Eminem: Slim Shady is back and he's very bad

But is Slim Shady really dead? Or has he returned in a new guise and for this reason he must be fought? Magic. “Houdini” is the lead single from Eminem's twelfth studio album, “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)”. The piece is named after Harry Houdinia famous magician known for his deadly stunts such as the Chinese Water Torture Cell, which Eminem attempted to replicate in the intro of the video for his 1999 song, “Role Model”. With the return of the long-time collaborator Jeff Bass of the Bass Brothers and production by Luis RestoEminem revisits his catchy and morbid sound from the early 2000s on this track.

This song, in fact, sees the rapper recalling his old slogans such as the iconic one “Guess who's back?” by Shady from the 2002 song “Without Me”. The song samples the Steve Miller Band's 1982 chart-topping success “Abracadabra” and is introduced by a skit from manager Paul Rosenberg, a technique already used in the past, in which he tells him: “I listened to the album, good luck, you're alone”. In the accompanying music video, Em plays the superhero Rapboy who battles an evil Slim Shady, his alter ego, with various cameos from Dr. Dre and 50 Cent with several other references to “Without Me”, specifically to the historic clip. But it is the lyrics, evidently, that bring out a corrosive, ironic, battle-ready Eminem: he mocks in an irreverent and incorrect way Megan Thee Stallion, rapper who accused Tory Lanez of shooting her feet while shouting “Dance, bitch, dance”also Em talks about his past and the use of drugmocks her cat's gender identity, playing with current events, “my transgender cat is Siamese, identifies as black, but acts like Chinese”, and he says he still feels in the crosshairs of censorship.

On October 24, 1926, Houdini tragically died in Detroit, Michigan at the age of 52. Interestingly, Detroit is also Eminem's hometown and he will also turn 52 in October 2024. That the new project will be released in that period seems obvious. “For my last trick, I will make my career disappear,” the artist wrote. And he did it at the end of the first story of this new effort. After announcing the release of the new album in the summer with some obituaries appearing in the newspapers mourning the death of his alter ego Slim Shadyalthough this first single has clear references to that character, Eminem published a short FaceTime call with the illusionist Blaine on Instagram accompanied by the caption: “Please don't try to do this again at home. Or anywhere else.”. “I was wondering: how far can we go with this magic? Can we come up with some ideas?” asks the rapper to the magician. Blaine replies, “You mean something like that?”, drinking and eating a glass. “My last trick, to make my career disappear,” Eminem closes the speech.