Songfacts®:

• "Houdini" is built on an interpolation of the 1982 Steve Miller Band 1982 hit "Abracadabra," which goes:
  
  Abra-abracadabra
  I wanna reach out and grab ya
  
  Which Eminem changes to:
  
  Abra-abracadabra (and for my last trick)
  I'm 'bout to reach in my bag, bruh
• Eminem's "Houdini" is a cocktail of nostalgia, controversy, and raw lyricism served straight up with a side of Slim Shady's signature bite. The track was released on May 31, 2024, as the lead single for his 12th album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).
• Eminem co-produced "Houdini" with longtime collaborator Luis Resto ("Lose Yourself," "Mockingbird").
• The song is named after the legendary early 20th-century escape artist Harry Houdini, who died of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital in 1926 aged 52. Detroit is not only Eminem's hometown, but the rapper also turned 52 a few months after the song's release.
  
  Naming the song "Houdini" and the album The Death Of Slim Shady could be interpreted as Eminem's desire to escape his controversial Slim Shady persona and reinvent himself. According to Luis Resto, the album explores the life and demise of Slim Shady, returning to the rapper's original creative essence. Indeed, "Houdini" still contains plenty to shock.
• Right off the bat, Eminem transports listeners back to 2002 with the iconic "Guess who's back, back again" line from "Without Me." This sets the stage for a nostalgic journey, complete with the comic book-style visuals in the music video.
• The first verse finds Em flexing his lyrical muscles, declaring himself an "electrician" while everyone else is just "light work." He then throws a playful jab at the 2020 Megan Thee Stallion shooting incident, highlighting his signature ability to push boundaries and stir the pot.
  
  The second verse takes a more introspective turn as Eminem reflects on his past struggles with addiction. He's been clean since 2008, and his lyrics offer a glimpse into the darkness he battled and the strength he found in overcoming it.
  
  We all know Eminem wouldn't be Eminem without a healthy dose of controversy. He takes aim at cancel culture, mocking the growing pressure to conform and the ever-present threat of censorship.
  
  The final verse pushes the envelope even further, with references to R. Kelly and a questionable joke about transgender issues. This is classic Slim Shady, unapologetically provocative and guaranteed to spark debate.
• The title "Houdini" doesn't come in until 736 words into the song. A more obvious title would be "Abracadabra" from the chorus, but that would imply that it's a reworking of the Steve Miller song.
• Eminem foreshadowed this song in 2020's "Unaccommodating," when he rapped:
  
  But I know magic and here go my last trick
  I'm 'bout to say "Abracadabra" and pull a B-Rabbit up out of my hat
  
  B-Rabbit is Eminem's character in the movie 8 Mile.
• Steve Miller responded to Eminem's sampling of his song, telling the rapper, "You are one of those timeless originators building something new on a long musical legacy of original artists."
  
  He added that Em is one of the few artists "who take the time or make the effort to stand up for themselves and credit and respect their influencers at the same time."
  
  Miller was one of the first artists to take legal action when one of his songs was sampled without permission - he filed suit against The Geto Boys when they sampled his song "The Joker" on "Gangster Of Love" in 1989. The first time Miller let his music be sampled was in 2001 when he let Run-D.M.C. rework his song "Take The Money And Run." He's had lots of requests to sample his music over the years but usually turns them down.
• The "Houdini" music video recreates elements of the "Without Me" clip. It's packed with cameos from the likes of Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Pete Davidson, and even a peroxide-blond 2002-era Eminem. We see Em step through a time portal and wreak havoc in the present before joining forces with his modern-day self to take over the world.
• The song opens with a voicemail message from "Paul" slagging off the album. This is Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg, and the message is part of a running joke where their messages to each other appear as skits on the albums, typically with Paul trying to get Eminem to take out objectionable material. It dates back to a message on the 1999 Slim Shady LP, where Paul says, "Can you tone it down a little bit? There's only so much I can explain."
  
  Paul shows up later in the song during one of Eminem's lyrical tirades, with Eminem insulting him. He's in good company, though. In this section, Eminem also throws "F-yous" at his allies Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, as well as his kids. In Em-land, this is a term of endearment, at least in this context.
• Like Sherri Papini, Harry Houdini
  I vanish into the thin air as I'm leaving
  
  Sherri Papini, whose name conveniently rhymes with Harry Houdini, made headlines when it was discovered that she faked her own kidnapping. A few weeks after this song was released, a series about her called Perfect Wife: The Mysterious Disappearance of Sherri Papini debuted on Hulu.
• Eminem dares you to try to cancel him in this song, but it's hard to cancel someone whose mission is to offend everyone. Long before "cancel culture" was a thing (and before social media, for that matter), there were plenty of efforts to censor Eminem, and none of them got very far. He took the most heat in 2000 when he threw around the word "fa--ot" in his song "Marshall Mathers" and peppered other songs with anti-gay lyrics. Elton John came to his defense and even performed "Stan" with him at the Grammy Awards in 2001. Eminem kept throwing darts at the LGBT community with impunity; most listeners gave him a pass because his attacks were always in character, usually as the socially stunted Slim Shady. Sia, who is bisexual, had no problem working with him on their 2013 collaboration "Beautiful Pain."
• The previous year, Dua Lipa had a hit with her own song called "Houdini" where she does a similar vanishing act.
• "Houdini" debuted at #1 on the UK Singles chart, becoming Eminem's 11th UK chart-topper. It was the rapper's first visit to the summit since "Godzilla" in 2020.
• Eminem opened the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards with "Houdini," entering the venue with a troupe of Eminem lookalikes, a throwback to his iconic performance of "The Real Slim Shady" at the 2000 VMAs. He also performed his Jelly Roll collaboration, "Somebody Save Me."
  
  Later in the show, "Houdini" took the award for Best Hip-Hop.