Product Code Database
Shady Records is an American record label founded by Rapping Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg in 1999, following the commercially successful release of The Slim Shady LP that same year. The label's name comes from the last name of Eminem's alter ego, Slim Shady.
The Shady Records roster was showcased on their 2006 compilation album, , which peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200. The label's roster was also predominantly featured on the soundtrack to the film 8 Mile; the film starred Eminem while the album was led by the single "Lose Yourself". The song became the first hip hop song to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Shady Records has signed and released projects for acts including Eminem himself, his group D12, Obie Trice, 50 Cent, DJ Green Lantern, Cashis, Bad Meets Evil, Slaughterhouse, Yelawolf, Griselda Records, Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine and Grip; its roster as of 2025 includes Westside Boogie and Ez Mil.
D12 was the first act signed by Shady as they had been rapping together since the 1990s, and the members had made a promise that whoever became successful would come back and sign the others.Quibian Salazar-Moreno (September 18, 2003). " Emvisible: D12 looks to get out from underneath Eminem's shadow ". Westword.com. Accessed September 11, 2007. In June 2001, D12 released Devil's Night, peaking at #1 on the Billboard 200, earning 371,000 copies during the first week of release.Todd Martens (June 28, 2001). " Devilish D12 Debut At No. 1 ". Billboard. Accessed January 15, 2008. Obie Trice was introduced to Eminem through D12's Bizarre. Eminem signed him in June 2001 as the second Shady act.Ruben Diaz (September 18, 2003). " Obie Trice: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Interview) ". BallerStatus.com. Accessed September 11, 2007. Obie Trice first got public attention via a freestyle skit on the Devil's Night album and The Eminem Show track, "Drips".
While working on the film 8 Mile, Eminem had a meeting with then underground rapper 50 Cent. Eminem had heard 50 Cent's mixtape, Guess Who's Back?, taken them to Dr. Dre and offered him the chance to work together on the artist.Ninja (December 2007) 50 Cent Interview . Dubcnn. Accessed 22 May 2007. 50 Cent became the first solo artist signed to Shady and Aftermath.Shaheem Reid (July 1, 2002). " 50 Cent, Worth a Million to Dr. Dre and Eminem". MTV. Accessed March 12, 2007. The 8 Mile soundtrack was the third Shady LP to be released.Todd Martens (January 3, 2003). " '8 Mile' Back Atop The Billboard 200 ". Billboard. Accessed January 16, 2008.Todd Martens (January 8, 2003). " '8 Mile' Cruises To Fifth Week At No. 1 ". Billboard. Accessed January 8, 2008. The first single was "Lose Yourself", which earned multiple nominations and became a surprise win of an Academy Award for Best Original Song, the first time a hip hop song had ever won the award.Frank Ochieng (March 23, 2003). " The Aftermath: The 75th Annual Academy Awards ". TheWorldJournal.com. Accessed January 21, 2008.Jon Burlingame (April 18, 2003). " That Win For "Lose Yourself" ". FilmMusicSociety.org. Accessed September 11, 2007.Abbey Goodman (March 23, 2003). " 'Chicago' Dances Away With Six Oscars; Eminem's Will Be Mailed To Him". MTV. Accessed January 21, 2008. The second single was 50 Cent's "Wanksta", which was released as a buzz track" Music Inspired By "8 Mile" ". About.com (October 1, 2002). Accessed January 16, 2008. and became popular in 50 Cent's home town.Shaheem Reid (October 1, 2002). " 50 Cent Works With Dre, Em, Trina, Possibly DMX On Debut". MTV. Accessed January 16, 2008. During this time, Eminem had also made a deal with DJ Green Lantern, who released the label's first mixtape, Invasion!, in 2002.Shaheem Reid (April 11, 2003). " Eminem Says If Tupac Were Alive, 'He Would Never Ride With Ja'". MTV. Accessed January 23, 2008. He was the DJ for Eminem during the Anger Management Tour." Lighting the Way ". Rochester City Newspaper (December 23, 2003). Accessed January 16, 2008.
