Guess who’s back? Back again.
Eminem, born as Marshall Mathers, has released the video for “Houdini,” the first single off of his upcoming The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) album. The music video for the new single is packed with celebrity cameos, including Snoop Dogg, Shane Gillis, and Pete Davidson.
“Houdini,” which samples the Steve Miller Band’s 1982 hit “Abracadabra,” is a callback to Eminem’s classic 2002 video for “Without Me.” It even opens with the same lyrics: “Guess who’s back, back again/Shady’s back, tell a friend,” which should activate any millennial like a sleeper cell agent upon first listen.
The video features 2002 bleach-blond Slim Shady stepping through a portal to 2024. Young Slim Shady walks around the city, appalled by the state of modern tech gadgets like selfie sticks and VR headsets.
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This is the rapper’s first release since 2020’s Music to Be Murdered By.
Dr. Dre, who first signed the rapper in 1998 and was featured in the original “Without Me” video, calls 2024 Eminem, telling him, “We’ve got a problem, check this out. Get your ass down here.”
The video flashes comic book panels featuring some famous faces like 50 Cent and The Voice Coach Snoop Dogg as they sing along to the catchy chorus: “Guess who’s back?”
Eminem knows this is a job for superhero alter-ego Rapboy, and he slips on some spandex and reunites with Dr. Dre. The two cruise around the city in search of Slim Shady, who continues to be unimpressed with the modern state of the world, even interrupting a recording of a podcast with Shane Gillis, trashing the studio out of annoyance.
Rapboy and the 2002 Slim Shady finally confront one another for an epic fight on a rooftop, but after throwing some punches, the two merge and create “some kind of unholy hybrid” as they are now one. The present day Eminem emerges from the battle with bleach blond hair — as the video shows the dye job spreading to other citizens of the city.
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Eminem and Pete Davidson reunite the “Houdini” music video
Eminem returns to join Dre in their car, but the “Let Me Ride” rapper eventually exits the vehicle after Eminem starts rapping insults at Dre, former record exec and Beats Electronics CEO James Iovine, and even his own kids.
Eminem is momentarily left without a driver, until one last celebrity makes a cameo: Pete Davidson, blond, like the other Slim Shady clones.
“Trust me, I’m a great driver. Don’t worry, I just got my license back,” says Davidson as he hops behind the wheel. The video ends with Eminem and Davidson driving and careening into cars as they disappear down the dark city streets.
Maybe this is just the Bupkis star getting revenge after Eminem crashed his final Saturday Night Live episode, pleading Davidson to “please stop” doing his Eminem parodies.
First appeared on www.nbc.com