THE FEARLESS LEADER

RAINMAKERS TWO

196

PAUL

THE FEARLESS LEADER

196 197

‘‘

ven back then,

I was taking on far too many jobs,” Def

Jam Chairman Paul Rosenberg recalls

of his early career. As the longtime man-

ager of Eminem, Rosenberg has been a

substantial player in the unfolding of the

modern era and the dominance of hip-hop

in the last two decades. His work in that

capacity naturally positioned him to seize

the reins at the major label that brought

rap to the mainstream.

Before he began managing the best-

selling rapper of all time, Rosenberg was

an attorney, hustling in Detroit and New

York but always intimately connected with

the Detroit rap scene. Later on, he was a

boutique-label owner, film producer and,

finally, major-label boss. The success he’s

had thus far required savvy and finesse,

no question. But it’s been Rosenberg’s

fearlessness and commitment to breaking

barriers that have secured him this high

perch. (And given his imposing height,

Rosenberg’s perch is higher than average.)

Legendary exec and Interscope co-found-

er Jimmy Iovine summed up Rosenberg’s

unique qualifications while simultaneously

assessing the State of the Biz: “Bringing

Paul in as an entrepreneur is a good idea,

and they should bring in more—because

in order to get the record business really

healthy, it’s going to take risks and it’s going

to take thinking outside of the box,” he

told us. “At its height, the business was run

primarily by entrepreneurs who either sold

their businesses or stayed—Ahmet Ertegun,

David Geffen, Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert

were all entrepreneurs.”

He grew up in the Detroit suburb of

Farmington Hills, surrounded on all sides

by music and the arts. His attorney father

was a jazz hobbyist, and his mother (who

had a theater background) taught music at

their synagogue. Young Paul first heard hip-

hop thanks to his older brother; he credits

two seminal cuts, The Sugarhill Gang’s

“Rapper’s Delight” and “The Message” by

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, for

kickstarting his hip-hop obsession.

Medical school seemed to be a practical

PAUL

THE FEARLESS LEADER

ROSENBERG

“PAUL HAS

INCREDIBLE

INSTINCTS

AND A REAL

COMMITMENT

TO ARTISTRY.

HE’S SEEN

FIRSTHAND

THE UNBELIEV-

ABLE RESULTS

THAT COME

FROM ALLOW-

ING ARTISTS

TO BE THEM-

SELVES—BUT

ALSO ACTS AS

A SOUNDING

BOARD WHEN

NEEDED, AND

A STRONG

VOICE WHEN

NECESSARY.”

—JOHN JANICK

198

“ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I LOVE AND THAT DRIVES

ME CRAZY ABOUT PAUL IS THAT HE NEVER EVER

STOPS WHEN IT COMES TO DOING WHAT IS RIGHT FOR

EMINEM.”

—STEVE BERMAN

next step, though Rosenberg intended

to pursue his own rap career simulta-

neously. The latter goal was no lark;

he landed a deal with a label owned

by Pistons Bad Boy John Salley. He

started off pre-med at Michigan State,

but he struggled with chemistry. After

some initial resistance to following

in his family’s footsteps, he made the

decision to ditch medicine and pursue

entertainment law.

During his Spartan years, his rap

group collaborated with labelmates Slum

Village, and Rosenberg—known as “Paul

Bunyan” on the Detroit scene, owing to

his stature—found himself working with

now-legendary producer J Dilla.

Despite his reservations about

devoting his life to drafting contracts

and taking calls from other lawyers,

Rosenberg felt certain his passion

for music and rap expertise qualified

him for a role in the biz; management

appeared to be the ideal path.

While studying at University

of Detroit’s Mercy School of Law,

Rosenberg spent his summers interning

at BMG and PolyGram and founded

an entertainment law society. “Paul

really wanted every bit of knowledge

and information about the music

industry he could get his hands on,

and he worked hard at it,” UD law

professor Howard Abrams explained

to the Detroit Free Press. “One of the

nice things about his success is seeing

that this kind of hard work can pay

off—that it’s not just a crapshoot.”

