Eminem - Infinite

Released: 1996

Everyone knows and loves Eminem. That white rapper. That guy who your parents hated. That guy from Detroit. That... well, you get the point. A lot of people, especially those who see themselves as "hardcore Shady fans" mostly knew the fact that in his early stages in his career, he was rapping in the streets, got into rap battles, and all that. Other than the things that a lot of fans saw in 8 Mile, there was a lot more than just that. So, if you only know about the street rapping and the battles he got into, and you classify yourself as a "hardcore fan" of Em, then you got a lot to research to do after reading this review.

Infinite was Eminem's actual first album (The Slim Shady LP was his major label debut). This was released in 1996, after releasing a third EP with the local rap group, Soul Intent in 1995. The EP (which was self-titled, Soul Intent), was best-known for a song called "F***in' Backstabber", which featured the late Proof. Em was still known as M&M at the time (seriously, joining his initials of his name, Marshall Mathers, and that was an awful stage name), before making it look like a word. According to Wikipedia, this album came out on November 12, 1996, although it's not really declared as official from Eminem himself and others, If it's true, then this album had its 18th anniversary just 3 days ago, along with the 10th anniversary of Encore, Eminem's fifth album, which can be seen as one of his weakest projects yet. Many people noticed the fact that on this album, he sounded similar to Nas and his sideman AZ (who was only popular for being on Nas' "Life's A Bitch"). Denaun Porter (aka Kon Artis) was behind every song. Although looking a little like there was a few ghost-producers, Mr. Porter was seen as the only producer.

Seeing as not many people ever knew about this album, until around 2006-2009, I can see why Infinite didn't sell much (only around a thousand copies). Noticing that this was before the birth of Slim Shady, the alter ego that made your parents hate him so much; and how he has grown so big in 18 years, I decided to check this out and see if the different side of Eminem on this album, is as good as how he portrays himself as Slim Shady. And now, allow me to introduce you to Marshall's actual debut...

1. Infinite
The album starts off with a song, which shows his lyricism and his fitting in on the beat. Eminem sounds great on this track. He shows a laidback and smooth flow over a pretty awesome beat, bringing up things like telekinesis, chain reactions and him being a stimulator and stuff. As for the chorus lyric being that he "went to hell, serving a sentence for murdering instruments", well, this looked as if it was acceptable in the 90s or something. Right now, a lot of people say it sounds like a 3 year old could've wrote that. Nevertheless, this is one of the best tracks on this album.

2. WEGO (Interlude)
Normally, I'd skip this and just say "Meh" or that it's just a skit/interlude, but the only reason this is tolerable is only because of the input of the late Proof. Admit it, we would skip it and I wouldn't be writing about this track if he was alive. Enough said.

3. It's OK
The sound of the beat feels weird, but does come out alright. Eminem talks about his struggles in life and how he got hope for the future. His lyrics are interesting and he sounds calm and soft. Speaking of which, it's funny looking back on Eminem's career from how he sounded so calm and smooth to sounding aggressive and expressing a lot of violence in a lot of tracks. This song has a catchy hook and a very nice concept, along with a great beat for Porter. This is another one of the best tracks on this album.

4. Tonite
"Tonite" sounds like a TLC or [insert any R&B girl-group here] song, that was never recorded. This is the most commercial song I've ever heard from Eminem. The chorus makes this song really tolerable and good. Eminem does good with his lyrics and his delivery is great. The production does come out a little weak with the lyricism being really STRONG.

5. 313 (feat. Eye-Kyu)
I always found this song a little boring. This features a rapper called Eye-Kyu, who doesn't really helps the song like it would, The song sounds like something recorded from 1992-1993. Eye-Kyu sounds alright and he's good, but it's weird how he never blew up after this, while Eminem does good and tries to sound hardcore and dark. But, the overall song just comes out boring.

6. Maxine (feat. Mr. Porter & Three)
So, here, Eminem and his crew talk about a girl called Maxine, and how they wanted to do things with her. The song starts with a conversation between Porter and Maxine, and Em does well with his first verse, followed by Porter, who is just OK, while Three (the underground rapper) does awful and sounds a little bit like Imani from The Pharcyde. The production is chill and reminds me of production from The Pharcyde or A Tribe Called Quest. This song is actually great but it's just Eminem and Porter that does good with the song.

7. Open Mic (feat. Thyme)
This song is a good track, and yeah the sound is dark, but it's good. Thyme does the chorus and he is really annoying on the track. Eminem could've at least got a different guy on this. Anyway, speaking of Em, he does a great job and has a great lyricism on this especially reminiscing from the open mic in the Hip-Hop Shop in Detroit, hence the title. The line "I never gave a f***, now I give a f*** less" is an awesome lyric, which can be known for having Jay-Z to even rework that line in a song. I knew this song because of Joey Bada$$' sample of this chorus in "World Domination". This song is nice. Just take away Thyme and we got a really tolerable track.

8. Never 2 Far
Eminem talks about how he is poor and he needs money, along with him talking about the streets. It kinda reminds me of Lose Yourself, due to the fact that their content are similar to each other. The production is funky and I like it. Em does awesome on this and the hook is really memorable. I heard Porter say "You only live once", not that it's a bad thing, but we all know that the saying was never really said by rappers till Drake came out with "The Motto". Also, it's another song that is really interesting to hear, especially knowing how far he has came to get to where he is today. Nevertheless, this song is really great and nice.

9. Searchin (feat. Mr. Porter)
You know how every rapper, hardcore or not, has that one love song. Well, this is it. Eminem makes a song dedicated to Kim. The fact that this was before all the fights and that horrible song he made on the MMLP just surprises me. Porter follows up, but he messes up with his singing mixing with his rapping. Not all mainstream love songs are good, and this is an example. It's just average,

10. Backstabber
Eminem does a continuation to "F***in' Backstabber", where he raps about backstabbers, as the song suggests. The beat is weak, while the concept is interesting but lacks a little here and there. Nevertheless, the song is alright.

11. Jealousy Woes II
Sampling LL Cool J's "Jealous", Eminem does his own version and it follows him complaining about a jealous women. This song is alright, but doesn't do well to my appetite. Overall, it's a good way to end the album.

A lot of people say that this is his best work yet, and that it's a classic, then there's some others that think that this was awful because of the production, "ripping off" certain tracks and Em sounding like AZ & Nas, and finally, there's me. On a scale on 1-10 (1 being rubbish and 10 being a classic), I'd put this on a 5.5. It's a good album. Eminem showed that in this album that he has a lot of potential. Although Em sounds like AZ, it comes out good. But the thing is, if the album had better production and input from other people, instead of just Porter (or him probably getting signed earlier), maybe I would've ranked this higher than I did now. But it just stays like that. I do recommend a listen or a purchase, since there are a few good tracks, and from start to finish make this a solid listen. 11 tracks is quick and Eminem makes it like how Illmatic was with 10 tracks. Like how Wiz Khalifa's Show and Prove was (readers, don't get mad at me for comparing this to a guy like Wiz), it's good, but does mess up here and there, and Eminem had yet to find himself and develop his own style.

The Furious 5ive
Infinite
It's OK
Open Mic
Never 2 Far
Maxine