We’ve probably seen it all over the span of his career. Controversy, drugs, ‘homophobic’ puns, Elton John at the Grammys, The cock rings that he gifted to Elton for his wedding…
Ahhahahha.. fuck.. the cock rings. oh my God!
A teardrop just ran down my cheek. And as tongue in cheek as it may sound for the beginning of this story about Houdini,
Guess who’s baacck, ladies and gentlemen?!
Oh yes! This time he is definitely back. None would say otherwise. And the energy is so familiar, yet at the same time, so fresh, and crisp, and spicy, and it waters my tongue like a bowl of my favorite tom yum soup.
Eminem has served me my meal. And my neighbors had to sample it as well. I had Houdini on repeat in my MR4 Edifiers ALL DAY LONG! It was Bacchanalia day and night. Yes, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, you are reading a review from a long-time Stan.
It’s not just about the music, Rich Lee has conjured a nostalgic music video that I would call porno to the eyes. So I won’t be talking just about the track. Let’s intertwine this shit and bind ourselves through a journey through space-time just like Slim Shady did, and follow in his footsteps.
Oh, I so loved the intro to the video… A close-up of the Shady Mansion. Oooohhhh, that tingling sensation. And then goes Paul talking over some ferocious moans. Aahahha… hilarious! Have we seen this skit before? Yes, we have. But, wait, no we haven’t! Like in Ratatouille, it’s a new dish that reminds you of your childhood days.
Who was that? Em, was that fucking Angelina? Anybody up for smearing themselves in some petroleum jelly? Haha!
In case you don’t know all his lines, here’s the reference from his Rapcity Freestyle in 2009 😉
“Tell Angelina Jolie I’m ready,
With petroleum jelly,
To smear it all over me belly,
And tell her she can hit me on me mobile, me celly,
And meet in the salami section of the grocery deli,
And maybe we can find us an appropriate telly,
A motel 6 or 8 it hink they both could be helly,”
I just love how everything is interconnected. Eminem spins his web of rhymes like spiders do. You have to be a true arachnid to follow all his tunnels.
But Houdini is more of a ‘light-hearted’ track, right? Ahahahha! That pun came out by itself. Please don’t judge me, I just love to ramble.
The whole table scene is just epic! Hehe. The erectile dysfunction pills. Ahaha! Damn, man, Em is a true genius in self-irony. I love it, man!
And Paul, his usual self.. Reminds me of one of my friends, like, whenever I do some crazy shit, he just tells me, you do whatever the fuck you wanna do, but keep me out of it. Hehe. Pure fun.
Guess we’re up for a crazy album, huh?
Alright, jumping into the gist of it… Houdini immediately bashes our heads with a throwback to one of the most iconic Shady tracks — Without Me. And it’s in my all-time favorites playlist, so I was floored when I heard that. Thank you, Marshall!
So many cameos! Goddammit. The sight of Fifty and Snoop among the pope and other hip-hop creatives all singing along to the famous “Guess Who’s Back” melody… It’s epic! A visual wonder created by Rich Lee. Kudos, my man!
I was ecstatic when I heard that chorus once again over an original musical backdrop. It’s like a breath of fresh air. All the while, the nostalgia barometer is off the charts! B-e-a-utiful!
And an AI-recreated Em making the famous break-dance move. With the modern Eminem facepalming it. Classic. This is what generative AI was created for!! Hehe.
Look what the stork brought us! Hail Satan if this was his offspring, but I would argue that Shady is a gift from God. A gift that allowed me to rise from my struggles, just as any other miserable outsider, lash on my headphones and feel powerful as
‘The legend of the angry blonde lives through me’ and ‘Even when he’s gone’ in the Death of Slim Shady, his charisma and character will be a part of my God-forsaken soul.
So don’t let those horns and forked tongue fool you! Cause he’s a
‘Lyrical technician, an electrician’
and we’re all his
‘Light works’
There’s definitely a light, a spark that Eminem has ignited within me, and now I carry it and pass this torch on to others. Your legacy lives on, Marshall!
I guess everybody by now has caught up to his puns already. So there’s no point in me digesting the lyrics here. Everybody now has Genius and it’s all become too easy, Eminem’s lines are still the same jigsaw puzzles, but the world has changed.
Maybe Shady would say ‘The fuck is this shit’ in response to Genius as well. As for me, I feel like it’s cheating, but if something goes over your head, well I guess getting help is no blasphemy.
But anyways, getting a shot at Megan’s feet? Ahahaha! That was amazing!
And then the 50-year-old Rapboy collapses to the floor! Lmao!! Ahahha! Damn, I just can’t do this shit. I’m laughing as I write this fucking story. So much raw self-irony. It’s close to oversaturated, but Shady is a master in it, so he does not overdo it. Just a sprinkle. Enough to jingle your senses.
Why does he still dress like that?! Is that a self-pun referencing MGKs attack on his hats and hoodies? Ahahaha! If yes, then perfecto! Haha! I would add him plucking his beard to the video. Fuck yes! I should have been part of the creative process. Shady hit me up! Ahahaha!
The smiley face emoji and his still erect penis?! Ahaha! have the pills not worn off yet? Marshall, you are fucking killing me here.
Oh, yes, and the Aaaabraaacadabruuuhh!!! His choice for the sample. Damn! Steve Miller said it better than anyone. Eminem is:
One of those timeless originators building something new on a long musical legacy of original artists that came before him. Artists who create stories, poetry, lyrics, and music that have crossed cultures and generations inspiring the whole world for hundreds of years. Eminem honors his influences. And he takes it all in and creates new original ideas from his own feelings and experiences.