Enter Em

hile attending an

open-mic night at

Hip Hop Shop—a

clothing store that

would turn into a

freestyle battleground after hours—

Rosenberg was asked to check out a

rising underground MC by acquain-

tance Proof, who thought the aspiring

artist might need a lawyer.

In this intimate Detroit venue in

1996, alongside a dozen or so other

people, Rosenberg witnessed his first-

ever Eminem performance. Marshall

Mathers described the evening to

Billboard: “I had stopped rapping for

probably six, seven months. It just felt

like it wasn’t really going anywhere. We

EMINEM

198 199

were living in the attic at Kim’s mom’s

house. I hadn’t heard from Proof in,

like, three months. Proof called me and

he was like, ‘Yo, write something, come

here tomorrow and say it, and if you

don’t like it, you don’t ever have to do it

again.’ It was like 10 or 15 people.”

Rosenberg knew he was in the pres-

ence of serious talent, but also under-

stood that the kid was still finding him-

self as a rapper. His first interaction with

Mathers was buying his newly released

cassette, Infinite, a few months later. As

Eminem continued to develop his craft,

Rosenberg completed law school and

moved to New York to study for the bar,

while maintaining his close connection

to the Detroit rap scene.

Not long thereafter, a Detroit friend

urged him to check out Eminem’s latest

unreleased material. “I was really blown

away,” he recalled of the tape he got after

calling the rapper directly and requesting

it. “I realized that he had found his voice;

he stopped being so self-aware and self-

conscious…and just sounded like some-

body, for lack of a better description, who

didn’t give a fuck.”

Rosenberg called Eminem and asked

if he could represent him. Em said yes,

Clockwise from top left: Marshall and Paul with Christian Clancy, Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt at 2014’s Shady XV

roundtable; two guys from Detroit; with former NBA star Chris Bosh; with Shade 45 DJs Lord Sear and Sway

“BRINGING PAUL IN AS AN ENTREPRENEUR IS A GOOD IDEA, AND THEY

SHOULD BRING IN MORE—BECAUSE IN ORDER TO GET THE RECORD

BUSINESS REALLY HEALTHY, IT’S GOING TO TAKE RISKS AND IT’S GOING

TO TAKE THINKING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX.”

—JIMMY IOVINE

200

beginning a partnership of 21 years and

counting. “I was excited to have anybody

listen to me and take me seriously,” the

rapper told Complex. “Especially with

Paul being based in New York—anything

was a lead, anything was a ray of hope.”

Added Rosenberg of Em’s frequent trips

from Detroit to NYC: “That’s how the

friendship started to grow. Neither of us

had any money, so he would literally sleep

on my couch, and we just figured it out.”

eanwhile, on the West

Coast, legendary hip-

hop producer Dr. Dre

was attempting a career

renaissance after splitting

acrimoniously from Death Row Records.

With Jimmy Iovine’s guidance, Dre inevi-

tably found what he was looking for. As

legend has it, Iovine would play him cas-

settes from his garage, scouring for talent

to help resurrect Dre’s career. On the rec-

ommendation of an intern, Iovine picked

Eminem’s tape from the pile. Soon there-

after, Jimmy and Dre flew Rosenberg’s cli-

ent to Interscope’s Santa Monica HQ.

Rosenberg explains the attraction to

the iconic West Coast label to Complex:

“We knew what [Em] was doing was

going to be met with some controversy.

The place that had Dre and Snoop and

Tupac and Marilyn Manson—it was a

good match.”

While finalizing Eminem’s deal with

Aftermath/Interscope, Rosenberg looked

to experienced biz lawyer Theo Sedlmayr

for guidance. Sedlmayr not only mentored

Rosenberg but would later rent office

space to the aspiring macher, who was

now out of his day job at a personal-

injury firm and newly flush from his

Interscope deal.

