''Shady XV'' (stylized as ''SHADYXV'') is a hip hop

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

performed by various artists of

Shady Records Shady Records is an American record label founded by rapper Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg, after the highly successful release of Eminem's ''The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). Shady has seen negative times when being part of the unsuccessful ...

. The double disc album was released on November 24, 2014, by Shady Records and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner ...

. The album was released in honor of the label's 15th anniversary and as its 15th project (excluding Eminem's solo releases). The compilation consists of two discs, the first featuring new material from Shady Records artists such as

Slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

Bad Meets Evil Bad Meets Evil is an American hip hop duo composed of Detroit-based rappers Royce da 5'9" (Bad) and Eminem (Evil). Bad Meets Evil was formed in 1998, thanks to the duo's mutual friend, Proof. The group's name comes from the song "Bad Meets Evi ...

, D12 and

Yelawolf Michael Wayne Atha (born December 30, 1979), better known by his stage name Yelawolf, is an American rapper. Born in Alabama and raised in Tennessee, he embarked on his career independently in 2005, releasing one extended play (EP) and four mixta ...

, as well as the label's founder

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing Hip hop music, hip hop in Middle America (United Sta ...

. The second disc includes the label's

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

, also featuring former Shady Records members. All previous and current members of the label are represented on the album.

Release and promotion

On June 3, 2014,

's manager and

co-founder Paul Rosenberg tweeted "Shady XV". On August 23, 2014, during his final stop of The Monster Tour with

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to th ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

Comerica Park Comerica Park is a baseball stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It has been the home of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers since 2000, when the team left Tiger Stadium. History Construction Founded in 1894, the Tigers had played at the c ...

, Eminem wore a T-shirt branded "Shady XV". On August 25, 2014, he tweeted "Yes it's official... #SHADYXV Black Friday," leading to speculation about a release on Black Friday, which fell on November 28, 2014. He also released a 20-second teaser video, featuring images of Eminem and other Shady Records artists. On the same day, August 25, a press release was issued on Eminem's official website, announcing that ''Shady XV'', a two-disc compilation featuring a collection of Shady Records' greatest hits on one disc and new material from Eminem,

, D12, and

on the other, was set to release on November 24, 2014, in the week of Black Friday. On October 13, 2014, Eminem posted a video on various social media websites of the artwork, along with the description "Back to basics! Here's the cover for #SHADYXV out 11/24." The cover depicts a black and red

hockey mask A goaltender mask, commonly referred to as a goalie mask, is a mask worn by goaltenders in a variety of sports to protect the head and face from injury from the ball or puck, as they constantly face incoming shots on goal. Some sports requiring th ...

under two crossed chainsaws. The album was released on disc and as a digital download on November 24, 2014 as the 15th release on the label (excluding Eminem's solo releases) and 15 years after its inception. The "greatest hits" disc contains tracks by current Shady Records members, as well as previous members

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

Obie Trice Obie Trice III (born November 14, 1977) is an American rapper. He was signed to fellow Detroit rapper Eminem's Shady Records in 2002, where he released the albums ''Cheers'' (2003) and '' Second Round's on Me'' (2006). Trice formed his own reco ...

Bobby Creekwater Antoine Raimon Rogers, better known by his stage name Bobby Creekwater, is an American rapper from Atlanta who is a former member of Shady Records.

, Ca$his and

Stat Quo Stanley Bernard Benton (born July 24, 1978), better known as Stat Quo, is an American rapper and record producer.Shaheem Reid (January 12, 2004).Mixtape Mondays: Stat Quo" ''MTV''. Accessed February 5, 2008. Benton worked his way to college a ...

. The track list was revealed on October 29, 2014 on the official website. A rap cypher with Eminem, Slaughterhouse, and Yelawolf, titled 'SHADY CXVPHER', premiered on

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, ...

on November 10, 2014 to promote the album. On November 18, 2014, Eminem revealed info about the "

Lose Yourself "Lose Yourself" is a song by American rapper Eminem from the soundtrack to the 2002 motion picture '' 8 Mile''. The song was composed and produced by Eminem, longtime collaborator Jeff Bass, one half of the production duo Bass Brothers and Lui ...

" demo version, the last track on the second disc. It contains alternate lyrics to the original beat that were recorded but never published. Eminem had no memory of this scrapped version until he was recently reminded.

