Like the teenagers on Depop, Eminem is going through his 2000 archives in search of a new look.
On Friday, the rapper released “Houdini,” the first single from his upcoming album “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).” The song picks up where his 22-year-old single, “Without Me,” left off, with a similar beat and self-referential lyrics about how the world has changed while he remains the same old troll.
“My s– may not be age-appropriate / But I'll hit an eight-year-old in the face with a participation trophy,” the 51-year-old rapper jokes on “Houdini.” A fixed point in a world that rotates as always.
The video trots out his same “Without Me” costume and calls in favors from his Bush-era heyday for cameos. Dr. Dre announces that a time portal has opened to 2002 and that a digitally aged Eminem is on the loose, with today's grayer 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg following suit.
Em has company from the group chat of embattled white celebrities: Pete Davidson, dressed in a bleach blonde suit, mocks his recent arrest for threatening Beverly Hills highways, while comedian Shane Gillis commiserates with a semi-cancelled superstar . .
Eminem's next album will likely feature his former alter ego Slim Shady (as seen in a recent fake obituary published in the Detroit Free Press). “Death of Slim Shady” is his first LP since 2020’s “Music to Be Murdered By,” which spent a week at number one upon its release. A release date has not yet been announced.