The mix is energetic and fluent. It suits the reference to his Without Me track but creates a more agile rhythm and flow. That’s why we get the feeling of nostalgia, but it is as though that nostalgic sound is dipped into the sauce of modern aesthetics, trends, and controversial movements. It’s an invigorating feeling. Shady is in fact back, but he has a whole new look and feel.
If someone has not yet listened to the original Abracadabra song by Steve Miller’s band, I suggest you check it out! It’s so Shadyesque that you will not wonder why Marshall picked it as a sample.
And while we’re speaking of the sonics of the song, Em’s crisp delivery here is prolific. The way he stings those sharp 16-notes and the rhythm he lays over the track.. It’s a signature Shady murder of an instrumental. Eminem’s words bounce off the beat as though he was playing drums, strings, and keys. But he does it with his vocals.
“Abra-abra-cadabruh
(And for my last trick, poof) Just like that and I’m back, bruh!”
Aahhahah! hilarious.
“And I don’t gotta play pretend, it’s you I make believe.”
Very deep. And probably a reference many won’t be able to untangle. Eminem is the lead actor in his own universe. This world is his Easter egg. And we are all trapped in his medicine ball. Coming off of that, he makes-beliefs and shapes his world to his liking. Including us, as merely the supporting actors in his Truman Show. That is why Marshall never has to ‘play pretend’ or hide his true self. He always will
“Say a few things or two to anger you
But fuck that, if I think that shit, I’ma say that shit”
In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful puns and a highlight of the song.
Other than that, I had sooo much fun lip-syncing to the bridge! Hehe.
“Sometimes I wonder what the old me’d say
(If what?) If he could see the way shit is today
(Look at this shit, man) He’d probably say that everything is gay
(Like happy!) What’s my name, what’s my name?”
Oh hell yeah!
The whole ‘light work’ carcass of the song deserves praise on its own. Marshall is known to be a craftsman when it comes to songwriting and structure. And Houdini is a great example of his Grand Master status.
This track should be used to teach how to make songs revolve around a concept, split from the concept into different currents, and then coincide again and again throughout the narrative.
In the first verse, we have:
“Lyrical technician, an electrician y’all light work”
Which basically is a triple entendre that you can check out on Genius. But with the core meaning of it as to ignite the light or energy in his fans’ hearts.
He goes back at it in the second verse, saying:
“So when I started this verse
It did start off light-hearted at first”
Connecting the dots and creating a pun that’s stretched against the two verses. But then he layers this with another touch of pure lyrical mastery by adding the narrative that ‘Yes, he might have started the song for pure entertainment but now he’s ready to lash out’. This duality also symbolizes his two alter-egos (Eminem and Slim Shady) and connects to another pun that is the ‘forked tongue’. A fork may stand for this character split, or it may also symbolize Marshall’s mood swings, a precursor to the prevailing shock content in his songs.
The ‘light work’ concept may coincide with the personality of the devil himself as Lucifer is known to be ‘The light bringer’.
Eminem holds on to this narrative in the following bars:
“Mind bogglin’ how my profit has skyrocketed, look what I pocketed
Yeah, the shit is just like y’all have been light joggin’ and I’ve been running at full speed”
Now he uses light jogging to tingle your senses even further, creating a multidimensional wordplay scheme that is a juicy icing on the energetic pop-ballad cake that is Houdini.
The third verse is a slaughter. Michael Jackson is not the target here, however. R. Kelly is a worthy replacement. I’m very confused as to why Marshall did not use the same comic relief of dressing up as the characters that he jabs at. The image of him gold showering someone while spray-painted into black skin color would look hilarious.
Yeah, and who cares what people would think? He’s a walking Parental Advisory anyways. It’s like Eminem is so bored with himself that he wishes the FCC would go another round with him. Hehe.
Why not throw a public court trial, like Johnny Depp and Amber Heard did a few years ago? That would be super fun. But I guess Marshall’s reclusive nature won’t allow it. He’s up for another album and then he’s gone for another 5 or so years, right? Yes, we hope not, but let’s be realists here.
I cracked my ass open when I heard the bar about his Siamese cat. Oh, and I think even my cat cracked at that joke, because he fell over on the floor, tilted his head, and looked at me with his mouth wide open and his tongue out. But I guess that might have been the heat.
Yeah, the heat from Shady’s new single of course! Hehe.
Oh and guess what? The world is no longer a medicine ball, from now on it’s Marshall’s hacky sack. You cannot cancel a mass canceller. And that’s a fact. Especially one that can say ‘fuck Dre!’ and get away with it.
Coming back and circling Paul Rosenberg’s pun is ingenious. Paul – RuPaul. Ahahah!! Fuck yeah.
Cancel me what? Okay, that’s it, go ahead, Paul, quit
Snake-ass prick, you male crossdresser, fake-ass bitch
You too, Paul, got two balls, big as RuPaul’s
The name-dropping is literally going nuts here! Classic Slim Shady, baby.
And what a nice way to finish off the track:
“Cause you’re never gon’ see me
Caught sleepin’ and see the kidnappin’ never did happen
Like Sherri Papini, Harry Houdini, I vanish into the thin air as I’m leaving, like”
Fans went into a frenzy contemplating whether Eminem’s claim to make his career disappear was true or not. Well, rest assured gentlemen! This song, and the new album, and all of Eminem’s music are just as he always tried to convince the world of. Pure entertainment.
So, like, if Shady says that he’s gonna kill himself…
That he actually gonna do it or that he believes in it…
Well, shit, if you believe that, then for his next last trick, he’s gonna kill you!
Yes, I would love for Eminem to revisit Criminal next. It was good rambling for you guys. I hope some of you liked bits of it. Thank you for your time, fuck you, and have a nice day!
