Back in 2015, Eminem’s The Shady Music Publishing roster got bigger with the addition of Saginaw, Michigan rapper who goes by the name Astray. According to the multiple reports, he was once an intern at Eminem’s recording studio. Astray made the announcement via his official social media accounts and was later congratulated by Slim Shady’s long-time friend and manager, Paul Rosenberg on Twitter.
“ANNOUNCEMENT!! After countless meetings, conference calls, and contract drafts, it is finally 100% official. I am extremely pleased/blessed/thankful to say that I just signed a deal with SHADY MUSIC PUBLISHING/UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP!! I am very excited to be working with these two titans in the music industry and can’t wait to show you what we do from here!! I would like to thank my brother “DRO” for putting me and my music in all the right places and believing in me. I would also like to thank PAUL ROSENBERG for giving me this huge opportunity to better my life and showcase my music on a worldwide scale. Thanks to my brother Nic Spaulding. We started this musical journey quite a long time ago and I swear we’ve been through it all. It feels great to see one of the main goals we had finally being achieved. Last but not least, thank you to all the fans and supporters through the years that made it easy to keep going and never give up. I love y’all. Couldn’t wait till 3pm.” said Astray on Facebook.
“Pleased to welcome our new writer ASTRAY to Shady Music Publishing with UMP. Keep an eye out for him!” Paul tweeted. Later in his tweet, the Michigan emcee also cleared things up by clarifying that he is signed to Shady Music Publishing and Universal Music Group not Shady Records label. Eminem’s publicist Dennis Dennehy told MLive that the deal means “they are going to work with him on songs.”
Yesterday Astray shared “Give Me Five Minutes” freestyle and in the caption he wrote: “Eminem reached back into Detroit and signed this guy, Astray!” One of the fans commented: “What I’m confused about is you got signed a few years ago to the publishing deal. But I haven’t heard anything since. But Em put Royce and Slaughterhouse, Griselda etc on a pedestal,” on which ASTRAY replied: “Yeah I got signed as a songwriter/producer not as an artist. But he signed me nonetheless ya dig?”
Check out the freestyle below: