3/25/2011

Videos: Yelawolf at Royal Oak Music Theatre 3/24/11 (Eminem crashes stage, surprises fans at Slaughterhouse, Yelawolf show)



Eminem made a rare stage appearance Thursday night during a show introducing -- or re-introducing, as the case may be -- Shady Records' newest acts, Slaughterhouse and Yelawolf.

During the closing of their show at the packed Royal Oak Music Theatre, Eminem -- completely unannounced -- got on stage with the five rappers to perform "2.0 Boys." 2.0 being Shady Records 2.0, of course.

The show was a coronation of sorts for Alabama rapper Yelawolf, one of his first major shows since being taken under Eminem's wing. It was also a homecoming for Detroit's own Royce da 5'9, who's getting a second chance at breaking from the underground with the three other members of Slaughterhouse: Long Beach's Crooked I, Brooklyn's Joell Ortiz and fellow comeback kid Joe Budden, representing New Jersey.

Shady Records fell into dormancy as Eminem withdrew from the spotlight, but it was clear that Shady 2.0 is ready for business.

"I'd like to welcome everybody to the Shady 2.0 show," Yelawolf announced, opening the show with crowd favorites "Good to Go," "Pop the Trunk," "Mixin' Up the Medicine," "Box Chevy" and "I Just Wanna Party." At one point, he went crowdsurfing with enthusiastic fans.

"Eminem saved my life. Y'all know that?" Yelawolf said.







After a lengthy intermission, Slaughterhouse finally took the stage. "It feels so good to be home," Royce yelled before the supergroup went into "Sound Off" and "Everybody Down."

Each member got to represent their hometown with a hip-hop classic. Joe Budden did Naughty By Nature's "Hip Hop Hooray," Joell Ortiz with the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize," Crooked I with Dr. Dre's "The Next Episode" (dedicated to Nate Dogg) and Royce with Em's "Lose Yourself."

"I'm signed to Shady Records, so yeah, Detroit -- it's safe to say I'm pumped the f**k up," Royce yelled.



Royce and Joe got a little more stage time performing the hits that briefly brought them into the mainstream -- "Boom" for Royce and "Pump it Up" for Joe. But the momentum slowed to a crawl with the foursome stopping the show for endless jokes, bringing three fans on stage to play name that tune and taking shot after shot of liquor.

That's a kink Slaughterhouse might want to work out for future shows, but give them a break since they're in a celebratory, devil-may-care mood. Things got back into the swing again when the foursome brought out Yelawolf for "2.0 Boys" and Em's surprise appearance.



For the usually reclusive Eminem to appear on stage out of nowhere, it was a treat for fans. More importantly, it shows his commitment to reinvigorating the Shady brand.

"Michigan, Detroit, I want y'all to make some noise one time for the newest members of the Shady family, Slaughterhouse and Yelawolf. Thank you for coming out, we love you," Em said, closing the show.

Here's some video footage from yours truly. Be gentle -- I was elbowing for precious space with other photogs, being distracted by lots of kids smoking funny cigarettes and, at one point, fended off a catfight between four hipster-looking young women.

No comments:

Post a Comment