The fourth release from Shady was 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin', in February 2003. The album became the fastest selling debut in U.S. history, selling 872,000 copies in its first week.Kitty Empire (February 23, 2003). " He's cool. Dead cool ". The Observer. Accessed September 15, 2007. Next to be released from Shady was Obie Trice's debut album, Cheers, six months later. Despite being commercial successful, the LP was considered overshadowed by 50 Cent's music at the time. In 2003, Shady was involved in several controversies with the likes of the inherited Murder Inc. feud that 50 Cent and G-Unit were involved in,Ethan Brown (November 24, 2003). " Got Beef? ". New York. Accessed January 15, 2008. on-going problems with the previous co-owners of The Source magazine, namely Benzino,Rahman Dukes (November 22, 2002). " Benzino Ignites Beef By Calling Eminem '2003 Vanilla Ice'". MTV. Accessed January 15, 2008. as well as escalating issues with rapper Royce da 5'9", who was previously a friend of Eminem and D12, until they reunited in 2010.Selina Thompson. " Royce Da 5'9 (Interview) ". TheSituation.co.uk. Accessed January 15, 2008.
Near the end of 2003, Eminem and Dr. Dre signed a joint deal with Stat Quo.Matt Barone (December 2, 2004). " Stat Quo: The Shady South (Interview) " BallerStatus.com. Accessed September 11, 2007. Stat Quo became the second artist to be signed to Shady and Aftermath. The following year saw the release of D12's second album, D12 World. Also, in 2004, Eminem and Rosenberg began a venture offered by Sirius Satellite Radio that saw the airing of their uncensored hip hop radio station, Shade 45.Robert Strauss (October 28, 2004). " Arts, Briefly; Eminem Goes Sirius ". The New York Times. Accessed January 16, 2008. Shady DJ, DJ Green Lantern, was given his own show,Paul Heine (December 6, 2004). " Eminem, DJ Green Lantern To Host Mix-tape Radio Show ". AllBusiness.com. Accessed January 16, 2008. whilst 50 Cent's G-Unit DJ, DJ Whoo Kid, co-hosted G-Unit Radio on Saturdays." 50 Cent gets Sirius ". CNN (February 24, 2005). Accessed January 16, 2008.
In August 2005, Eminem and the XXL magazine teamed up to release a special issue titled XXL Presents Shade 45, and was designed to give maximum exposure to Shade 45 as a radio station, and at the same time give maximum exposure to the Shady Records label as a whole, as well as the radio Disc jockey's and G-Unit Records' artists. XXL executive publisher, Jonathan Rheingold, stated that typically magazines based around particular artists were not favorable, but "since Shade 45 is a truly authentic and uncensored rap radio channel, the marriage with the XXL brand made sense," before adding that it is what would interest rap fans.Carl Chery (August 23, 2005). " Eminem & Shade Collabo W/XXL For Special Radio Issue ". SOHH. Accessed January 29, 2008. September 2005 also saw the signing of Bobby Creekwater to the label, making him the fifth artist and the second Atlanta-based rapper.Kimbel Bouwman (May 15, 2006). " HitQuarters Artist Bobby Creekwater Signs A Record Deal With Shady Records! (Interview) ". HitQuarters. Accessed September 11, 2007.
In March 2006, Chicago-born Orange County, California-based rapper named Cashis joined Shady Records, after he managed to get his demo heard by Eminem.Serge Fleury. " Ca$his - Ruling Everything Around Him (Interview) ". NobodySmiling.com. Accessed September 11, 2007.Shaheem Reid (December 14, 2006). " Who's That On Eminem's The Re-Up? Time For Roll Call ...". MTV. Accessed January 29, 2008. Later in 2006, Obie Trice released his second album, Second Round's on Me. However, the album did not fare as well commercially as his debut, seemingly because of the state of the hip-hop industry." Sales of Rap Albums Take Stunning Nosedive ". Fox News (March 1, 2007). Accessed September 15, 2007. The album saw a change in Obie Trice's style, whose first album was considered to be a little light-hearted. Second Round's on Me was considered to be a more serious, dark album, mainly showing the grittiness of Obie Trice's life and surroundings.Brendan Frederick (June 2, 2006). " Obie Trice - Second Round's On Me ". XXL. Accessed September 12, 2007.
