How did Eminem hook up with Dr. Dre?
Eminem gave Rap Coalition’s Wendy Day a copy of the Infinite album at a chance meeting, she helped him secure a spot at the Coalitions 1997 Rap Olympics in Los Angeles, where he won second place in the freestyle competition. Dr. Dre found Eminem’s tape in Interscope Records CEO, Jimmy Iovine’s, garage laying on the floor. It caught Dre’s eye and he listened to it and liked it. Eminem and his manager, Paul Rosenberg, gave a few people from Interscope Records his demo and he made his major radio debut on the world famous Wake Up Show. Dre was in his car and heard him on the radio and got the number to his hotel room and called him up. Eminem was signed to Dre’s Aftermath label in January of 1998. Detroit rapper and Eminem friend Bizarre remembers the phone call. “He was missing for three weeks. Nowhere to be found,” the rapper recalls. “Then he just up and called out of the blue: ‘Yo, man, I just signed with Doc-tor DRE!
