In 1997, Eminem released his first official EP, despite having already put out an underground debut album the year before. The Slim Shady Album marked his first real storytelling in his songs, tackling everything from comic-book-style violence to the more serious poverty, drug, and family issues he witnessed every day. Using the alias Slim Shady, Eminem was able to put some distance between himself and his words. The album was picked up by Aftermath and Interscope and re-released with slightly tweaked tracks in 1999 as a full studio LP.