Complex magazine teamed with Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg for the documentary Not Afraid: The Shady Records Story. 

The film, which features interviews with Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Royce da 5’ 9” and D12 member Bizarre, takes an in-depth look at the Detroit MC’s career and the development of the Shady Records imprint. 

“Anything was a lead, anything was a ray of hope,” Em says of meeting Rosenberg and getting his start. “Back then it was like everybody was just tryna make connections, and Paul was a really good one.”

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Besides friendship, the two developed a business partnership that would help turn Em into a rap megastar, but it’s easy to forget that selling millions of solo records isn’t the extent of his contributions. It was Em's “boutique” label that brought us the likes of 50 Cent, D12, Slaughterhouse and Yelawolf.

"Some people didn’t want him to have a record label at Interscope because they thought that he would get distracted,” Rosenberg admits. “They didn’t know what he was capable of yet and certainly didn’t know what I was capable of yet, so I guess I understand where they were coming from.”

Among the acts indebted to Shady Records is 50 who likens signing with Shady to Em working with Dre. “Em is my Dre," he says. "It took for Dre to be there for Em to do what he did, and if I didn’t have Em I woulda never did what I did.” 

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(Photo: Complex Magazine via youtube)