5/31/2024
Slim Shady is back, back again. But, apparently, not for long.
Eminem appears to be killing off his alter ego in his latest project, an album titled, “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace).”
He has dropped the album’s first single, “Houdini,” which samples the Steve Miller Band’s 1982 hit, “Abracadabra.” His lyrics take aim at several people, including Megan Thee Stallion and even himself.
“If I was to ask for Megan Thee Stallion if she would collab with me, would I really have a shot at a feat?” he raps, referencing Tory Lanez shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the feet in 2020, a crime for which Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Eminem also released a music video for the song in which he gets a little help from some of his celebrity friends.
It opens with the 51-year-old rapper’s music manager, Paul Rosenberg, leaving a seemingly less than positive voicemail about the new album before Eminem’s mentor and frequent collaborator, Dr. Dre, tells him, “We’ve got a problem.”
The issue being a portal that allows time travel between the present and 2002. Cameos from 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and Pete Davidson follow.
Eminem battles it out with his younger-self in the video, which will remind fans of his 2002 “Without Me” video.
Recently a faux obituary appeared for his Slim Shady alter ego in his hometown newspaper, the Detroit Free Press. It referred to Slim Shady a “a rogue splinter in the flourishing underground rap scene.”
“The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce)” follows Eminem’s 2020 album, “Music to Be Murdered By.” The full collection of new music is set for release this summer.