Eminem‘s independently released debut album, Infinite, bombed when it came out 30 years ago today. “It sold maybe 70 copies and didn’t get great feedback,” he wrote in his 2008 memoir, The Way I Am. “A lot of people said it sounded like Nas, and he was a heavy influence at the time. But I had an album out, and I could say that.” Since then, the album has taken on a legend of its own, since it caught the ears of Dr. Dre and led to Marshall Mathers’ breakthrough Slim Shady LP. The album has been reissued and bootlegged for years.
Now Infinite is getting another chance as an EP. Jake Bass and Mike “Slim” Wilder have remixed and added additional production to six of the album’s original 11 tracks for what’s now called Infinite EP. Jeff and Mark Bass, who helmed the original release, executive produced the EP, which Denaun Porter produced with Wilder. The EP is now available to stream and physical editions, which will come out on vinyl, CD, and tape on Feb. 26, can be pre-ordered. It’s unclear at the time of publication why only half of the album is being re-released.
Org Music has also produced a 10-minute documentary about the album. Jeff Bass recalls in the film how his brother Mark heard Eminem do an open mic on the radio and called the station to get the rapper to the studio. The brothers recall how Eminem showed up with D12 and started recording. There’s also archival footage of Eminem and stories from others who helped make the record.
In 1999, Eminem told Rolling Stone that the music on Infinite lacked some of the anger and humor that would make him famous on his major label debut for a specific reason. “It was right before my daughter was born, so having a future for her was all I talked about,” he said. “It was way hip-hopped out, like Nas and AZ — that rhyme style that was real in at the time. I’ve always been a smartass comedian, and that’s why it wasn’t a good album. … After that record, every rhyme I wrote got angrier and angrier.”
In 2016, the Bass Brothers, Wilder, and others recalled the making of Infinite in a Rolling Stone interview. “He would come in and do a song, and he’d cut the vocal for it,” Wilder said. “He’d live with it overnight, and then he’d call me and say, ‘I’ve got to come in and cut the vocals over.’ He heard something that was wrong. So he would go back in and re-cut the vocal, and no one could hear any difference. He’d hear something that no one else could hear. That, and how raw it was, is what sticks out more than anything.”
Although Eminem has never officially re-released the full album, he did use it as the springboard for an April Fool’s joke in 2024. “The highly-anticipated next studio album goes back to where it all started,” a narrator said in a social media clip teasing Infinite 2. “Infinite but now it’s even more infinite. Out today!”