“Paul has always been a no nonsense,

straightforward businessman,” says

Eminem’s agent, Cara Lewis of the Cara

Lewis Group. “When I first met him,

he was a young, up-and-coming man-

ager/attorney with a new client named

Eminem. He was well-versed, well-spoken

and at the same time a massive hip-hop

head who truly knew and loved the music

and understood the culture.”

“I didn’t become Em’s manager until

after I made the transition [to Sedlmayr’s

office] and had enough time to take on the

role,” Rosenberg explained to HITS. For

a time he did double-duty as both lawyer

and manager to the rapper, but it was

short-lived. “I handed Em over to Theo

when things got too crazy,” he added. “I

moved upstairs and opened my manage-

ment company in 1999.” Along with flag-

ship act Eminem, Goliath Artists has guid-

ed the careers of rappers Action Bronson

and Danny Brown (both of whom have

since become fixtures on TV).

As Eminem’s debut album, The Slim

Shady LP, arrived, Rosenberg’s team con-

Two label heads (left); with 50 Cent

200 201

sisted of Sedlmayr and the one-two punch

of Iovine, one of the greatest creative

executives in the record business, and Dre,

the perennial genius of hip-hop producers.

Em’s major-label debut bowed at

#2, fueled by lead single “My Name

Is.” With an assist from MTV, which

hadn’t yet lost its clout, the rapper

became a household name. His LP,

released in late February of 1999, was

certified platinum by April.

Rosenberg counts his participation in

“skit” tracks on Eminem’s albums among

his career milestones. In “Paul (skit)” on

The Slim Shady LP, he leaves his client a

voicemail imploring him to “tone it down

a little bit.” This tribute became tradi-

tion; Rosenberg, and longtime Interscope

executive Steve Berman were immortal-

ized in rap history as the suits fed up with

the rapper’s antics.

Rosenberg and Eminem created their

own imprint, Shady Records, within the

IGA family. Each subsequent Eminem

release would go through the Shady/

Aftermath/Interscope joint venture.

“Def Jam was a huge inspiration” for

the imprint, Rosenberg noted in the 2015

documentary Not Afraid: The Shady

Records Story. “[Rick Rubin and Russell

Simmons] laid the blueprint for what hip-

hop could become as a record label. We

always wanted to remain boutique.”

Between 2000 and 2004, the newly

formed label would go on an incredible

run. The momentum from The Slim Shady

LP was sent into overdrive with Em’s

feature on Dr. Dre’s single, “Forgot About

Dre,” for his long-awaited (Chronic) 2001

album. Dre and Em earned a Grammy for

the track, along with an MTV VMA for

Best Rap Video.

Rosenberg and his client worked quick-

ly to get the next album out. Collaborating

once again with Dre, Eminem released

The Marshall Mathers LP in May 2000.

Cementing his status as a rap superstar,

Em’s sophomore set—and first release

through Shady Records—sold more than

1.7 million copies in its first week, a new

record for a solo artist that remained

unbroken until 2015, when Adele’s 25

moved 3 million in its first week. It’s since

been certified diamond by the RIAA.

In addition to its blockbuster lead single, “The

Real Slim Shady,” the album “Stan”—the tragic

tale of an Em-obsessed fan on a path of destruc-

tion. The haunting track sampled U.K. export

Dido’s “Thank You”—which also catapulted the

singer/songwriter to notoriety in the U.S.

The legacy of “Stan” has only grown with time;

the critically acclaimed track made it onto Rolling

Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and The

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that

Shaped Rock and Roll, among many other such

lists. Furthermore, the term “Stan” entered the

lexicon: It was employed so regularly by younger

music lovers, in fact, that Merriam-Webster

added “stan” to its dictionary as both noun (“an

extremely or excessively enthusiastic and devoted

fan”) and verb (“to exhibit fandom to an extreme

or excessive degree”).

Rosenberg and Eminem concluded The

Marshall Mathers LP album cycle with Em’s

first arena trek, the Anger Management Tour.

Co-headlining with Limp Bizkit, Eminem was able

to cross genres and appeal to rock fans along with

hip-hop heads. He toured globally for the entirety

of 2000 before finishing the cycle in 2001.