In early 2006, there had been talk of Eminem having the label's roster on a mixtape with new material to be presented by DJ Whoo Kid and The Alchemist.Shaheem Reid (May 30, 2006). " Eminem Re-Up's with Whoo Kid; Lloyd Banks brings the Gang Green". MTV. Accessed January 29, 2008. This talk went on for several months. In the end, it was announced that Eminem was so impressed with the mixtape material that he had decided to make it an official album, called Eminem Presents the Re-Up. The album had been long anticipated, until it was released in early December 2006. The release had spawned the single "You Don't Know", which featured 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and the latest signee Cashis.Gil Kaufman (September 19, 2006). " Eminem, New Shady Artists Join 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks On The Re-Up". MTV. Accessed March 12, 2007.
In May 2007, Cashis released the eight-track The County Hound EP in an attempt to have people "fiend" for his music, or garner interest in it. The album was released as a limited edition EP." RealTalk with Ca$his: New EP The County Hound Drops Today ". Real Talk NY (May 2, 2007). Accessed January 19, 2008. September saw the release of 50 Cent's third album with the label, Curtis, which was involved in a well publicized competition with rapper Kanye West, who had his third album, Graduation set for release on the same day." War of words: 50 Cent vs Kanye ". BBC (September 10, 2007). Accessed September 11, 2007. In June 2008, Obie Trice departed from the label. A misunderstanding was made where it was believed he was attacking the label and Eminem on a single titled "The Giant" but they were quickly dismissed. In a statement, Paul Rosenberg stated "Shady Records has agreed to allow Obie Trice to pursue his craft in a different forum free from the constraints of the current major label model ... Eminem will continue to support and work with Obie on many levels of his career ... He remains a close friend and member of the Shady family."Tai Saint-Louis (June 30, 2008). " Shady Records Issues Statement On Obie's Departure ". AllHipHop.com. Accessed July 1, 2008. In a 2012 interview, Obie opened up on the topic, admitting having issues with Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine, which was Trice's fault, clarifying "I was kind of reckless, not on time, certain things and Iovine didn't want to further the project with me so we tried to work it out but it just didn’t come to a head so I had to do what I had to do," before going on to note that his relationship with the label is great, and he continues to work with Eminem, notably on Bottoms Up, which was to be released originally on Shady Records.
Stat Quo was also released from the label in 2008. Stat felt the root cause appeared to him to be a straining relationship with Eminem stemming from differences relating to the promotion of the album. HipHopDX detailed the events following this point in the situation leading to his release from the label with "Eminem's decision to remove himself from Stat's project, a subsequent, and unexplained, decision made by Dr. Dre to not appear in Stat's video for "Here We Go," and the aforementioned lack of support for the single by parent label, Interscope, Stat began seeking his release from the label." 2009 saw the departure of Bobby Creekwater who had been working on his debut album, A Brilliant Mistake.Painkiller45 (August 14, 2009). " Creekwater leaves Shady Records ". AftermathMusic.com. Accessed November 26, 2009.Ryan (September 12, 2006). " Bobby Creekwater Interview ". RapSearch.com. Accessed January 19, 2008.
On April 25, 2011, Eminem and Royce da 5'9" announced plans to team up for a joint EP, slated for release on June 14. The project served as a long-awaited follow-up to their 1999 collaboration "Nuttin' to Do", and featured production from Mr. Porter, Havoc of Mobb Deep, Bangladesh and more. "Royce and I started hanging out again and inevitably that led us back into the studio", said Eminem in a statement. "At first we were just seeing where it went without any real goal in mind, but the songs started to come together crazy, so here we are." Royce also talked about it, and said: "I'm excited to see this project come to fruition considering the long lapse in time between when we worked before and now. We had a blast doing it and we just hope everyone enjoys it while we're working on the 'Monster' that will be the Slaughterhouse album."
