You've heard the story about Dr. Dre mysteriously hearing Eminem's tape and immediatly signing him to a multi-million dollar contract. After reaching a deal with Interscope, he was promoted on MTV as something no one had ever heard before. Looking back, they weren't all that far off. One of the most interesting things about Eminem is, when you get past the Innitial shock value, he's really good at rapping. That's why I've always been a big fan, even when I was younger. I could tell this was one if the only guys one the radio I actually enjoyed. That skill takes time, though, and everyone has to make a debut at some point.
Infinite was released in 1996, a time period Marshall frequently chooses to rap about. He couldn't get a job, expecting a baby, and has well documented issues with his then girl friend. Making things even more difficult, he had just lost his producer, Manix, who had produced all of his previous work. We wouldn't hear from Manix until years down the road when he sold Em's demo tapes, one including the notorious song where he says the n word, to The Source. Bitch move, Manix. There's a reason Marshal chose to stop working with you, your production was horsecock. This all ended up for the betterment Em, as he would end up working with Denaun Porter for Infinite, a man that would later joing his crew D-12. He may have been the only one credited, but its widely speculated that several unnamed ghost-beatmakers helped out, but I'd be lying if I said that I cared.
Infinite sold extremely poorly at the time of its release, selling just over one thousand copies. I can't even see how that's possible. There were quite a few Detroit hits on this thing, and I'm almost positive I could sell that many. No one really liked this all that much either. In fact, Marshall caught a ton of shit for bitting the styles of Nasir Jones, and AZ. (Sadly, that's AZ's claim to fame nowadays.) If you're only familiar with his current output, (I'm assuming you know at least a few of his older joints) there's no way you even recognize this guy. His personality is very tamed, and his rapping skills were still being formed.
Hopefully this is better than I remember...
1. Infinite
Eminem may have not had the crazy personality, shock value, or even close to decent beats, but there's no denying that he's always been one lyrical motherfucker. This song makes me sad, though. Eminem sounds standout good on the mic, making for a performance that still ranks among his best. In terms of word play at least. The sad part is how bad this beat is. I don't want to foreshadow too much, but there's a hell of a lot more where that came from. Considering this is coming out of Detroit, I'm sure they could have got something a little better than this. Oh well.
2. W.E.G.O. (Feat. DJ Head & Proof)
When doing a radio skit, its only tolerable when an artist drops a freestyle. That's not the case here. "W.E.G.O." Is nothing more than a very short skit that promotes the last song. The only real thing worth mentioning is the involvement of Proof.
3. It's OK (Feat. Eye-Kyu)
So this is the song they were promoting? It was most likely contrived as hell, but there's no way this shit got any radio play. Te instrumental on here is pretty damn bad as well. It seems like they were going for an overly grimy east coast beat, but that's far from the actually result. Everyone was from Detroit as well so I'm pretty baffled. Eye-Kyu is also another notable guest feature. For one, the spelling of his name is stupid as shit. Second, he was one of the original core members of D-12, but his work here didnt impress me. At least he's better than Bizarre.
4. Tonite
I think this may have been one of the songs that got radio play and its not hard to see why. This is one of the only times I can recall Eminem rhyming over such a happy R&B instrumental. The hook's pretty generic but Marshall's internal syllables were pretty damn impressive for someone who was relatively unknown. I actually enjoy this song quite a bit, but that may just be because of the change in beat tempo. At least its audible.
5. 313 (Feat. Eye-Kyu)
Eye-Kyu is back, but this song is no more interesting than his first appearence. Eminem doesn't say anything very substantial and actually get shown up by the guest. (Never thought I'd say that, especially when Eye-Kyu is in the mix) I just wish we could have gotten some more high profile guests in the project. I know Detroit wasn't pumping out legends in 1996, but its not like Royce Da 5'9" was doing anything better. I I've always said (and everyone else) Royce is the only man in the planet that can keep but with Em, but I digress.
6. Maxine (Feat. 3 & Denaun Porter)
Another boring as shit posse cut that I wasn't feeling. I guess Em's verse is pretty good, but the sing is completely derailed when 3 (Who?!) and Denaun Porter get the mic. Its cool to see him before he was known as the Kon Artist, but he could never rap. Thank God his production skills improved. This tale about women should be kept right next to the skip button...
