Shady XV

Shady XV (stylized as SHADYXV in the iTunes and Google Play stores) is a hip hop compilation album performed by various artists of Shady Records. The double disc album was released on November 24, 2014, by Shady Records and Interscope Records. 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, Bad Meets Evil, D12 and Yelawolf, as well as the label's founder Eminem. The second disc includes the label's greatest hits, 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, Eminem's manager and Shady Records co-founder Paul Rosenberg tweeted "Shady XV". On August 23, 2014, during his final stop of The Monster Tour with Rihanna at Detroit, Michigan's Comerica Park, 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 in 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 Record's greatest hits on one disc and new material from Eminem, Slaughterhouse, Bad Meets Evil, D12, and Yelawolf on the other, was set to release on November 24, 2014, in the week of Black Friday.

Guts Over Fear

"Guts Over Fear" is a single by American rapper Eminem featuring Australian recording artist Sia, from Eminem's compilation album SHADYXV, released on August 25, 2014. This song is included in the soundtrack for the film, The Equalizer.

Background

Previews of the song premiered in trailers for the film, The Equalizer starring Denzel Washington. The song was officially released to iTunes on August 25, 2014, the same day Eminem announced his plans to release an album later that year.

Content

The song's subject matter concerns Eminem and his struggles as an artist, and touches on moments of his career. Australian singer Sia provides the chorus, making this the second time the artists have collaborated, the first being "Beautiful Pain" from the deluxe version of The Marshall Mathers LP 2.

Music video

Eminem posted a picture on Instagram to serve as a sneak peek for the upcoming music video. The video premiered on November 24, via VEVO, was filmed in Detroit, Michigan, directed by Syndrome and starred Alexander Wraith and America's Next Top Model cycle 21 contestant, Chantelle Brown-Young.

Eminem

Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor from Detroit, Michigan. In addition to his solo career, he is a member of D12 and (with Royce da 5'9") half of the hip-hop duo Bad Meets Evil. Eminem is the best-selling artist of the 2000s in the United States. Rolling Stone ranked him 83rd on its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, calling him the King of Hip Hop. Including his work with D12 and Bad Meets Evil, Eminem has had ten number-one albums on the Billboard 200. He has sold more than 172 million albums, making him one of the world's best-selling artists. As of June 2014, Eminem is the second-bestselling male artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era, the sixth-bestselling artist in the United States and the bestselling hip-hop artist, with sales of 45.1 million albums and 42 million tracks (including 31 million digital single certifications).

After his debut album Infinite (1996), Eminem achieved mainstream popularity in 1999 with his The Slim Shady LP, which earned him his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. His next two releases, 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP and 2002's The Eminem Show, were worldwide successes, with each being certified diamond in US sales and both winning Best Rap Album Grammy Awards—making Eminem the first artist to win the award for three consecutive LPs. They were followed by Encore in 2004, another critical and commercial success. Eminem went on hiatus after touring in 2005, releasing Relapse in 2009 and Recovery in 2010. Both won Grammy Awards and Recovery was the best-selling album of 2010 worldwide—the second time he had the international best-selling album of the year (after The Eminem Show). Eminem's eighth album, 2013's The Marshall Mathers LP 2, won two Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album; it expanded his record for the most wins in that category and his Grammy total to 15.

50 Cent

Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, entrepreneur, investor, record, film, and television producer. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of the borough of Queens, Jackson began selling drugs at age twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic. Although he left drug-dealing to pursue a musical career, he was struck by nine bullets in a 2000 shooting. After Jackson released the compilation album Guess Who's Back? in 2002, he was discovered by Eminem and signed by Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records.

With the aid of Eminem and Dr. Dre (who produced his first major-label album, Get Rich or Die Tryin'), Jackson became one of the world's best selling rappers and rose to prominence with East Coast hip hop group G-Unit (which he leads de facto). In 2003 he founded G-Unit Records, signing his G-Unit associates Young Buck, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. Jackson had similar commercial and critical success with his second album, The Massacre, which was released in 2005. He released his fifth studio album, Animal Ambition, in 2014 and is working on his sixth studio album: Street King Immortal, scheduled for release in 2016.

Skylar Grey

Holly Brook Hafermann (born February 23, 1986), who goes by the stage name Skylar Grey, is an American singer and songwriter from Mazomanie, Wisconsin. In 2004, under the pseudonym Holly Brook, at the age of 17, she signed a publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group and a recording contract with Linkin Park’s Machine Shop Recordings imprint. She would later release her debut album, Like Blood Like Honey, under the aforementioned labels in 2006.

In 2010, she co-wrote Eminem and Rihanna's hit single "Love the Way You Lie", alongside Eminem and British record producer Alex da Kid, who subsequently signed her to his label imprint, KIDinaKORNER. Grey is perhaps best known as a guest vocalist on several hit singles, including Fort Minor's "Where'd You Go", Diddy's "Coming Home", Dr. Dre's "I Need a Doctor", T.I.'s "New National Anthem" and Nicki Minaj's "Bed of Lies". Grey's second album, Don't Look Down, was released in July 2013.

Life and career

1994–2004: Early life and career beginnings