Highsnobiety

Whether you consider yourself a diehard Eminem fan, or simply grew up during his musical renaissance during the start of the new millennium, chances are you'll never forget the platinum blonde rapper introducing himself to the world with his infectious and tongue-and-cheek single, "My Name Is."

Since his 1999 debut album The Slim Shady LP hit stores, Eminem has gone on to sell over 100 million albums worldwide - winning 13 Grammys - while also notably scoring a first of its kind rap win at the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself."

Although Eminem had built a small but loyal following in Detroit in the mid '90s based off the success of his first album, Infinite, his decision to showcase his skills on more of a national stage proved instrumental in making him one of the most successful rap artists of all time.

According to Rolling Stone, "Eminem's appearance at the Rap Olympics in 1997 has become his most legendary battle appearance."

The pinnacle of rap pugilism - which pitted emcees of various skills and recording pedigrees against one another - initially took place at Club Zanzibar in Newark, New Jersey and was eventually moved to Los Angeles - with the winner scheduled to receive $500 USD and a Rolex watch.

Eminem breezed through the preliminary rounds with punchlines like, "I'mma tell you this for your own benefit/Your shit was dope as hell, specially when you wrote 90% of it/What you need to do is practice on your freestyles/'fore you come up missin' like Snoop Dogg's police files."

Ultimately, Eminem took home second place after losing to veteran battle rapper, Otherwize.

During the 1990s, San Francisco’s KMEL 106 FM became the leading rap radio station in the Bay Area after progressive-minded program director Keith Naftaly allowed DJs the freedom to play hip-hop music despite a past track record that was distinctly rock-influenced.

The radio station's success also launched the careers for DJs Sway and King Tech - a duo who had won the opportunity to showcase a 40-minute mix on KMEL after earning recognition with their own music in the late '80s.

"Sway and King Tech became the Dick Clarks of underground hip-hop, breaking acts such as Hieroglyphics, Eminem, Cypress Hill, and mainstays Planet Asia, Supernatural, and Freestyle Fellowship to name a few," said Dana Scott of HipHopDX.

In 1994, King Tech moved to Los Angeles to create a new show for 92.3 FM The Beat called the Wake Up Show. Sway stayed behind, continuing his own show in the Bay called 10 O’ Clock Bomb and commuting to LA for the newly-launched show.

"The Wake Up Show opened the doors to creativity," King Tech said.

Following his second place finish at the Rap Olympics, Eminem and other battle rap stalwarts like Chiago's MC Juice and Juice Crew's Craig G were invited to appear on the Wake Up Show (the latter penned many of the battle sequences in 8 Mile).

“Em tried to do the battle-rap thing, and honestly, it wasn’t too hot, so nobody was paying attention to him,” Tech told MTV. “It went to Juice [after Eminem], and he murdered it, looking straight at Craig G. Craig G went next, didn’t look at Juice at all, so everyone was excited for it to go back around again to them dudes, and maybe it could be a battle. And then Em just went into the Em that he became — the battle-rap thing wasn’t really jumping off in the room for him, because of the competitive energy between everyone — so he went into ’I’m doing drive-bys on Vietnam vets/ In tinted Corvettes’ and would raise the pitch in his voice. Everyone in the room started smiling and saying, ’That was tight.’ It lightened the mood of the whole room. It just became more exciting coming back to Em. It became the Eminem room.”

The now legendary session resulted in Eminem's manager, Paul Rosenberg, arranging a weekly slot for him.

“I think those sessions were like his training, and he eventually found his voice and who he would become as an artist,” Sway said. “After two to three months, he really became a regular staple of the show.”

Although Dr. Dre had actually heard Eminem prior to his Wake Up Show appearance thanks to a demo that had found his way into his hands after the Rap Olympics, the freestyle session solidified his desire to seek him out.

The rest is history.

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