Legendary Steve Miller has recently done an interview on The San Diego Union Tribune where he talked about how his collaboration with Eminem come about.
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer didn’t have to think twice about collaborating with Detroit icon and fellow Rock Hall inductee Eminem, whose recent chart-topping song, “Houdini,” heavily interpolates Miller’s 1982 hit, “Abracadabra,” and was streamed more than 355 million times on Spotify to date. Check out the conversation below.
Interviewer: When you play “Abracadabra,” do you tell the audience about Eminem sampling it for his song, “Houdini?” Steve Miller: Yeah. I tell a little story about putting the song together, we vamp a bit and then go into it. I feel really great that Eminem used “Abracadabra.” It’s a good use of it!
Interviewer: How did that come about? Steve Miller: He called that he’d like to use “Abracadabra.” He said: “I’ve written a bunch of verses and we’ve done a track. I’ll send it to you.” I listened to it, called him back, and said: Yeah, that’s fine, man. It’s great! And if you want, I’ll send you the stems (individual audio files).” So, I sent him my actual recorded stems for “Abracadabra” so he could work with them.
Then, I got a lesson about what social media has done to the record business. When I put out “Abracadabra” in 1982, it became the No. 1 record in the world and that took about 12 months. With Eminem, two days after we signed our agreement, he released “Houdini” at 12:01 a.m. on a Friday. Within 30 minutes, 60,000 people had watched the video on YouTube. By 10 a.m. it was 3 million. Nearly 50 million people streamed it, worldwide, in just the first week.
I’d never seen anything like that. It was crazy, just instantly. So, that was a real lesson. And Eminem was very cool. I put out a little release (saying) I appreciated that it was legit. It feels good that a whole other group of people are listening to my music (through Eminem) and digging it.
DJ Whoo Kid has recently sat down with Snoop Dogg where the two talked about Eminem’s latest chart-topping single “Houdini,” from his upcoming 12th solo studio album “The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace),” due out July 5, 2024.
When Whoo Kid asked Snoop about “Houdini,” the legendary started singing the hook of the original song “Abracadabra” by Steve Miller Band after explaining who the real Houdini was: “Houdini, you know, what do Houdini do? The ni–a disappear and come back. Ain’t that what Em do? He’s a magician. Ni–a you ain’t even know that. Who do you think Houdini was? Ni–a that made airplanes? Abracadabra, Abra-abra-cadabra, I wanna reach out and grab ya.”
Then Snoop went to shout out Eminem: “That s–t bang. Shout out to Slim Shady. Welcome back, back to the block dawg. Bring some more real hip-hop back. You know what I’m talking about? Detroit! Aye, Mom’s Spaghetti got some bomb a-s food too cuz. Send me some. That garlic bread.”
Last week, Eminem returns with “Houdini,” a hard-hitting new single accompanied by a fitting video that features cameos from Snoop Dogg himself, as well as Dr. Dre, Pete Davidson 50 Cent, Jimmy Iovine, Grip, Westside Boogie, Denaun Porter, Royce 5’ 9”, Paul Rosenberg, The Alchemist, EZ Mil, Ryan Keely, Samantha Mack, and comedian Shane Gillis…Check out Snoop’s interview below:
Eminem returns with “Houdini,” a hard-hitting new single accompanied by a fitting video. Em teased the drop earlier this week in a FaceTime with David Blaine — the clip ended with the magician eating a wine glass, and the rapper declaring, “Well, for my last trick, I’m gonna make my career disappear.” “Houdini” gives fans the first taste of Eminem’s 12th album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce), due out this summer.
“Houdini” is produced by Eminem himself and – continuing the theme- features a sample and interpolation of Steve Miller Band’s 1982 hit, “Abracadabra.” The accompanying clip imagines Eminem’s antagonist character Slim Shady emerging in the present day via a “portal” — and finds himself confused and unsettled by what he sees in 2024. Determined to mold the modern era into a place more suited to his unique worldview, he sets off on a mission to do exactly that. Only current day Eminem’s alter-alter ego “Rap Boy” can save the world from Shady, along with his long time mentor- the legendary Dr. Dre. In an effort to neutralize these nefarious actions things go sideways and an unholy hybrid version of Eminem is created. Dr. Dre is less than thrilled with the results and hastily leaves the hybrid Shady to continue on his own… until a wandering stranger joins in and takes the wheel. Guess who’s back, indeed.