Shady Records would release its first exclusive

album in 2001—by Eminem’s Detroit rap collec-

tive D-12. Their debut album bowed at #1, and the

group joined the Anger Management roadshow.

Em’s third major-label set, The Eminem Show

(2002), arrived at the height of his popularity. The

set moved 1.4 million albums in its first week and

nearly 3 million units through its first month—and

became the year’s top-selling album.

Detroit Goes Hollywood

he pair’s next move underscores why

Em and Rosenberg succeeded so early

and often—they were unafraid to

take risks. Venturing into film is dif-

ficult under any circumstances; with

Eminem’s brand on a hot streak for the ages, the

decision to attempt a major motion picture based

on his life was a ballsy one, to say the least.

With Iovine spearheading the project’s develop-

ment, the team was able to land Brian Grazer—

fresh off an Oscar Best Picture win for A Beautiful

Mind—as a producer. Writer Scott Silver and direc-

tor Curtis Hanson joined shortly thereafter, and

Silver crafted the 8 Mile story, taking its title from

8 Mile Road, which divided the black and white

Detroit neighborhoods where Mathers grew up. The

narrative realized Iovine’s concept of a Purple Rain

for Eminem. “It was much more likely to go wrong

than to go right,” Rosenberg later recalled.

Producer Rosenberg wore many hats on the

202

With Pauly Shore and producer Stuart Parr at 8 Mile

screening in Hollywood, 2002

film; he helped connect Silver with the right

people to inform the story, served as tour

guide for location scouting and assisted

with the casting of rappers for the film. As

if being on set every single day of filming

weren’t enough, Rosenberg also had to

manage his client, who was facing a huge

new challenge. “Here was a guy who had

never really acted before—[and] certainly

wasn’t in a starring role where he was liter-

ally in every scene,” Rosenberg marveled.

“We were extremely focused on

authenticity,” he added. “We weren’t

going to be sitting there in the theater…

and cringing. Us being real sticklers about

the details paid off.”

Eminem nailed his performance, and

the movie opened to strong reviews—not

to mention triumphant box-office numbers

for a “pop-star” film. Proclaimed The New

York Times after the opening weekend,

“Ticket buyers have decreed: Eminem is a

movie star.”

During filming, Rosenberg and team

worked on the 8 Mile soundtrack, which

would be released through Shady Records.

The album featured Eminem’s stunning

anthem “Lose Yourself,” which played

during the credits. It would become the

biggest single of Eminem’s career, notching

12 weeks at #1.

The soundtrack debuted at #1 with over

700k; Rosenberg, Em and team had the

nation’s #1 film and album. At the time,

Rosenberg told HITS, “We’re out of our

minds. I thought it would do well, but to

have the second-largest opening for an

R-rated movie ever is beyond what anybody

expected. It just keeps raising the bar.”

“Lose Yourself” earned Eminem a pair

of Grammys and an Academy Award for

Best Original Song.

The 8 Mile Soundtrack also served as

an introduction to Shady Records art-

ist 50 Cent. On his decision to sign with

Rosenberg and Mathers’ label while being

courted by the entire industry, 50 explained

why he turned down multiple huge offers

and signed with Shady: “I was offered a

$1.3m deal with UMG. I’m not doing that

deal. I’m doing a deal with Eminem. Call it

a boutique label, but it’s King Kong’s label;

the biggest rap artist—period.”

50 Cent’s debut album, Get Rich or

Die Trying, provided another smash for

Shady Records in early 2003. “When you

put together the force of Dr. Dre, Eminem

and Paul Rosenberg, as well as the talent

of 50,” insisted Berman, “you have some-

thing that is potent artistically as well

as commercially.” Powered by the Dre-

produced hit “In Da Club,” the album

opened with 800k+ units, easily topping

the chart.

Eminem’s fifth studio album, Encore,

may not have earned the critical acclaim of

his prior releases (Em himself has admitted

that it’s not his best work), but it debuted

at #1 and sold an astounding 1.5m albums

in its first week.

