Track List:
01 - Curtains Up (Encore Version)
02 - Evil Deeds
03 - Never Enough (Feat. 50 Cent & Nate Dogg)
04 - Yellow Brick Road
05 - Like Toy Soldiers
06 - Mosh
07 - Puke
08 - My 1st Single
09 - Paul (Skit)
10 - Rain Man
11 - Big Weenie
12 - Em Calls Paul (Skit)
13 - Just Lose It
14 - Ass Like That
15 - Spend Some Time (Feat. Obie Trice, Stat Quo & 50 Cent)
16 - Mockingbird
17 - Crazy In Love
18 - One Shot 2 Shot (Feat. D-12)
19 - Final Thought (Skit)
20 - Encore / Curtains Down (Feat. Dr. Dre & 50 Cent)
Bonus CD:
01 - We As Americans
02 - Love You More
03 - Ricky Ticky Toc
Eminem, probably the most famous and controversial rapper of current times is back with the follow-up to 2002’s “Eminem Show” with “Encore”, but the question is will it live up to the diamond selling status of his previous two releases.
There's little different in the format of this release, its got the usual pop lead single, anti Kim tracks, songs about his daughter Hailie and tracks about his past interspersed with the usual Paul Rosenberg and Eminem skits.
After the introduction, the album starts with the track "Evil Deeds", which is basically another track about Eminem's life and him not getting on with his mother, but it is nothing that hasn't been said on any of his previous albums.
The next track is where the album really starts to look promising and see's Eminem joined by protégé 50 Cent with Nate Dogg singing the hook. Eminem and 50 are on form lyrically in this track, with 50 bringing some of that wordplay that made his debut LP "Get Rich or Dir Tryin'" sell over 10 million copies worldwide. Em raps about his efforts in the game and how all the beefs he is faced with are not going to affect him. Then comes "Yellow Brick Road" which again showcases some Eminem's lyricism and story telling skills as he reminisces about meeting proof and the racial slur tape released by The Source magazine.
"Like Toy Soldiers", the album’s third single follows with Eminem explaining his reasons and regrets over his recent beefs with Ja Rule, Murder Inc. and Benzino saying he was going to call it quits until he heard his daughters name in a record and thought that was a step too far.
"Encore" has one of Eminem's deepest ever tracks, the politically charged "Mosh" in which Em speaks his mind on President Bush and the US troops in Iraq and tries to influence the US not to vote for Bush in the past US elections with some of Em’s best wordplay to date. It's just a shame the album and the single came out too late to have a noticeable effect on the elections.
After a somewhat impressive opening this album takes a turn for the worst with some of the worst Eminem tracks I have ever heard. First off, there is the usual Kim diss track, which is just irritating to listen to due to the annoying hook; although it has some decent lyrics in it the whole track really irritated me. This is followed by "My 1st Single" which is as bad if not worse that the last song, the hook is equally annoying and has the general feel of pop song/ filler track which doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the album. I imagine after one listen this track will be skipped by pretty much everyone.
As usual this release has the controversial track "Rain Man", which see's Em again mocking Christopher Reeves in a track that was written for the sole purpose of saying something shocking and holds little or no replay or entertainment value. Following this track is Eminem's "comedy" track, which I wound say is easily one of the worst tracks from the album, it's not funny and it's really repetitive.
Every album Em has released to date has followed the same formula, release a pop single to get some chart success and get people buying the album then release the deeper realer tracks. This album's "The Real Slim Shady" track is "Just Lose It", which does just what it’s supposed to. It's a clear pop song with the controversy to get people talking about the album, with its clear references to Michael Jackson and Pee Wee Herman in the song/video. After hearing the track once, I didn't think it was that bad, yeah it's a pop song, but it was pretty catchy, but after a few more rotations it gets real old real fast. Then there is "Ass Like That", which is nothing special, it has Eminem trying to be funny rapping as the Triumph puppet from MTV.
It is only at the fifteenth track that the album starts to get back on track with Eminem being joined by label mates Obie Trice, Stat Quo and 50 Cent, with each of them raping about an experience they have had in the past with their ladies. Obie's verse on this track is pretty tight, it's just a shame all his best material seems to be on other people's tracks. 50 Cent, Stat Quo and Eminem also put in good performances.
Next up is one of the best tracks on the album "Mockingbird", in which Eminem shows some of his impeccable delivery and vocal skills on the albums track for his daughter on a tune that seems perfectly matched for the subject. "Crazy in Love" is another one of the better produced tracks from the album, which again has Em rapping about Kim (well I presume it is about Kim). Then there is the pretty mediocre D12 track "One Shot 2 Shot" where the Detroit 6 rap about a gun shot taking place in a club over a fairly catchy tune and hook. On the whole D12 put in a decent performance, but it’s only an average song.
The album wraps up with "Encore" with 50 Cent and Dr. Dre which is a clear Dr. Dre produced party track with its heavy beat, which is guaranteed to be a big hit in the clubs and as a single if it's released.
On the whole I would have to say that this is Eminem's worse and weakest solo release to date. There are too many pop songs, cheesy tracks and repetitive hooks. I don't know if Eminem is running out of things to rap about or just needs some more inspiration or what, but the majority of this album is just more of the same. Although there are some really good tracks on this album, which are certainly in contention as some of his best tracks and Eminem shows some of his awesome lyricism skills, there are far too many poor tracks to make this a solid album. It's not that it’s completely bad, just a very average album.
Hot Tracks: "Yellow Brick Road", "Mosh", "Like Toy Soldiers", "Mockingbird", "Encore"
Artist: Eminem