Directed by long-running collaborator Rich Lee (“Not Afraid,” “The Monster,” “Venom,” etc.), the innovative “Houdini” video freely calls back to classic Eminem videos such as Joseph Khan’s “Without Me” and Phillip Atwell’s “Real Slim Shady”. “Houdini” is packed with cameos including Dr. Dre, Pete Davidson, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Jimmy Iovine, Grip, Westside Boogie, Denaun Porter, Royce 5’ 9”, Paul Rosenberg, The Alchemist, EZ Mil, Ryan Keely, Samantha Mack, and comedian Shane Gillis. The generative AI used in the video was created by Metaphysic, with Jo Plaete and Chris Ume supervising production.
Rich Lee speaks on the video more by mentioning “What if Shady from the 2000s got teleported into the modern day and we got his take on what the world has become…and what if “Rap Boy” was the only person who could stop him? But, 20+ years have passed so theres a little less stamina and some bad knees. The crazy combination of new tech that made this music video possible. We are in such an awesome time now for filmmaking, and we were able to leverage so much of the great tech we have at hand.”
The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce) will be Eminem’s first album since 2020’s Music to Be Murdered By, which not only topped the Billboard 200, but also was the artist’s 10th to do so. That set was packed with a generation and genre-spanning guest list, ranging from Dr. Dre to Ed Sheeran to Juice Wrld. Not much has yet been revealed about the forthcoming full-length, but fans have been searching for clues in a special episode of Detroit Murder Files, and a mysterious obituary published in the Detroit Free Press. Dr. Dre has confirmed his involvement.
We have compiled reactions to “Houdini” from hip-hop artists and it includes B-Real, Big Daddy Kane, Ice T, Big Sean, Mickey Factz, Math Hoffa, DJ Hed, Punch TDE, Obie Trice and many others. Check them below.
“I was on the tour lately and I randomly got a text from Eminem and apparently he had heard the song that I did with Mr. Criminal. We did a song recently and somehow that’s the one Eminem heard. He hit me up and he’s like ‘dude! the bar work on Mr. Criminal song…’ and he starts quoting the bars. I was like ‘hey man, coming from you that means a lot cause I respect the hell out of my bro. To me, he’s top 3 all day. No one could shake that foundation, ever! Don’t try to throw other MCs in front of the names that I choose as my three. It’s my three and Eminem’s on my top 3.” – said B-Real.
Then he continued: “He was giving me feedback on some stuff cause I sent him the Real Psycho album and we had like two-three day conversation and he’s like ‘man, I’m listening to this s–t and your bars on this and that…’ It surprised me. I only gave it to him for an opinion cause I respect him as an MC and writer. He was kinda giving me feedback on all of it and I was like ‘thank you bro, it’s much love all day.’ And then, when I heard the new joint ‘Houdini’ the other day I had to hit him back like ‘bro! your pocket is still just ridiculous!’ Every bar flipped. It’s like an old Eminem s–t. Like, got bars and its funny. He has brought the shock humor cynical bars back. The video is also hilarious. I don’t care what anybody says, that s–t was hilarious to me. That’s him singing the chorus and he killed that. And I said to him ‘that Steve Miller s–t you put on the chorus was f–king hard son. There’s gonna be a lot of people scrutinizing my dude but hate if you want, we are not. We f–k with it. If you hate it’s just because you got a problem. Art is subjective, some people are going to get down with it and some ain’t but I’m just saying I get down with it cause he came back with a smasher right there and the video just backs it up cause its hilarious and just as funny as the first one, if not more funny. That was gold. I can’t wait what the album sounds like.”
Today, Eminem released “Houdini,” the first single from his upcoming 12th solo studio album Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce). The song is produced by Eminem himself and Luis Resto and it samples and interpolates 1982 song “Abracadabra” by Steve Miller Band.
Steven Miller is the founder and only remaining original member of the Steve Miller Band, which he founded in 1966, and is the principal songwriter, lead singer, harmonicist, keyboardist, and one of the guitarists. He began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more pop-oriented arena rock genre during the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, releasing popular singles and albums. Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
After Eminem dropped “Houdini,” the iconic singer penned a heartful letter to Detroit legend on X (Formerly Twitter): “Hey EM. There is a long chain of stories, poetry, lyrics, and musical roots that have crossed cultures and generations inspiring the whole world for hundreds of years and in all those lines of thought, music, and rhythm there are special artists who take it all in and create new original ideas from their own feelings and experiences. You are one of those timeless originators building something new on a long musical legacy of original artists. For me it’s Les Paul, T-Bone Walker, Bill Doggett, Johnny Guitar Watson, Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed, the Beatles, Chuck Berry, Willy Dixon, Leiber & Stoller, Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane & Miles Davis.” said Steven Miller.
