Ahead of his ominously named new album The Death of Slim Shady, Eminem has a "last trick" up his sleeve.
“Houdini,” the first taste of Em’s 12th studio album, is produced by Marshall alongside Luis Resto and available to stream now. The Rich Lee-directed music video, available above, is a characteristically tongue-in-cheek career retrospective with appearances from Dr. Dre and Pete Davidson. Good luck spotting all the references stretching back to the now-51-year-old's infamous "My Name Is" debut back in 1999.
![Eminem's album cover titled "Houdini," featuring a magician casting a spell, with text "Guess Who's Back? And For My Last Trick..." and an explicit content warning](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2024-05/30/12/asset/618dfce4bd40/sub-buzz-1421-1717072239-1.jpg?downsize=700%3A%2A&output-quality=auto&output-format=auto)
In April, fans first received official word that something fatalistic was indeed afoot when a true crime-inspired clip debuted during NFL Draft proceedings. The clip, seen below, focuses on an investigation into the death of Em’s Slim Shady character, referred to here as "the blonde antihero." The investigation, per the clip, would see a "wide field of potential suspects" being given a hard look. 50 Cent also popped up for the video, calling Slim "not a friend" but instead "a psychopath."
Naturally, longtime Em fans met the news of Slim’s death with playful skepticism, namely pointing to the 2009 song "My Darling" as a possible sign of Slim’s inability to be killed. As posited in that Relapse cut, Slim is actually "a spirit," seemingly conferring unto him a Michael Myers–esque stature that can’t be stopped by mere human antics.
Adding to the mournful hype, of course, is the obituary for Slim that recently ran in the Detroit Free Press newspaper.