Early Eminem Revealed

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Bassmint Productions (featuring Eminem and Proof) – “Hammer vs. Vanilla Ice

unreleased (1990/91)

Nah Right’s been pulling a bunch of old Eminem tracks off early collaborator Chaos Kid’s Myspace pages. The first batch, from the Chaos Kid page are cool artifacts but ultimately very derivative. Eskay compares them to Big Daddy Kane and that is being generous. I am thinking more Kid N Play mixed with a vastly inferior Jungle Brothers. But maybe more interesting is another page, entitled “Bassmint Fun Times: The Infamous Suckerin Rhymes” which finds a similar lineup kicking goofier, looser freestyles. On these you can really hear Em’s style, and particularly his sense of humor start to take shape.

“Basically, the ‘Suckerin Rhyme’ was a way for us to have fun by freestylin. We would record the sessions to play back later and laugh at. They were never intended to be released to the public. They were purely for our own amusement.”

The highlight is probably “Hammer vs. Vanilla Ice,” which finds Em trading bars in character with a young Proof (Proof’s Hammer impression is considerably more accurate than Em’s Ice. Still I LOL’d at “I got a blonde streak… and that’s why people like me… because I’m hard as concrete.” There are a few more freestyles up at the Bassmint page that nobody bothered to rip. Additional Eminem minutiae of note: Bassmint recorded a lost track entitled “What Color Is Soul?” at Prince’s Paisley Park studios! After the jump is a gang of incredibly endearing photos pulled off the page. Respect to Chaos’ YZ-styled “Batman Sucks” T-Shirt. (Can any of my old heads explain the significance of that one?)

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11 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. Gerard

    Proof’s spoof of Hammer sounds like if he were in an insane asylum.

  2. er4se

    yo raekwon’s verse “at the barber shops gettin’ fucked up cuts” comes to mind…

  3. Nashvillain

    man Proof was really ill, still love searching for jerry. also em’s hairstyle is unforgivable in this photoshoot

  4. I put together a mixtape with all 8 tracks released on his myspace as well as the previous bassment tapes. Check it out on my blog.

    http://wordap.net/2009/08/eminem-basement-files.html

  5. BENJY

    amoeba blog has been super great lately

  6. hammer definitely won this ……..lol

  7. AK

    Proof’s impression is hilarious, especially coupled with the hyperactive chipmucked “Don’t Stop The Music” sample.

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