In October 2011, Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse, along with Eminem, Freestyle rap over East Flatbush Project's "Tried by 12" on a DJ Premier-hosted BET Cypher segment at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards. Becoming referred to as the "Shady 2.0 BET Cypher", it was considered to be a fan favorite segment of the cipher sessions presented throughout the awards show, with talk spreading across many online social media outlets, and Twitter having popularised trends relating with the terms "#Cypher" and "#Shady 2.0" as it was airing.
The label showcased acts at the 2012 SXSW festival on March 16, 2012, at the Austin Music Hall. The evening was presented by Shade 45 radio host Sway Calloway, the Shady Records artist line up for the evening included Slaughterhouse and 50 Cent, who performed his début album Get Rich or Die Tryin' in its entirety for the first time. Yelawolf was also scheduled to perform but couldn't due to a spleen injury earlier that month.
On March 20, 50 Cent announced that his Animal Ambition would be released on July 2, 2012. This was later delayed to November 13, 2012. Another delay was announced, pushing the release back to January 2013. On March 29, 2012, Yelawolf announced his second release under Shady, tentatively titled Love Story. On May 24, 2012, Eminem announced his eighth studio album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, which was then released on November 5, 2013.
When speaking about all future Shady Records releases president Paul Rosenberg said that Eminem's next album would be released post-Memorial Day 2013 and to expect new music from it soon. He also went on to discuss the other acts saying 50 Cent's Street King Immortal would be released in the first half of 2013, with Yelawolf's second album, Love Story, currently being recorded. Rosenberg would also state that all four members of Slaughterhouse would release solo projects prior to them returning to the studio as a group to record their second album under Shady Records. The first album released would be Joe Budden's No Love Lost on February 5, 2013, under E1 Music. The second would be Kxng Crooked's Apex Predator released under Treacherous C.O.B and Empire Distribution. However, Royce and Joell Ortiz of Slaughterhouse would confirm in May 2013 that they had put their solo projects on hold, and had begun working on their third studio album.
On February 20, 2014, 50 Cent announced he left Interscope Records, which included his deal with Shady Records and Aftermath Entertainment, in which he is now signed to Caroline Records.
On August 25, 2014, a press release on Eminem's official website announced an upcoming compilation album by Shady Records, titled Shady XV. The two-disc album released on November 24, 2014, in the week of Black Friday and consisted of one greatest hits disc and one disc of new material from Shady Records artists such as D12, Slaughterhouse, Bad Meets Evil, and Yelawolf. On the same day, August 25, 2014, the first single from the album, titled "Guts Over Fear" and featuring singer-songwriter Sia, was released.
The signings of these artists has led to Shady's profitability again, with the releases of Yelawolf's Trial by Fire and Eminem's Revival. The latter would suddenly release his tenth studio album Kamikaze without any prior promotion.
During the transition, Royce da 5'9" announced that Slaughterhouse had officially disbanded, while Eminem formally retired from D12 after Proof's death in 2006 (however Bizarre, Kuniva, and Swifty McVay continued to perform under the name), and Yelawolf left the label after releasing Trunk Muzik 3.
In 2019, Boogie released his debut album Everything's for Sale, and Griselda released their first album on the label, WWCD, both meeting critical acclaim.
On January 17, 2020, Eminem released his eleventh studio album Music to Be Murdered By without any prior announcement. Commercially, it debuted at number one in 12 countries. In the United States, the album sold 279,000 in its first week becoming Eminem's tenth consecutive number-one album in the country. Eminem became the only artist with ten consecutive number-one albums in the United States and United Kingdom. Both Griselda and Westside Gunn left the label the same year.
On July 2, 2021, it was announced that Atlanta rapper Grip had signed to the label, and later released his debut Shady album, I Died for This!?.