How did Rosenberg and Em climb to the

mountaintop? The indefatigable, towering

manager “never stops pushing, questioning,

fighting, and making all of us privileged

enough to be on the journey be the best we

can for Marshall,” Berman told HITS.

Rehab and Recovery

‘‘

n a way, this is the end of the

first chapter in his career,”

Rosenberg told The New York

Times in 2008. “Em’s look-

ing forward now. He’s very

re-energized and refocused.” The chapter

Rosenberg was referring to ended with

Encore. After that album was released,

Eminem took an extended hiatus—during

which he checked into rehab, remarried

and re-divorced his ex-wife and dealt with

the loss of his closest friend, Proof, who

was killed in a shooting in a Detroit night-

club. Rosenberg gave his client the space

and time he needed to heal.

“Paul’s priority is Em. He has one

goal: Make sure Marshall is okay,”

observed 50 Cent in the Shady documen-

tary. “It’s very rare that you find those

types of relationships.”

The newly sober Eminem bounced back

in 2009 with Relapse and quickly followed

that up with Recovery, his seventh studio

album, 13 months later. Both albums eas-

ily debuted at #1. Recovery featured the

hits “Not Afraid” and “Love the Way

You Lie” featuring Rihanna; the latter

cut would become his biggest smash since

“Lose Yourself.” The three singles are now

all certified diamond by the RIAA, making

Em and Katy Perry the only two solo art-

ists to hit a trey of diamond singles.

“One of the things that I love and that

drives me crazy about Paul is that he never

203202

Def Jam chief Rosenberg beams as YK Osiris flashes his gold plaque. Also pictured:

consigliere Rich Isaacson, A&R Alexander “AE” Edwards and managers James

McMillan and Christopher Williams.

204

ever stops when it comes to doing what is

right for Eminem,” says Berman. “When

the Recovery album was turned in and we

were locking in our marketing plans, Paul

came into the office, grabbed me, took me

to Jimmy’s office and told me we had to

open up the album. I said, ‘We can’t do

that—it’s too late.’ He just looked at me

and said, ‘Sit down and listen.’ He played

us ‘Love the Way You Lie.’ We opened up

the album.”

osenberg, Em and Shady

notched their seventh con-

secutive #1 for Interscope

in late 2013 with The

Marshall Mathers LP 2,

which went on to win Best Rap Album

at the 2015 Grammys.

For his part, Rosenberg felt he was

at a crossroads. “I wanted to try to do a

little more,” he recalls. “With Eminem,

we accomplished so much, and I still

love doing all of it, but one of the things

I decided I wanted to do was to start

another record label. It would be differ-

ent from Shady Records, because that’s

Eminem’s brand and everything we signed

had to fit his brand. It’s difficult to sign

a lot of things when it has to meet those

criteria. I thought if I had a place to sign

more stuff, maybe I could fulfill the urge

to work with more artists.”

So the Shady boss went to his partners

at Interscope with the idea, which eventu-

ally arrived at UMG overlord Sir Lucian

Grainge’s desk. He loved it.

It comes as no surprise to current IGA

Chairman/CEO John Janick that Grainge

was eager to give Rosenberg a label.

“Paul has incredible instincts and a real

commitment to artistry,” Janick notes.

“He’s seen firsthand the unbelievable

results that come from allowing artists to

be themselves—but also acts as a sound-

ing board when needed, and a strong

voice when necessary.” Working with

Em’s manager since his arrival at IGA in

2012, Janick had observed Rosenberg’s

unique skillset from the front row. “He’s

also an encyclopedia of hip-hop,” Janick

adds. “He knows where the genre has

been and where it’s going next.”

What better mantle for an encyclo-

pedia of hip-hop to assume than the big

chair at the iconic Def Jam? Although it

wasn’t announced until mid-2017, the

process of Rosenberg taking over the

UMG label had been in the works for

some time beforehand.

