Review Summary: So, let's go back, Follow the yellow brick road as we go on another episode...
If there's any bitches in this room, then there's something I gotta say
For all the fools who fell for the first girl who comes their way
I've been down that road and now I'm back, sitting on square one
Trying to pick myself up, where I started from
- Eminem, intro line in
Spend Some Time
Those last two lines could accurately describe this album when fans heard it. Fans. A fanbase can either rise an artist to international popularity, and bring them down. Everybody has their ups and downs.
Diamond Head lost their true group of fans when
Borrowed Time was released, unfortunately. When Metallica released
St. Anger, the fans threw it in the trash recepticle. And now Eminem with
Encore. When Eminem released The Slim Shady and Marshall Mathers LPs, he instantly got critical acclaim, controversy, and a group of fans that rose by the hundreds. That popularity increased with
The Eminem Show, then the critics and fans brought it all crashing down when
Encore was considered the white rapper's worst. The last two lines of that intro describe Eminem when he released
Infinite: he was a rising MC trying to make it big, but they wrote him off as a Nas impersonator. Now he's back to that neglect.
A bit unfortunate that it's all true.
When Eminem discovered a newer sound in
Eminem Show, a more personal and emotional approach to his previous attempts, he took this for granted when it was called, by some, his best attempt. So he wrote more songs and released
Encore, adapting a weaker, more defenseless sound than the relentless, controversial one found in
The Slim Shady LP. Trying new sounds is okay, as long as you do it correctly. Once again, Eminem did the exact opposite.
In the album, when Eminem tries to rehash former ideas that he used in his popular first three albums, they end up being the blandest, and weakest, on the album. His ex-wife, Kim, is mentioned here, on songs like
Spend Some Time, Crazy in Love, and Puke, the latter in particular describing her. These all end up being incredibly weak and overall filler attempts. Filler has been found multiple times in Eminem albums, and this is full of it.
Spend Some Time shows off a decent song topic (how girls can manipulate), and a decent line up (Eminem, Stat Quo, 50 Cent, and Obie Trice), but everybody ends up being incredibly boring, 50's verse bringing everything down. He mentions his daughter Hailie again in
Mockingbird, basically the Encore version of
Hailie's Song. Released a single, it is arguably one of the stronger singles (Mosh and Encore aside), and is incredibly bittersweet, but drags on incredibly. His mother is once again mentioned in
Evil Deeds, and once again is filler. We get it, Em: your wife is a whore, your mother's a bitch, and you love your daughter more than anything.
When Marshall begins to expand his creativity is where the album really shines. He deals with politics in
Mosh, an anti-Bush statement, in what could be the most cataclysmic track on the album, with tight lyrical fire and an unbeatable flow.
One Shot 2 Shot is another D12 performance. While I never have been a major fan of the D12 crew, even with Eminem (the Devil's Night album and Under the Influence aside), this track deals with a shootout at a popular club. However, each member abandons the sludgy rapping from before and performs one of their more hilarious releases. The ending track,
Encore, is probably the most straightforward song on here, but features a very catchy melody and a hilarious ending skit.
However, when his creativity stretches too far, the album shows Em at his worst.
Just Lose It is a parody of Michael Jackson, and makes fun of him and other artists like MC Hammer and Madonna. Uh.... okay?
Ass Like That is more than likely his worst attempt to date, taking on an Asian accent over a weak rhythm and lines so bad it makes the former sound like the next Still Don't Give a ***. The tracks
My 1st Single, Rain Man, and Big Weenie all highlight eachother in its immaturity and stupidity, featuring weak beats, and Eminem takes one a strange sound to his voice, sounding more
husky. God damn. And I'm pretty sure I'll get hate for this, but
Like Toy Soldiers has an inspiring topic, one that many can relate to, ruined by weak rhymes. Although lightyears ahead of the aforementioned songs, it gets more generic and heavily samples Martika's
Toy Soldiers.
Overall, it is true that Eminem was continuing to sell out and travel around the world, and released three albums that topped charts around the globe, he did it this time with a level of incredible mediocrity that is unmatched even by Nas when he released
Nastradamus. Although tracks like
Mosh, Yellow Brick Road, Never Enough, and Encore highlight the rapper's wit and humor, Encore is otherwise a stale approach. Incredibly stale.
And the amazing thing? We had to wait five years for another Eminem album, and he failed us again.