On February 25, 2022, Conway the Machine released his second studio album, God Don't Make Mistakes, and on June 17, 2022, Westside Boogie released More Black Superheroes. God Don't Make Mistakes was his final album before signing off with Shady. That same year, Eminem released his second greatest hits album, Curtain Call 2, following his 2005 compilation album .
On July 27, 2023, Eminem announced the signing of Ez Mil to Shady and Aftermath, and announced a collaboration titled "Realest", and later a reissue of Du4li7y.
On May 31, 2024, Eminem came back from hiatus to release "Houdini", the leading single of his upcoming album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), which was released on July 12, 2024.
| Eminem | 1999; Founder | 12 |
| Westside Boogie | 2017 | 2 |
| Ez Mil | 2023 | 1 |
| Mr. Porter | 2000 | |
| D12 | 2000–2018 | 2 |
| Obie Trice Shady Records Issues Statement On Obie's Departure | 2001–2008 | 2 |
| 50 Cent | 2002–2014 | 5 |
| DJ Green Lantern | 2002–2005 | 3 |
| Stat Quo | 2003–2008 | — |
| Bobby Creekwater | 2005–2009 | — |
| Cashis | 2006–2011 | 1 |
| Bad Meets Evil | 2011–2015 | 1 |
| Slaughterhouse | 2011–2018 | 3 |
| Yelawolf | 2011–2019 | 6 |
| Griselda Records | 2017–2020 | 1 |
| Westside Gunn | 2017–2020 | 1 |
| Conway the Machine | 2017–2022 | 1 |
| Grip | 2021–2025 | 3 |
| D12 | Devil's Night |
|
| Eminem | The Eminem Show (released with Aftermath) |
|
| 50 Cent | Get Rich or Die Tryin' (released with Aftermath) | |
| Obie Trice | Cheers | |
| D12 | D12 World |
|
| Eminem | Encore (released with Aftermath) |
|
| 50 Cent | The Massacre (released with Aftermath) | |
| Obie Trice | Second Round's on Me | |
| 50 Cent | Curtis (released with Aftermath) | |
| Eminem | Relapse (released with Aftermath) | |
| 50 Cent | Before I Self Destruct (released with Aftermath) | |
| Eminem | Recovery (released with Aftermath) | |
| Yelawolf | Radioactive | |
| Slaughterhouse |
| |
| Eminem | The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (released with Aftermath) |
|
| Yelawolf | Love Story (released with Slumerican) |
|
| Trial by Fire (released with Slumerican) |
| |
| Eminem | Revival (released with Aftermath) |
|
| Kamikaze (released with Aftermath) |
| |
| Westside Boogie | Everythings for Sale |
|
| Yelawolf | Trunk Muzik 3 (released with Slumerican) | |
| Eminem | Music to Be Murdered By (released with Aftermath) | |
| The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) (released with Aftermath) |
| |
| Various Artists |
| |
| Eminem | (released with Aftermath) |
|
| Various Artists |
| |
| Shady XV |
| |
| ||
| 50 Cent | Best of 50 Cent (released with Aftermath) |
|
| Eminem | Curtain Call 2 (released with Aftermath) |
|
| Cashis | The County Hound EP | |
| Bad Meets Evil | ||
| DJ Green Lantern | Invasion Part I: Shady Times |
|
| Invasion Part II: Conspiracy Theory |
| |
| Invasion Part III: Countdown to Armageddon |
| |
| Slaughterhouse | On the House |
|
| Yelawolf | Trunk Muzik Returns |
|
| Black Fall |
| |
| Slaughterhouse | House Rules |
|
| Griselda Records | WWCD |
|
| Westside Gunn | Who Made the Sunshine |
|
| Grip | I Died for This!? | |
| Conway the Machine | God Don't Make Mistakes |
|
| Westside Boogie | More Black Superheroes |
|
| Grip | 5 & A Fuck You |
|
| Still (5 & A Fuck You) |
| |
| Ez Mil | Du4li7y: Redux |
|
| Eminem | Stans (The Official Soundtrack) |
|
|
|
