In the very late 90s, a new rapper emerged, completely reinventing the game. Though he wasn’t the first white rapper to break into the mainstream, as Vanilla Ice had in 1990, he became the most prominent to do so. In 1997, an unknown rapper named Marshall Mathers, under the stage name Eminem, entered the 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles. The winner took home $500, plus a new Rolex watch. Eminem placed second, losing to a rapper named Otherwize, a local favorite. Notably, the winning rapper spent all the money that night, and his Rolex watch was stolen as well.
Despite losing the contest, Eminem caught the attention of former-N.W.A member and famed producer, Dr. Dre. At the event, an Interscope employee picked up the Slim Shady EP. This employee slipped the EP into the bag of Interscope Records owner Jimmy Iovine. Upon discovering the tape in his bag and listening to it, Iovine brought it to Dr. Dre. He was impressed with the tape, completely unaware that Eminem was a white guy from Detroit.
Dr. Dre reached out to Eminem, inviting him to his home studio in California. It was during this meeting that Dre found out Eminem was white. He played Eminem a short pattern he’d been working on, which was an interpolation of the 1975 track “I Got The…” by Labi Siffre. Within seconds, Eminem began freestyling, adding his iconic opening lines, “Hi! My name is…” Over a span of six hours, the two recorded four songs that would later be included on Eminem’s 1999 album, The Slim Shady LP. The success of this LP launched Eminem’s iconic career.
The Origin Of The Interpolation
For his breakthrough hit “My Name Is…”, Dr. Dre interpolated the 1975 funk track “I Got The…” This wouldn’t be the first time Dr. Dre would use this technique. As many rap and hip-hop artists preferred to use samples, Dre leaned heavily into interpolation. The difference is that an interpolation features re-recorded sections rather than directly sampling a former track. They still include the original songwriters of the track. Dr. Dre used this technique on Snoop Dogg’s 1993 debut album, Doggystyle. Produced by Dre, the hit single “Who Am I (What’s My Name)” features samples and interpolations from George Clinton’s 1982 track “Atomic Dog”. Not only did Dre help launch Snoop Dogg’s career with this introductory track, but he did the same with Eminem, introducing himself in “My Name Is…”
This time, Dr. Dre used Labi Siffre’s 1975 track “I Got The…” The English soul and funk artists approved the use of his song on the grounds that certain homophobic lyrics be removed, as he was gay. Eminem and Dr. Dre obliged, and Siffre received songwriting credit. Originally, the track didn’t chart in 1975. However, in 2020, newfound interest in its interpolation use in the 1999 Eminem hit led the song to enter the Shazam Global Top 50, peaking at No. 35 on the chart.
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