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A double 'Murder?' Signs point to new Eminem album arriving Friday

Surprise? Eminem fans preparing for possible new album, a companion piece to this year's "Music to be Murdered By"

Adam Graham
The Detroit News

Christmas may be coming early for Eminem fans. 

There is talk that the Detroit rapper will surprise-release a new album, a companion piece to January's "Music to Be Murdered By," on Friday. 

Eminem performs "Lose Yourself" at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Rumored to be called "Music to be Murdered By – Side B," the set has been the talk of Slim Shady's fans online, who have been piecing together clues about the potential release. 

Blood-drenched artwork for the set has appeared online, but has not been verified. Additionally, a press release for the album — including a track listing that boasts guests such as Bon Iver, Royce da 5'9" and indie darling Phoebe Bridgers — was posted to social media by rapper Crooked I, who teased Em's fans on Twitter saying, "Dear Stans.. I can absolutely not confirm ANYTHING that has my logo on it. Sorry guys." (Crooked's Circle of Bosses logo appears at the bottom of the purported press release, which has been questioned by Em's fans, particularly the Bon Iver feature, following the comments Justin Vernon made after he appeared on a 2018 track with Em.) 

There's also the matter of music video director Cole Bennett, who helmed Em's "Godzilla" clip, posting a picture of an 8 Mile highway sign on social media last month. Sleuths pieced that together with a recent leaked picture of a bearded Eminem against a green screen and speculated Em was shooting a new music video. (Em, beard and all, was seen in a quick cameo on the Dec. 5 episode of "SNL," at the end of a Christmas-themed spoof of Em's "Stan" video.)  

A dummy page for the album appears on the annotated lyric website Genius, with a Friday release date "expected." Meanwhile, Eminem collaborators the Alchemist and White Gold have hinted on Twitter that noteworthy new material may be on the way. 

A purported album cover for Eminem's "Music to be Murdered By: Side B" has been circulating online.

Requests for comment from Eminem's camp were not returned Monday.  

Eminem's last two albums, "Music to be Murdered By" and 2018's "Kamikaze," were both released without warning. 

"Music to be Murdered By" borrows its name from Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 spoken word album of the same name. The set, Eminem's 10th major label studio album, was released Jan. 17 and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart. 

Following its release, Eminem appeared at February's Academy Awards ceremony, where he performed his Oscar-winning hit "Lose Yourself," which he later leant to a campaign ad for Joe Biden.  

Earlier this year, Eminem appeared alongside Kid Cudi on "The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady," which was released in July

agraham@detroitnews.com

@grahamorama