Eminem is putting out his first album in four years, and it looks like it is going to be a blast from the past.
The rapper is bringing back his Slim Shady persona for what fans are claiming might be his last hurrah in the music industry. Titled The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de GrĂ¢ce), the album’s promotions have repeatedly teased a turning point in the 51-year-old’s career as he called his new single “Houdini” his “last trick,” and claimed he was going to make his career “disappear.” Whether that means this is Slim’s last outing or Eminem’s coup de grĂ¢ce altogether is still to be explained.
What is clear, however, is that newer and older fans all showed up and showed out for the Detroit artist. The music video for the lead single has generated over 70 million views on YouTube so far for a nearly five-minute-long clip in an era where short-form content is king. The song also made it to number 2 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 singles chart in its debut week, just managing to cling to the top 10 for its second week at number 8.
So, when is Eminem’s album coming out?
Eminem announced he would be releasing his twelfth studio album in April with a true-crime documentary spoof in the vein of Investigation Discovery shows called Detroit Murder Files. The mock episode investigates the murder of Slim Shady, looking into his enemies (including a 50 Cent cameo) and past controversies.
The video also gave fans a release window for the album of Summer 2024. The exact date has not been revealed just yet but in May, Eminem presumably continued the roll-out by taking out ad space in the print edition of the Detroit Free Press for a Slim Shady obituary. “Ultimately, the very things that seemed to be tools he used became calling cards that defined an existence that could only come to a sudden and horrific end,” the advert said.
Much like the lyrics in “Houdini,” the album title and concept seem to allude to cancel culture and how it has killed the kind of shock value and satire that Eminem’s Slim Shady character used to excel in. It’s telling that the thing that made the most noise about the rapper’s comeback is the bar in the lead single about Megan Thee Stallion and her Tory Lanez shooting incident.
