Straight from the Lab is a 2003 bootleg album consisting of previously unreleased songs by Eminem. Some of the songs on the album were scheduled to be released the following year on Eminem's fifth studio album, Encore. Two additional series of unreleased songs were leaked in 2011 and 2025 as Straight from the Lab Part 2 and Straight from the Lab Part 3, respectively.
If those hadn't leaked, Encore would've been a much different album. "We as Americans", "Love You More", a lot of songs ended up on the bonus disc because they leaked and that disappointed me. So, I had to start over, which felt like a mountain I had to climb. You climb half the mountain, and then all of a sudden, you get knocked back down. "We as Americans" was going to start the album, then "Bully". "Evil Deeds" was in there. If that would've been on Encore, and the other couple songs that leaked, to me it would've been right there with The Eminem Show as far as its caliber.[1]
According to Complex, the songs on Straight from the Lab were allegedly leaked by a friend of Eminem's brother Nate Mathers, who had found a CD containing a selection of unfinished music at Eminem's house.[2]
In 2013, Jeff Rosenthal of Vulture ranked the third verse of "Bully" as Eminem's sixteenth best of all time, praising its demonstration of what he considered Eminem's two greatest strengths: "his ability to cut through bullshit and noise with a chainsaw" and "acknowledging his own hypocrisy".[5]Rolling Stone would also rank the song at number 50 on their 2024 list of "The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs".[6]
"Bully" is a diss track aimed at rappers Benzino, Irv Gotti and Ja Rule.[7][8] After an incomplete version of the song leaked online in the week before its inclusion on Straight from the Lab, Eminem's management team told MTV News that it had been recorded around six months previously.[9]
"Hailie's Revenge" (sometimes referred to as "Doe Rae Me"), which also first appeared on unofficial mixtapes earlier in 2003,[7] is another diss track which features vocals from Eminem's daughter Hailie Jade in the intro and the outro. It is a response to Ja Rule's song "Loose Change", in which Ja Rule has insulted Eminem's family, including Hailie.[7][10]
"We Are Americans" was later included on a bonus disc for Eminem's fifth studio album, Encore, with the title "We As Americans". In 2022, Eminem stated that if the song had not leaked, it would have been the opening track on the album, followed by "Bully" as track two.[1] The version in the bootleg is the original uncensored version, with the bonus disc version having a line about the president reversed, while this one does not.
"I Love You More" was also included on the Encore bonus disc, with the title "Love You More".
"Come on In" was later included on D12's sophomore album, D12 World, with the title "6 in the Morning".
Part 2
In 2011, a series of leaks occurred by a Twitter user named "NotAfraid2Leak",[11] commonly referred to as "Koolo" These leaks occurred over the span of a few months, and eventually lead to a fully unreleased and unofficial project titled Straight From The Vault EP.[12] Since then, fans have retroactively compiled all of those songs into a follow up mixtape to Straight From The Lab, titled Straight from the Lab Part 2.[13]
"Things Get Worse" was later released on B.o.B's Greatest Hits album. In 2019, the track leaked again with a never-before-heard verse that contained reference to the Chris Brown's assault of Rihanna saying that he would side with Chris Brown in this situation, which caused a lot controversy around the track. Eminem would eventually go on to apologize to Rihanna for the lyrics on "Zeus", a track off his 2020 album Music to Be Murdered By: Side B.
"Goin' Crazy" (later mastered and retitled "Fame") was later released on D12's 2011 mixtape, Return of the Dozen Vol. 2.
Some tracks on this bootleg were mistitled by the leaker, "Oh No" was later confirmed to be titled "Here We Go Again" and "I Get Money" was later confirmed to be titled "Get Money (Freestyle)".
On 12 January 2025, a series of leaks surfaced online.[14] The first 14 unreleased songs were compiled into a bootleg album titled Straight From The Lab, Part 3. In the days that followed, more songs surfaced, leading dedicated fans to expand the tracklist, share updated versions, and work to derail any fake AI-generated songs. The songs were arranged chronologically based on their leak dates.
