The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame has confirmed its 2022 class. Eminem will be inducted into the Cleveland, Ohio hall as a first-time ballot nominee. Marshall Mathers joins a performer category class that includes Lionel Richie, Dolly Parton, The Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Pat Benatar, and Carly Simon. Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Judas Priest, and Harry Belafonte are this year’s special nominees, with the producers for Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, and the Human League receiving a Musical Excellence Award. A Tribe Called Quest and Rage Against The Machine are among the nominees who did earn induction for 2022. Only seven of the 17 nominated made the cut.

One of Eminem’s closest business associates, Jimmy Iovine, is slated to receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award. During his tenure as Interscope Records Chairman, Eminem became one of the label’s biggest stars. In a series of events, the former Bruce Springsteen and U2 engineer handed a tape of Eminem’s underground music to another Interscope star, Dr. Dre. Dre subsequently signed Em to Aftermath in the late 1990s and changed music history.

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Iovine shares the 2022 Ahmet Ertegun Award with late Sugar Hill Records co-founder and CEO Sylvia Robinson and entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman. Sylvia Robinson and her New Jersey-based label were instrumental in the careers of Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, and Sequence, among others. Prior to her time as a pioneering Hip-Hop executive, Robinson was an accomplished singer-songwriter and guitarist. In 2015, it was reported that some of the executives behind Empire were assisting Robinson’s estate in a biopic. She died in 2011 after congestive heart failure.

Notably, Eminem’s eligibility is possible because of an album not available on digital streaming platforms and rarely gets discussed. Requiring 25 years of recording music, Em’s induction relies on 1996’s Infinite LP. The Web Entertainment release featured production from D12 band-mate Denaun Porter, who rapped (as “Mr. Porter”), as did Proof. In 2016, Eminem remixed the title track and released a documentary surrounding the LP, which he previously gave away as a free download in 2009. The Detroit Free Press reports that in 1996, only 500 tapes and 500 LPs were pressed of the debut.

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Nearly three years after Infinite, Eminem released what many fans considered his debut, the Dr. Dre-produced Slim Shady LP on Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records. In 2000, that release took home “Best Rap Album” at the Grammy Awards.

Em has yet to respond to the news publicly. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2022 induction ceremony takes place on November 5 at the Los Angeles, California’s Microsoft Theater. The event will simulcast on SiriusXM’s Volume channel and air later on HBO.

JAY-Z & LL Cool J Brought A President & $3 Billion To The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

Last year, Eminem and Dr. Dre (a previous inductee) attended the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction for LL Cool J and JAY-Z. Like Em, Jay was a first-time ballot inductee.

#BonusBeat: A recent episode of Ambrosia For Heads’ What’s The Headline podcast that examines the history of Marshall Mathers as an activist: