Jan 26, 2015 I thought this was a pretty good retrospective on Encore (it's also an example of the type of stuff I hope we can come up with for Section Eighty's blog): http://www.avclub.com/article/encore-once-considered-eminems-worst-stands-satire-213769 2014 was the first year that outrage about Eminem overshadowed the actual Eminem album. Music fans heard the hubbub over the Ray Rice/Lana Del Rey line on that Shady XV freestyle and about the “Vegas”’ r--- lyric against Iggy Azalea—one of the few things that got people on Azalea’s side. They didn’t hear so much about Shady XV, and that’s because it’s a bad album. It’s not that Eminem has forgotten how to rap; that raison d’etrerarely shows itself. Eminem is a capable rapper, so hearing him rap for the sake of dazzling with verbal gymnastics just isn’t compelling. His post-hiatus output has been shaky at best, but recently it’s become apparent there’s little else to talk about, hollowing out the words flung at triple time. That was never Eminem’s problem, not even on Encore. It’s the album that’s consistently ranked near the bottom of his catalog, which is a fair claim since it marked the end of a run that included three classic albums of peak cultural significance. No one can argue Encore is a classic; it’s sloppy, and you don’t need Eminem’s mea culpa to acknowledge this. But it is significant. The Slim Shady LP crafted a persona, The Marshall Mathers LP put Marshall Mathers the person parallel to the persona to visceral effect, and The Eminem Show—the most clear-eyed of the bunch—has the human Eminem front and center. Beneath the multi-dimensional trio lies the underdog that fully realizes itself in the career manifesto “Lose Yourself.” The first three albums follow Eminem’s climb to the top and the invective taken and given at the position. Encore wonders if there’s s----else to do there. In place of the acerbity of his preceding, listeners get a project that increasingly sounds loopier and absurd as it progresses. It makes sense this is coming from an artist who’s about to face a half-decade of drug addiction and personal tragedy. The reverence is in the rise; the comedy rests in the unforeseen downfall—as is typical in pop culture. The value in that frayed focus isn’t found solely in the context, but also in the contents. Encore is not particularly copacetic; “Just Lose It” and “a--- Like It” back to back is still unpleasant. Many cuts act like funhouse mirrors to the emotional weight of the first half. Take, for instance, how “Like Toy Soldiers” and “Big Weenie” act in the same body of work. One is a sober look at beef and its potentially violent consequences. The other has the line, “Now take my weenie out of your mouth,” and it’s directed at the same antagonist (Benzino) the former addresses. It’s incongruent on paper, but Encore’s satire is double-edged, aiming at both Eminem and the world at large. That includes subjects with lethal consequences. Elsewhere, there’s the contradiction of “My 1st Single” and “Never Enough” featuring heavy-hitters 50 Cent and Nate Dogg. The latter is a laser sharp, just-because evisceration by hip-hop’s then deadliest duo; on the former, the threats are moot: “Shady’s the label, Aftermath is the stable (cue horse sound) / That the horses come out of (scratches) of course we’re about to stir up.” The jokes aren’t just limited to Encore. Ex-wife Kim is Eminem’s career-long muse, and here we get “Puke,” a track that trades Eminem’s normal vitriol for a brattish haphazardness that comes across more self-depreciative. The album-closing “Encore / Curtains Down” isn’t as farcical, but the clumsiness is still there. Part of the hook—“Cause I don’t ever wanna leave the game without / at least saying goodbye”—is delivered with the same conviction of a drunken man who doesn’t know when the night is over, aimlessly in search of the next bar. While Eminem’s recent work does carry that sense of aimlessness, Encore propels itself on how self-aware it is of that sort of oblivion. It’s almost like he’s asking, “Is there anywhere to go from here?,” a question that would pop up for Eminem in the months ahead. If his first three albums work on building the mythos of a superstar, Encore is important in how it completes the arc—from rise of an icon to the impending disintegration. Over the course of its runtime, Encore tells the story of an artist whose greatness gets obfuscated by surrounding anxieties and encroaching turmoil. In context, as Slim Shady “kills” himself along with fans in the closing sketch, it’s a final satirical middle finger to the culture of which he was once the fulcrum.
Jan 26, 2015 Looking back on Encore, the good parts of it really do feel more inspired than most of his post-hiatus output. It might be a trainwreck, but it's certainly his most interesting trainwreck. Also: I'm gonna be honest and admit that Puke is a guilty pleasure song for me.
Jan 26, 2015 holy f--k, I always liked encore but this was a superb read man, I hope we can get more of these here, worth-it. Cheers
Jan 26, 2015 I wish I wrote this article lol I've always had the same ideas - a little less than half of encore is really still superb material, especially considering the mindstate dude was in when he made it. it's kind of a beautiful disaster. i'd still rather listen to Encore than Relapse, or even Recovery
Jan 26, 2015 come on Em. pull up your socks god d--- it. one more good album to close your career. don't end it like this one can dream.
Jan 26, 2015 Encore consists of a lot lazy/sloppy writing but it's still the same skilled artist rapping that we praised on the prior 3 albums. That's why I feel like Encore in some sense might be more approachable than say Relapse, Recovery etc. because the flaws on those albums are a lot more abundant. With Encore it was real simple, Em was drugged out of his mind and it negatively effected the music he was making. Also the fact that leaks caused him to cut certain songs from the album didn't help either.
Jan 26, 2015 Encore so nostalgic. Don't act like you weren't singing Mockingbird all the time back in the day or Just Lose It. Album still sux tho
Jan 26, 2015 End of this article is great. alway saw Eminems albums connected as one concept until Recovery (was sorta connected, and best post hiatus album, but still sonically distant)
Jan 26, 2015 Great article, spot on. Replace some of the bs songs with some of the leaked ones (+bonus tracks) and you have a pretty solid album
Jan 26, 2015 Encore imo was better than Relapse, Recovery & MMLP2. I just thought it was kinda annoying how he started yelling in all of his new songs.
Jan 26, 2015 In terms of an album Encore>Relapse Because of more good songs. But encore doesn't have a song as good as déjà vu
