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How Eminem losing to Otherwize at the 1997 Rap Olympics ultimately led to a deal with Dr. Dre.

Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for Bonnaroo Arts And Music Festival How Eminem's Loss At 1997 Rap Olympics Ultimately Led To Dr. Dre Deal Published on:Sep 7, 2021, 2:23 PM by 0 Exclusive Eminemis known as one of the best MCs in Hip Hop history that cant be disputed. With over 10 million albums sold and a discography that stretches back to the 1990s, Slim Shady and has paid his dues and them some. But before he was the self-professed Rap God, he was Marshall Mathers, an aspiring rapper from Detroit who lived on 8 Mile Road and attended open mics at the Hip Hop Shop on West 7 Mile as a teen. Much like the 2002 film 8 Mile, Eminem found him face to face with some vicious battle rappers ready to lyrically stomp him into the ground. And, yes, he often emerged victorious. But in 1997 while participating in the Rap Olympics during the Rap Sheet convention at the Red Lion Hotel in Los Angeles, Eminem met his match Otherwize. The infamous face-off is part of the new documentary Where Were From: Rise of LA Underground Hip Hop that was put together by Element co-founders DJ Breeze and DJ Bonds who were both instrumental in establishing the underground Hip Hop scene. In the clip, Otherwize and Eminem go head-to-head with Em spouting off, I got so many ways to diss you that Im playful with you/I let a razor split you until they have to staple stitch you Damn, all your white jokes just backfired. But Otherwize ultimately took the crown. In an exclusive interview with HipHopDX, DJ Breeze said it wasnt a landslide by any means. Eminem held his own as well, he tells DX. The battle with Wize had to go extra rounds because these dudes were going at it. The battle had also a slight racial overtone to it. Obviously cause there were few white rappers at the time. So it definitely started to take on the feel of Black versus white. I will say this, the battle between those two guys was phenomenal. It had to go extra rounds because at one point it just seem like they were so evenly matched. Even though you could feel the crowd wanting Otherwize to win, you couldnt deny Eminemskill set. But I do feel confidently 100 percent that Otherwize did win the battle. Did he blow them out of the water? No, he did not. But he did win. He adds, It also adds a kind of lore to Otherwizes name considering Eminem bought all the footage so nobody could see the battle. DJ Bonds and DJ Breeze knew what Otherwize was up against. Theyd heard through the grapevine Dr. Dre was working with a new artist a white guy. At that time, it was rare to see white rappers, and we all knew that was also a reason why Dre was working with Em besides his skills as an MC, Breeze says. To be quite honest, these out-of-towners came in and really underestimated these L.A. MCs. Why? Because at that time, Los Angeles underground Hip Hop scene was still just getting warmed up. So, I think these guys came in and thought they could just run over these guys. But MCs here in our city quickly let it be known that this was not gonna be an easy battle. After Otherwize won the grand prize $500 and a Rolex watch he says he blew all of his money at the bar and got the Rolex stolen. As he says in the doc, What do you want to know about my hard times? Eminem later addressed the loss while speaking to Rock The Bells radio, a clip thats also included in the film. I dont remember one line he said, but he was screaming in my face and Im like, Oh shit,' he said. And everybodys like, Oh, hes killin him, hes killing him, but I had already choked. So it didnt really matter what the guy did. And I lost. So I was like, Fuck!' Read more