Shady is back, but for how long?
Late on Friday night, Eminem released the bouncy, moody “Houdini,” the first single from his upcoming album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace).
With a melody reminiscent of Steve Miller Band’s 1982 hit “Abracadabra” and vibes of the 2002 hit “Without Me,” the song finds our hapless antihero (check out the cameo-filled video) coming off as fresh and raunchy as his usual hilarious and cringey tirade comparing his life in the ’90s to now.
“I sometimes wonder what my younger self would say if he knew what (expletive) sounds like now,” the self-proclaimed “lyric technician” says, before ultimately telling listeners, as well as Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre and his own kids, to “F-off.”
The man who’s long been known for dissing his peers in his songs hasn’t lost any of his sarcasm, adding a double entendre: “If I asked Megan Thee Stallion to collaborate, would that really be an accomplishment?” – a nasty but clever reference to her scathing criticism of Tory Lanez in 2020.
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How did Eminem announce his new album?
Eminem, 51, created an elaborate rollout for his 12th birthday.Number Studio album: During April’s NFL Draft, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame rapper used his hometown of Detroit to announce his new album and tease its contents with an episodic video for “Unsolved Mysteries.”
Asking “Who killed Slim Shady?”, the host cited “disrespectful and controversial behavior” as one of the reasons for his death. Eminem’s friend 50 Cent also makes an appearance, but claims, “He’s not a friend. He’s a psychopath.”
Did Eminem write his own obituary?
On May 13, the Detroit Free Press, a USA Today Network subsidiary, published a fake obituary for Slim Shady, which included a photo of Eminem wearing overalls and a hockey mask, and noted that his music had changed from “playfully demented” to exposing his fans to a “nihilistic worldview.”
The obituary concludes: “In the end, the very tools he seemed to use became the calling card that defined an existence that could only come to a sudden and horrific end. His complex and tortured existence has come to an end, and the legacy he leaves behind is no closer to resolution than the way in which this man left this earth.”
The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace) is scheduled for release this summer.
