Eminem has shared a new song, “Houdini,” that prominently interpolates Steve Miller Band’s 1982 hit “Abracadabra.” The lead single from the rapper’s upcoming album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), “Houdini” also samples Eminem’s own 2002 hit “Without Me,” which opens with the classic line: “Guess who’s back/ Back again/ Shady’s back/ Tell a friend.”
Eminem announced his twelfth studio album, due out this summer, with a faux Detroit Crime Files segment broadcast during the NFL Draft at the end of April. The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is his first since 2020’s Music To Be Murdered By. Promotion for the new record has built on Eminem’s history of threatening his own alter ego—earlier this month, the Detroit Free Press ran an obituary for the “tortured” Slim Shady.
On May 21, Eminem teased “Houdini” with an Instagram post displaying a disappearing message sent to all his contacts that read: “…and for my next trick?” The song’s music video includes cameos from Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, and Dr. Dre.
Featured on Steve Miller Band’s 1982 album of the same name, “Abracadabra” was one of the group’s biggest songs. Miller told Vulture in 2022 that the song took years to complete, and was in part inspired by a chance encounter with Diana Ross at the Idaho ski resort Sun Valley. “Abracadabra” became the third and most recent No. 1 hit the band achieved, along with their 1973 breakthrough “The Joker” and 1976’s “Rock’n Me.”
Since its release, “Abracadabra” has been covered by bands like Sugar Ray and Eagles of Death Metal, a project featuring Queens of the Stone Age drummer Josh Homme. In 2016, Miller was inducted as a solo artist into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
