Eminem is expanding on his new album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), teaming up with two legends on the project’s bonus edition: DJ Premier and 2 Chainz.
Em and 2 Chainz each sang a verse on the Preem-produced song “Kyrie & Luka.”
Named after Dallas Mavericks stars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, the new song was produced by Premier and uses elements of Eric B. and Rakim’s 1987 classic “Move the Crowd” in its beat.
The so-called “Steve Berman Edition” of Eminem’s new project is on sale through Friday (July 19) and comes with a skit starring the Interscope Records vice president, who originally appeared on Eminem ‘s Marshall Mathers LP and its follow-up, The Eminem Show.
Additionally, it includes two bonus songs, the aforementioned “Kyrie & Luka” and “Like My Shit.”
2 Chainz is consistent with the NBA theme “Kyrie & Luka” and references two basketball elements in the song. In one song, he sang, “Things are going left, like Knicks player Julius Randle, who was criticized for his “inability to drive right.”
Chainz ended his verse by referencing Kyrie Irving, one of the players mentioned in the song’s title, continuing the conversation: “Just like Kyrie, I dealt with it.”
Judging from first-week sales projections, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) will make a splash on the Billboard charts.
HITS Daily Double reported on Monday (July 15) that the project is expected to earn between 270,000 and 290,000 album-equivalent sales in its first week.
This will give Em its first No. 1 hit on the Billboard 200, replacing Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department,” which held the top spot for 12 consecutive weeks.
It also marks the Detroit rap legend’s 11th No. 1 album, putting him alongside Kanye West, Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand. Only Drake (13), Swift (14), JAY-Z (also 14) and The Beatles (19) have more.
Although sales of 270-290K are on the lower end for Eminem, whose 2000 album “The Marshall Mathers LP” opened with a staggering 1.78 million copies, “The Death of Slim Shady” may still outsell Revival (267,000) and Music, among other recent works.