Following the leak, studio employees of Eminem reported the incident to the FBI on or about January 16, 2025.[15] Investigators discovered that the music had been copied from password-protected hard drives stored in a safe at Eminem's studio in Ferndale, Michigan, between October 2019 and January 2020; the studio employees had obtained an image listing the stolen music, now being illegally sold online, that they knew was stored on one of the hard drives.[15][16] In March 2025, federal prosecutors charged Joseph Strange, a former sound engineer of Eminem's who had been working at his studio when the music was stolen, with copyright infringement and interstate transportation of stolen goods.[15][16] According to an FBI affidavit, Strange had been selling the music online to private collectors in exchange for cryptocurrency, and in 2021 had signed an agreement as part of his severance package that he would not electronically distribute Eminem's work to others.[16]
"Antichrist" was originally recorded for the 2005 compilation, Curtain Call, and was later altered and released on the 2024 album, The Death of Slim Shady.
"I'm Sorry (Seasons)" was supposed to be the lead single for his 2010 album Recovery, but the idea was scrapped due to sample clearance issues.
"Christopher Reeves" was recorded for the 2004 album, Encore, but was scrapped because Christopher Reeve died right before the release, as stated in Eminem's track, Guilty Conscience 2. Later was released under the title "Brand New Dance", with modern additions, on the 2024 album, The Death of Slim Shady.
"Sexual Healing" is the original version of "Is This Love ('09)", which was released on the 2022 compilation Curtain Call 2. The solo version is partly a reference track, recorded for Dr. Dre.
50 Cent's feature verse on "Sociopath" was rerecorded and also used for "Is This Love ('09)", as well as a few lines from the pre-chorus and 3rd verse.
"Back and Forth", recorded for the 2009 album, Relapse, was altered and released under the title "Discombobulated" on the 2020 album, Music to Be Murdered By. It may have been removed due to a line in the second verse about him performing oral sex on a blow-up doll of Miley Cyrus, as Miley was only 16 at the time the song was recorded.
"My Darling" and "Careful What You Wish For" are earlier versions of songs that were later released on Relapse: Refill.
"Jump Out" is a reference track, written and recorded by Eminem in August 2006 for Dr. Dre's scrapped album Detox.
"Freak" was recorded circa 2017 and is an outtake from the soundtrack album of the comedy-drama film, Bodied.
"Smack You" was more than likely intended to be on DJ Green Lantern's 2004 mixtape Invasion Part Three: Countdown to Armageddon, but it was not released to respect Dr. Dre's wish of de-escalation as mentioned in the song "Like Toy Soldiers" as the song contains disses towards Suge Knight and Ja Rule in a time when tensions between Shady/Aftermath and Murder Inc. were at an all-time high.
"Trade Off" was planned to be featured on Slaughterhouse's scrapped album, Glasshouse.
"Marshall Powers" was planned to be the intro to Eminem's studio album, Kamikaze, but was scrapped because it "went too far".[18]
"Love Drunk", "Sociopath", "Key To My Room", "Sexual Healing", and "Back and Forth" were all intended for Eminem's scrapped sequel to his 6th studio album, Relapse, titled "Relapse 2" but was ultimately scrapped due to Interscope Records turning the album copy down.
An alternate version of the Encore track "My 1st Single" was listed on track listings of early versions of Straight From The Lab 3. However, it was unofficially removed from the track list due to not actually being an unreleased version, instead being a fusion of the clean version and the explicit version.
A studio recording version of the "The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)" song "Renaissance" was listed on track listings of early versions of Straight From The Lab 3. This version of the track claimed to be an early version without the AI voice overlay. However, due to the fact that the files for all of the songs within the bootleg were retrieved from between October 2019 and January 2020, and "Renaissance" was recorded at some point between 2021 and 2024,[19] it was ruled that the supposedly leaked version was fake and likely made by using AI voiceover technology, leading it to be removed from the unofficial track list.
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