7. Open Mic (Feat. Thyme)
Em actually follows the song title, as this does have a little cipher feel to it. I'm not going to lie, Em is spitting some pretty nice shit on here. Definitely his most audacious lyrically attempt. Not quite on the Slim Shady level just yet, but you could see that train coming. The problem is that stupid ass motherfucker trying to perform a hook. I know he can't help it, but his voice is one of the most annoying things I've ever heard in my entire life. I can get over these things, though. I actually really like this song and consider it to be one of the best in the album.
8. Never 2 Far
One of my favorite Eminem tracks ever. I know it's the ultimate "hipster" thing to say one of your favorite Em tracks is on Infinite, but this is just awesome. The song is pretty good itself, but it's just amazing to hear him talk about how close a million dollars is. We all know this to be true, as he quickly became the richest and most famous rappers in our genres history. For the icing on the cake, the beat isn't bad at all, which is all I was asking for. I wouldn't say it's on the same level as his Grammy Award winning "Lose Yourself", but it's close to a precursor.
9. Searchin'
I was pretty shocked after hearing this. If you've ever stumbled upon "Kim", this is on the complete other side of the spectrum. There's no underlining or hidden theme, this is simply a straightforward love song. I bet you never thought you'd hear Eminem rhyme about love with an unnamed female singer. That's probably for the best of everyone involved, though. It might be interesting the first couple listens, but this might be the worst song on this album.
10. Backstabber
This is a remake from the Soul Intent song "Fucking Backstabber", which is better than this one. I know I'm not the only one who thinks that so I'm pretty surprised they didn't just use the original. It was the groups only real notable song and would have fit in nicely here. Instead we hear Marshall rhyme loses about some kind of Joker that's going around stabbing people in the back.If he chose to fully run with the concept, it would be better, but everything on here comes off lacking. Yes, that especially includes the instrumental. I'm just saying, this album could have ended after "Never 2 Far" and I wouldn't have cared a day in my life. At least we're close to the end.
11. Jealousy Woes II
Not a bad song, but I'm not looking this deep into the history books to hear songs that are merely decent. The unnamed female (has anyone else realized how many albums she appears on? Damn, I'd at least like to have my name thrown out somewhere) initially sounded like Eminem, but then I realized was wrong. I for one have never thought Eminem's singing was that bad, but I'm praying we don't see any of it on this next album. I probably would have liked this song a little more outside the context of the album, but it's sequenced pretty horrendously. I'm not saying they were good, but you don'y put all of your hits at the very beginning of the album. C'mom Em, that's sequencing 101. Oh well, I'm done with this album.
Rating: 2/5
If you do decide to devote your precious time to this album, it's going to take some adjusting. I can only assume that most of you know Eminem for what he is now, or his music in the early 2000's. Either way, this version of Marshall Mathers doesn't sound like either one of them. For someone that had epitomized mainstream hip-hop over the last couple years, it's hard to picture him as an underground nobody just trying to make it in the world. Even when this came out, I highly doubt Em though he would be selling very many copies. This was probably made strictly to promote himself to label willing to take a chance on a white kid. That also explains why the beats were so damn terrible. Eventually it worked, but that's not because of this disc. Truth be told, even though there's only a couple really good songs, Em's rhymes are pretty great the whole way through. It's obvious that he had the potential, but needed some polishing. Hell, he even delivered the whole package on "Open Mic" and "Never 2 Far", but I'll pass on everything else. Another one of the biggest issues is the sequencing, which I have previously mentioned. He starts things off with two of the albums most popular songs, a pretty consistently boring middle, and then sinks into the ocean with the last few songs. Once again, though, I doubt that's something Marshall was all that worried about. If you're considering checking this out, I'd only recommend listening to the songs that I mentioned. (Maybe the title track for the wordplay alone) There's no way in hell you're going to find a legit physical copy, so you don't have to worry about buying it. Even if you could, I wouldn't recommend it. You can download this off Datpiff if you're a huge Eminem fan like myself, but others can let this pass them by.