The title and the cover art of Eminem's new album Music To Be Murdered By is a homage to the legendary late movie director Alfred Hitchcock, who dropped a spoken word album of that name in 1958.
However, there may be another more sinister layer.
According to Scottish rapper Zee The Dungeounous, there are a suspicious series of coincidences that link Em's album to a track he dropped called "Music To Be Murdered By" five years to the day of Em's albums release.
“When I heard the Hitchcock samples, the same title and release date I did start to get a little freaked out," he told the Dundee Evening Telegraph. “He is one of my idols and it could well be a coincidence but you do hear stories of richer artists with louder fan bases getting away with that sort of thing. I had a guest feature from Bizarre on my album, who I met after a concert in Glasgow in 2008, which I released two years before Music to be Murdered By which was called Murder Zee Wrote. People started contacting me thinking about the similarities between the works and that’s what got me thinking. We have our connections to D12 and it doesn’t put it too far out of the realm of possibility that Eminem, through Bizarre, heard my track, dug for the sample I used, and took the concept. I’ve tweeted Eminem about it and also contacted Bizarre. I wouldn’t say I was annoyed, if it’s straight-up coincidence then I would be amazed."
Zee softened those allegations of theft he posted the Evening Telegraph article to Facebook.
"Being real I don't actually believe Eminem stole my track.. 💯 Even with the D12 connection, it's off his radar. But its still a series of mad coincidences right down to the release date, so geez some free promo.. Nice timing, my new release ''Gravehearted" is dropping in February," Zee wrote.