Voices change over time but this is something else

Music fans are astonished at what legendary rapper Eminem sounded like in his first ever song.

People’s voices change over time – that’s just a fact – but when you’re a performer with as many hits as Eminem, your voice is your brand and people come to recognise it as clearly as your face.

So when they hear a recording which sounds totally different to the voice of Eminem that we all know and love, it’s just such a strange experience.

Give it a listen:

A recording of ‘Eat It’ performed by Eminem when he was just 16 has been setting people off as they can’t believe it’s really him behind the lyrics.

First things first, it’s basically a kid’s voice which sounds far removed from the Eminem who would release his first album just eight years later.

Clearly he’d done a lot of vocal growing up over time, but a bit like seeing pictures of celebrities when they were younger, you can just about hear the resemblance.

Fans hearing ‘Eat It’ have said it’s ‘literally insane’ to hear the difference between Eminem back in 1988 and the way he sounds now.

Some have said he sounded like fellow rapper Easy E, while others declared that it ‘sounds nothing like him’ even though if you were told that was a young Eminem, you could probably believe it.

The vocal difference is uncanny in the way there is a connection between his young and old voice, but eight years later, he sounded so different releasing his first album. 

Of course, he did a lot of growing up in that time and will have learned to develop is voice as a rapper in that time but the contrast is a stark one.

He just recently turned 51, leaving some fans to fear that he’s going to slide out of the music business and into retirement.

Certain Eminem fans reckon that the rapper was going to call it quits when he became middle-aged after an interview he gave when he was 37.

“I’m always going to love hip-hop. But how much longer am I going to still do it? I couldn’t really give you an answer,” Eminem said. 

“But the day that this is not better than the last will probably be the day I stop.

“I do love it so much. But even if I was rapping at 50 [years old], I don’t know if I would put it out.

“I know it always makes me feel better to lay things to tape, and—’Lay the tape’.

“See, I’m old school. The fans might say the s**t is garbage. You don’t how long people are going to want you around…

“Realistically, if I don’t rap, what the f**k am I going to do? It’s too late to just be unfamous right now at this point.”