Then he continued: “I have always tried to credit, honor, and respect the major influencers in my life and to always credit, honor royalties and share knowledge of their work through my own work. I didn’t know it would be this way when I was a kid trying to make a living playing music and making records, I only knew I had to respect the art that came before me and fight for it too among all the crooks, thieves, and imposters.”
“There aren’t many artists who take the time or make the effort to stand up for themselves and credit and respect their influencers at the same time. Marshall Mathers you are an exception and on my short list of people who respect the art. To be included in your process feels good while I’m still singing and playing the music I love. I’m Honored. Thank you.” Steven Miller added. You can check the tweet below:
Hey EM,
There is a long chain of stories, poetry, lyrics, and musical roots that have crossed cultures and generations inspiring the whole world for hundreds of years… pic.twitter.com/j8JzvbvWfj
Eminem has just gave us the first taste of his upcoming 12th solo studio album “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce),” dropping somewhere this summer, with the release of its first single, titled “Houdini.” The new single got fans excited, including celebrities like Big Sean and LeBron James.
The song begins with a classic Eminem trope, enlisting his longtime manager Paul Rosenberg to share his distaste of the album that’s to come. “Hey Em, it’s Paul. I was listening to the album… Good f–king luck, you’re on your own,” says Rosenberg.
“Houdini” is somewhat of a callback to his 2002 single “Without Me,” beginning with the singsong rhymes, “Guess who’s back, back again / Shady’s back, tell a friend.” The song, produced by Eminem and his longtime collaborator Luis Resto, cites Steve Miller Band’s “Abracadabra” on the chorus, and references Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez shooting incident on one of the lines. “If I was to ask for Megan Thee Stallion if she would collab with me / Would I really have a shot at a feat? I don’t know, but I’m glad to be, back,” he raps.
The music video for the song is a direct homage to “Without Me,” as Eminem steps into a portal back to the year when the song came out. The clip, shot in a comic strip style like the video for “Without Me,” features guest appearances from 50 Cent, Pete Davidson, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, GRIP, Westside Boogie, Ez Mil, Royce 5’9″, Denaun Porter and Alchemist, among many others, and sees two Eminems — one from 2002 and another from the current day — rapping along to “Houdini.”
LeBron James is the latest celebrity who showed love to Slim Shady’s new single. “And just like that, HE’S BACK bruh! @eminem Houdini is too good!” Check the tweet from NBA legend below:
And just like that, HE’S BACK bruh! @Eminem Houdini is too good!
Eminem has just gave us the first taste of his upcoming 12th solo studio album “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce),” dropping somewhere this summer, with the release of its first single, titled “Houdini.” The new single got fans excited, including Big Sean.
The song begins with a classic Eminem trope, enlisting his longtime manager Paul Rosenberg to share his distaste of the album that’s to come. “Hey Em, it’s Paul. I was listening to the album… Good f–king luck, you’re on your own,” says Rosenberg.
“Houdini” is somewhat of a callback to his 2002 single “Without Me,” beginning with the singsong rhymes, “Guess who’s back, back again / Shady’s back, tell a friend.” The song, produced by Eminem and his longtime collaborator Luis Resto, cites Steve Miller Band’s “Abracadabra” on the chorus, and references Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez shooting incident on one of the lines. “If I was to ask for Megan Thee Stallion if she would collab with me / Would I really have a shot at a feat? I don’t know, but I’m glad to be, back,” he raps.
In classic Eminem form, he stokes controversial flames, referencing transgender individuals, RuPaul and referring to his own children as “brats.” “Cancel me, what? Okay, that’s it, go ahead Paul, quit / Snake a-s prick, you male cross dresser, fake a-s b–ch / And I’ll probably get s–t for that (watch) / But you can all suck my d–k, in fact, f–k them/ F–k Dre, f–k Jimmy, f–k me, f–k you / F–k my own kids, they’re brats (f–k ’em) / They can screw off, them and you all (yeah) / You too, Paul, got two balls, big as RuPaul’s.”
The music video for the song is a direct homage to “Without Me,” as Eminem steps into a portal back to the year when the song came out. The clip, shot in a comic strip style like the video for “Without Me,” features guest appearances from 50 Cent, Pete Davidson, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, GRIP, Westside Boogie, Ez Mil, Royce 5’9″, Denaun Porter and Alchemist, among many others, and sees two Eminems — one from 2002 and another from the current day — rapping along to “Houdini.”
Under Eminem’s Instagram post, Big Sean left three comments: “Not gon lie, u went crazy!” “Fire emojis” and “I’m dropping right after Marshall then. Takeover time.” You can check the screenshot of Big Sean ‘s comments below:
