Sample from 53-year-old Dutch song featured on Eminem's new album

Eminem’s new album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), features a sample of an obscure Dutch song from the 1970s. Sjoukje Smit of the Dutch duo Mouth & McNeal is surprised and delighted to find part of their song on the album, the singer told De Telegraaf.

The sample comes from Land Of Milk And Honey, a song on the B-side of the duo’s 1971 album How Do You Do. It's featured in the Eminem song Lucifer. “I have no idea how he came by it,” Smit said. She performed in the duo under the name Maggie MacNeal. “Of course, this will make a nice anecdote for a birthday party,” the 74-year-old singer told the newspaper.

Composer Hans van Hemert, who helped write Land Of Milk And Honey, suspects that producer Dr. Dre remembers the song from his childhood. “He probably got the record from his parents when he was about seven years old and also listened to the back cover once. When he was looking for samples for this album, he remembered them from his boyhood room.”

Van Hemert called the fact that the sample was used by Eminem “a crowning glory” to his work. He expects to get some royalties. “My name is included in the credits, so that will be handled through the record company.”