Eminem has dropped a surprise album overnight called 'Music To Be Murdered By’.
Juice WRLD, Q-Tip, Ed Sheeran , Black Thought, Young M.A, and Anderson .Paak all appear on the surprise new album.
There have been rumours that the 47-year-old Detroit rapper has been working on new music for some time, but the drop came unexpectedly to fans in the early hours of this morning.
The album, which runs for over an hour, features a collaboration with the late rapper Juice Wrld, who died aged 21 in December 2019.
The new drop’s cover depicts Slim Shady wearing a suit and fedora as he holds a spade.
In addition, he shared alternate artwork where he is holding an axe and a gun to his head.
It’s a direct homage to the artwork to Alfred Hitchcock’s album that’s also called ‘Music to Be Murdered By’.
Hitchcock is also sampled on Eminem’s album.
Eminem’s last album Kamikaze was released in similar surprise fashion in 2018.
Em also released a video for “Darkness.” It depicts a shooting at a concert, and then there’s audio and footage from the mass shooting in Las Vegas.
As the video ends, there’s a plea encouraging people to register to vote. “Make your voice heard and help change gun laws in America,” the closing text reads, directing viewers to register at Vote.gov.
The politically charged album also references his feud with Machine Gun Kelly on “Unaccommodating”, before saying “bombs away” and referencing the 2017 Manchester concert bombing that killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande performance.
It is not the first time he’s made the bombing reference in a song.
Produced by Eminem and Dr Dre, the 20-track album boasts a number of high profile features - but one has seen mixed reviews from fans.
The unlikely appearance of Ed Sheeran on the album has sparked controversy among Slim Shady fans.
Some love the collab, voicing feedback like, “I never thought I would say this but I f**king love @edsheeran when he works with
@Eminem because he always brings out old slim shady,” on social media.
But others really, really don’t like the pairing.
“Whenever Eminem collaborates with Ed Sheeran it makes me physically sick,” one said.
Another mocked: “Eminem really got Ed Sheeran on a song about getting high and harassing strippers.”
And a third added: “I was still traumatised by "Remember The Name" and Ed Sheeran and Eminem made a new collab.
“The worst combination ever. Their collabs should be forbidden like sex between siblings.”
