Last month, Eminem ended a long silence with the release of “Houdini,” a new single with a Steve Miller Band sample and a cameo-packed video. I thought the song was terrible, but it still debuted at #2. Last night, Eminem announced that his long-teased new album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is coming next week. Now, he’s shared the new single “Tobey,” a fast-rap summit with fellow Detroit rappers Big Sean and BabyTron.

So this one? This is more like it. “Tobey” is just rap for rap’s sake, without headline-chasing edgy jokes or forced, rushed cadences. Eminem co-produced the spooky, evocative beat with marvy ayy, John Nocito, Daniyel, Carlton McDowell, and Cole Bennett. All three rappers have long, twisty verses. Eminem, appearing last on the track, has some words for early-’80s rap pioneer Melle Mel, who dissed him and then retracted it last year: “When I get dissed, though, and by a pioneer who was one of the reasons why I’m here/ They tell me I should just let that shit go and slide/ ‘Melle Mel shouldn’t get no reply, that man is a legend’/ Bitch, so am I.” He’ll diss Melle Mel if he has to.

Eminem has already rapped alongside Big Sean on a couple of Detroit-centric posse cuts, 2014’s “Detroit Vs. Everybody” and 2020’s “Friday Night Cypher.” (Both of them performed at last month’s Midwest Central Station reopening, too.) The inclusion of BabyTron, an underground fixture who was a Stereogum Artist To Watch in 2021, is a little more surprising. This is easily BabyTron’s biggest mainstream look to date. He handles the hook and the first verse, and he’s fully locked-in. The song’s central concept is a little goofy — “Tobey Maguire got bit by a spider, but, see, me, it was a goat” — but it works. Listen below.

The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) is out 7/12 on Shady/Aftermath/Interscope. I’ll be on vacation, so argue with someone else about it. A Cole Bennett-directed “Tobey” video is coming 7/5.

OH SH*T!!! THE DEATH OF SLIM SHADY (COUP DE GRÂCE) ☠️ 7/12!!! pic.twitter.com/P7R6poa8Mz

— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) July 1, 2024

TOBEY 🕷️🐐 @_babytron @BigSean new music 7/2 video 7/5 by @_ColeBennett_ pic.twitter.com/4LAE0vskHE

— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) June 28, 2024