career, certainly he would only refine his style with time, while becoming a more potent artistic phenomenon. Today, The Slim Shady LP turns fifteen years old.

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