Music and lyrics

" Guts Over Fear" is about Eminem and his struggles as an artist, and touches up on moments of his career. " Detroit vs. Everybody" is a

posse cut A posse cut is a popular form of song in hip hop music that involves successive verses by four or more rappers.Edwards, Paul, 2009, '' How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, p. 221. Tracks described as posse cu ...

which features Eminem and fellow

natives

Royce da 5'9" Ryan Daniel Montgomery, known professionally as Royce da 5'9" (or simply Royce 5'9"), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Montgomery is currently one half of the rap duo Bad Meets Evil with fellow Detroit rapper Eminem, a ...

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

, Danny Brown, Trick-Trick, and

Dej Loaf Deja Monét Trimble (born April 8, 1991), better known by her stage name Dej Loaf (stylized as DeJ Loaf), is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Detroit, Michigan. She began her music career in 2011, and released her debut single "Jus ...

rapping over a

boom bap Boom bap is a subgenre and music production style that was prominent in the East Coast during the golden age of hip hop from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The term "boom bap" is an onomatopoeia that represents the sounds used for the b ...

beat.

Singles

The first single, " Guts Over Fear", which features vocals by Australian singer-songwriter Sia and production from Emile Haynie, was previewed in the trailer for the film '' The Equalizer'', released on June 16, 2014 (with its title not yet revealed). A TV spot for the film was released on August 24, 2014, and aired during the

2014 MTV Video Music Awards The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 24, 2014 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. It was the 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards. Beyoncé and Iggy Azalea led the nominees with eight nominations each, while Eminem followed them ...

, at the end of which it was promoted as "featuring the new song Eminem feat. Sia 'Guts Over Fear' from ''Shady XV'' - Black Friday". The song was a new leak before it was released a day later on the

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

. It was later confirmed that the track would also roll during the closing credits of ''The Equalizer''. The second single, "Y'all Ready Know" by Slaughterhouse, was released on November 4, 2014. The music video was released the same day. The third and last single, "Detroit vs. Everybody" by Eminem, Trick-Trick, Dej Loaf, Big Sean, Royce Da 5'9", and Danny Brown, premiered on Eminem's radio channel

Shade 45 Shade 45 is American rapper Eminem's hip-hop station on Sirius XM Radio channel 45 and Dish Network channel 6045. History Eminem established his own channel, Shade 45, that plays uncut hip hop. Eminem also established a new morning show, ''Sway ...

on November 10, 2014. It was officially released on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

later that night.

Critical reception

''Shady XV'' received generally positive reviews from

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mu ...

s. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

score of 61, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 9 reviews. Samantha O'Connor of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' said, "For the Shady diehard fans, ''Shady XV'' is enough. But for those searching for that nostalgic surge of adrenaline-inducing passion and innovative content reminiscent of the Shady reign, it's better to skip the new material and head straight to the classics." Kyle Anderson of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' said, "Shady's first half is, like most new Eminem material, more problematic but also more rewarding. With its aggro-horrorcore production, trapped-in-2001 cultural nods (there's a reference to former congressman Gary Condit), and Billy Squier sample, it's essentially ''The Marshall Mathers LP 2.5'', with all the accompanying dicey gender politics." Homer Johnsen of ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

'' said, "Some songs border on perfection. A few more are just solidly average. Yet, it all balances out, and the rhymes on full display make ''Shady XV'' a great compilation release."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, with first-week sales of 138,000 copies in the United States. In its second week, the album dropped to number 21 on the chart, selling 28,000 copies. In its third week, the album dropped to number 37 on the chart, selling 18,000 copies. In its fourth week the album dropped to number 54 on the chart, selling 17,000 copies. As of June 27, 2015, ''Shady XV'' has been certified gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

for shipping more than half-million units (in this case, 250,000 copies double album sets, which are double-counted by the RIAA).

Track listing

;Notes * signifies a co-producer. * signifies an additional producer. ;Sample credits *"Shady XV" contains elements of "

My Kinda Lover "My Kinda Lover" is a rock song written and performed by American hard rock singer and guitarist Billy Squier. It was the third and final single released from his Triple Platinum 1981 album '' Don't Say No'', following " In the Dark". It peaked a ...

", written and performed by

Billy Squier William Haislip Squier (, born May 12, 1950) is an American rock musician and singer who had a string of arena rock and crossover hits in the early 1980s. His best-known songs include "The Stroke", " Lonely Is the Night", " My Kinda Lover", " I ...