Rosenberg was intrigued by the pros-

pect of leading “the greatest hip-hop label

of all time.” With blessings from his fam-

ily, colleagues and of course, Eminem,

Rosenberg accepted the offer from

Grainge to become the company’s new

Chairman/CEO, and his appointment

was trumpeted in August 2017.

Right before Rosenberg kicked off

his Def Jam tenure, Eminem dropped his

ninth studio album, Revival, in December

2017; he would headline Coachella the

following April.

Rosenberg built up his team—add-

ing Loud veteran Rich Isaacson, who

came aboard as EVP/GM, and EVP DJ

Mormile, among others, and retooled his

promo department, empowering Nicki

Farag and Noah Sheer. He also notched

two #1 albums (Kanye West and Logic)

and focused on branding by launching

UNDISPUTED—a campaign intended

to re-establish Def Jam’s hip-hop domin-

ion—in early 2019.

Toward the end of 2018, Rosenberg

ran point on Eminem’s extremely secre-

tive

Kamikaze. The surprise release

arrived only nine months after Revival,

and only seven or eight people at

Interscope were aware of it. After the

success of the release—it debuted #1 and

outpaced Revival’s first week by nearly

200k units—Janick noted, “It was Paul

With LL Cool J and 2 Chainz (left); with the Def Jam crew

204 205

and Marshall’s idea to make the record a

surprise, but then executing and getting

that record out without anybody know-

ing was unbelievable.”

Rosenberg managed another tri-

umph for Eminem, this time while con-

trolling a (rival) major label. “From day

one, Paul has thought about cultural

impact around the world,” Universal

U.K. boss David Joseph points out.

“Eminem broke the U.K. chart record

[with Kamikaze] for consecutive #1

albums, a record Led Zeppelin had

held for 36 years. It was a historic

achievement and it was down to two

people—Marshall and Paul. Now that

he’s officially in the family, Paul will

lead Def Jam with clarity and vision for

his artists. I’m expecting boundaries to

be pushed. Also, he can do a 30-minute

meeting in three minutes. I can’t tell you

how much I love that.”

“Paul is one of the smartest cats in

the business,” says X-ray Touring’s

Steve Strange, Eminem’s longtime U.K.

agent. “Not only is he a super-obser-

vant, creative manager, but he also has

fantastic taste in music and has one of

the most hands-on relationships I have

ever seen with an artist. His close rela-

tionship with Marshall and his careful

guidance on procuring what can only

be known as a dream-team partner-

ship speaks for itself. He has a very

sharp but laid-back wit and very much

enjoys a whiskey and a cigar on occa-

sion. Paul is a legend in every quarter,

and it has been an absolute pleasure

working with him.”

Along with focusing on signing and

developing new talent to join current

rising stars YK Osiris, 10k.Caash and

DaniLeigh, Rosenberg is determined to

emphasize fabled artists from the label’s

past, including reconnecting with Slick

Rick, DMX, LL Cool J, Public Enemy

and Chuck D, among others.

At the moment, Rosenberg is guiding

the career of Eminem, while manning

the ship that carries Kanye West, Justin

Bieber, Big Sean, Logic, Nas, Pusha T,

YG and Alessia Cara, just to name a few.

As is so often the case, the biggest prizes

go to the risk-takers.

Rosenberg and team Def Jam in Jackson Hole for Kanye outing, June 2019 (l-r): Rich Isaacson, Marcus “Ike” Ferrer, Scott Greer,

Gabe Tesoriero, Jen Hirsch, Scott Maness, Noah Callahan-Bever, Bruce Carbone and photographer Marcus Hyde

“WITH EMINEM, WE ACCOMPLISHED SO MUCH, AND I STILL LOVE

DOING ALL OF IT, BUT ONE OF THE THINGS I DECIDED I WANTED

TO DO WAS TO START ANOTHER RECORD LABEL… I THOUGHT IF

I HAD A PLACE TO SIGN MORE STUFF, MAYBE I COULD FULFILL

THE URGE TO WORK WITH MORE ARTISTS.”