SHADY XV is a 4LP collection of Shady Records greatest hits and compilation of all new music.
Review
Honoring the 15th anniversary of the label Eminem founded with his manager
Paul Rosenberg, Shady XV features one disc of new recordings and one disc of the
label's proven hits, all of it wrapped up with chainsaw-and-hockey-mask artwork
that represents the label in 2014, not so much its funkified, 50 Cent past.
After all, the biggest numbers on the archival second disc include
50 Cent's ode to bottle service “In Da Club,” a strip club and frat house
regular, plus D12s “Purple Pills,” an Insane Clown Posse-ish piece with
Eminem and friends in top, albeit silly, form. The other top bangers on disc two
are all from Eminem himself, which barely counts unless Shady is merely a vanity
label, but the true backstory shows that D12 never became that strong, third
label act because key member Proof died, while Slaughterhouse are a veteran
supergroup, or in other words, simple, solid fan-boy stuff. The hyperactive,
Eminem and Kid Rock hybrid called Yelawolf is the most hockey-mask-and-chainsaw
stuff on disc two, but he's better suited for the forward-looking disc one,
where his “Down” attacks the speakers with snarl and Southern guitar, as if
Eazy-E got his truck all dirty goin' muddin'. The wonderfully weird “Vegas”
from Bad Meets Evil (Eminem and Royce Da 5'9) makes one wish the Shady label
boss would find more time for the project, but he's already quite stretched
behind the scenes, producing or co-producing eight of the cuts on disc one,
including Skylar Grey's “Twisted,” which isn't hip-hop, but glittery and
goth giganto-pop. Great, grand, risky, and clever moments like this make Shady
XV the worthy celebratory object that it is, but don't expect a deep roster or a
cohesive game plan, because the label has always been more about close friends
and family. Come here looking for that, and all-star posse cuts where outsiders
like Big Sean and Danny Brown stop by (“Detroit vs. Everybody”) feel as big
as a Marvel vs. DC crossover, while bonus tidbits, like the demo of “Lose
Yourself,” are unmissable bits of Shady history. David Jeffries –
Allmusic.com