. Contains elements of "Fack" and "The Monster" performed by Eminem. *”Die Alone” interpolates “Just So You Don’t Die Alone”, written and performed by Luis Resto. *"Down" contains elements of "Going Down", written by

Don Nix Don Nix (born September 27, 1941, Memphis, Tennessee, United States) is an American songwriter, composer, arranger, musician, and author. Although cited as being "one of the more obscure figures in Southern soul and rock", he is a key figure in ...

and performed by

Freddie King Freddie King (September 3, 1934December 28, 1976) was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and B.B. King, none of whom were blood related). Most ...

. *"Twisted" contains elements of "

Synthetic Substitution "Synthetic Substitution" is a 1973 song by Melvin Bliss. Originally starting life as a throwaway B-side, with "Reward" as the A-Side, the song failed to chart anywhere on its initial release because of the collapse of Opal Productions, the parent ...

", written by

Herb Rooney Herbert Louis Rooney (born 1940 - c. early 1990s) was an American record producer who was responsible for writing, producing and singing bass on songs by the Exciters and for writing and producing the sample staple Synthetic Substitution by Melvin ...

and performed by

Melvin Bliss Melvin McClelland (June 1, 1945-July 26, 2010) was a rhythm and blues singer known for his 1973 song " Reward/Synthetic Substitution", the B-side of which was heavily sampled

. *"Detroit vs. Everybody" contains elements of "

Funky Drummer "Funky Drummer" is a single released by James Brown in 1970. Its drum break, improvised by Clyde Stubblefield, is one of the most frequently sampled music recordings. Recording and composition "Funky Drummer" was recorded on November 20, 196 ...

", written and performed by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the hono ...

, and "Static on the Frequency", written by Peter Beveridge, Andy James and Jon Trotti and performed by Peter Beveridge. *"I Get Money" contains elements of "

Top Billin' "Top Billin'" is a single for American hip-hop duo Audio Two, released as the B-side of the single "Make It Funky" from the album '' What More Can I Say?'' It was released before First Priority Music inked a distribution deal with Atlantic Reco ...

", written by Kirk Robinson and performed by

Audio Two Audio Two was the Brooklyn, New York hip hop duo of emcee Kirk "Milk Dee" Robinson and DJ Nat "Gizmo" Robinson, most famous for its first hit "Top Billin'". History The duo's debut single, "Make it Funky", was released in 1987, but it was ...

. *"Cry Now" contains elements of "Blind Man", written by Joseph Scott and

Don Robey Don Deadric Robey (November 1, 1903 – June 16, 1975) was an American record label executive, songwriter, and record producer. As the founder of Peacock Records and the eventual owner of Duke Records, he was responsible for developing the care ...

, and performed by Bobby "Blue" Bland. *"Hammer Dance" contains elements of "

Falling Away from Me "Falling Away from Me" is a song by American band Korn. It was released as the first single from their fourth album '' Issues'', debuting in an episode of Comedy Central's animated series ''South Park'', entitled "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Myst ...

", written by

Jonathan Davis Jonathan Howsmon Davis (born January 18, 1971), also known as JD or JDevil, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of nu metal band Korn, who are considered a pioneering act of the nu ...

, Reginald Arvizu,

James Shaffer James Christian Shaffer (born June 6, 1970), also known by his stage name "Munky", is an American musician best known as co-founder and guitarist of the nu metal band Korn. He has cited Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, and Randy Rhoads as some of hi ...

, David Silveria and

Brian Welch Brian Philip Welch (born June 19, 1970), also known by his stage name Head, is an American musician. He is one of the guitarists and founding member of the nu metal band Korn and his solo project Love and Death, where he also provides vocals. ...

, and performed by

Korn Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream. Originally formed in 1993 ...

. *"Wanna Know" contains elements of "It Couldn't Be Me", written by William Jones and Dennis Webber and performed by Power of Zeus.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2014 greatest hits albums 2014 compilation albums Eminem compilation albums Albums produced by Dr. Dre Albums produced by DJ Premier Albums produced by Eminem Albums produced by Emile Haynie Record label compilation albums Shady Records compilation albums Hip hop compilation albums Albums produced by DJ Khalil Albums produced by John Hill (record producer) Albums produced by Boi-1da Albums produced by Just Blaze Albums produced by Statik Selektah