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The Eminem Show was just one of many sought-after records that was stolen and made available for download online a full 25 days before the album's intended release, prompting Interscope to bump the release date to May 28. (More info on this age of piracy can be found in Stephen Witt's excellent book How Music Got Free). In the nascent years of peer-to-peer file sharing, major players of the bootlegging underground began stealing records, ripping them to MP3 and uploading them to file-sharing outlets online thanks to infiltrators working at various levels of major labels' manufacturing and supply chains. To celebrate the album's 15-year milestone, we've gathered some facts about the record you may find surprising. Writing for Slant Magazine in 2002, reviewer Sal Cinquemani commented, "The album displays a - dare I say it? - more 'mature' Eminem." Even in the face of his reputation at the time as the sonic boogeyman of white American suburbs, many contemporary critics managed to recognize his effort for what it was: the work of a calmer, more focused artist at the top of his game. With 15 years in the rearview, Eminem's shock jabs and sexual innuendos seem a lot tamer than they did in 2002. With The Eminem Show, Em kept his perverse sense of humor but ratcheted his autobiographical introspection up to 11. His previous albums carried trademark touches of couching personal reflections beneath a veneer of "f*** the world" bravado mixed with in-your-face shock-rap lyricism. Eminem's massively successful fourth album, The Eminem Show, turns 15 on May 26.Ĭoming off the acclaimed back-to-back releases of The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP in 19, respectively, Eminem was under substantial pressure to keep the hype train rolling.