Review Summary: My flow's untouchable, now you gotta face it-- uh-oh, it gets worse when I go back to the basics!
I guess it's understandable given how utterly amazing and trendsetting Eminem's first four albums were, but
Encore is a kinda weak fifth album. Like, it's still better than anything that Migos has ever put out, and it's still got some really ill ***, but it's just not up to the same level of mind-boggling quality that the SSLP, MMLP, Eminem Show, and Infinite were. It's more of a comedy album than anything else, which is a fun little experiment I suppose, but disappointing when it comes to comparing it to his previous LPs (albums). It might be the very first time that the force of nature known as Eminem started to slip;
Encore showed us that, yes, even the legends have their off days.
1. "Evil Deeds" - The flow and delivery of this song are just... weird, why does Eminem repeat himself so much on the first verse, why does he break into a nursery rhyme? He repeats "Satan's Spawn" twice on two different verse and it almost feels like he was running out of lyrical material mid-song. One of the first times he's made a really weak song, 2.5/5.
2. "Never Enough" - This is a breath of fresh air compared to "Evil Deeds", it's a short, quick song that flows well, has a cool, synthy beat, and Nate Dogg brings a cool, baritone harmony to the chorus that makes this song that much more enjoyable. It sounds like a really-good holdover from the Eminem Show. 4.5/5.
3. "Yellow Brick Road" - I like how weird and fidgety the beat of this song is, it feels like two old-school beats slapped together that manage to work together in harmony instead of clashing. That being said, I think this song's a little too long. 3.5/5.
4. "Like Toy Soldiers" - Now this is the Eminem we've come to know and love. This is rap with effort, and the march-band sample of Martika's Toy Soldiers adds an epic vibe to the whole song. There's very few Eminem lines with as strong an opening line as "I’m supposed to be that soldier who never loses composure, even though I hold the weight of the whole world on my shoulders." An easy 5/5.
5. "Mosh" - An anti-Bush rap song with some of the sickest and most dramatic flow Eminem's ever brought to the table, complete with a booming beat and a hip-hop protest atmosphere that sounds good even to this very day. 4.5/5.
6. "Puke" - Starts with a sample of vomiting. 1/5.
7. "Rain Man" - I just don't like this at all. For once, I feel like Eminem's actually trying too hard to be funny, featuring strange and childish lines like "is it gay to play putt-putt golf with a friend (Yeah) and watch his butt butt when he tees off (Yeah)". The chorus might be one of the most painful things to listen to in Em's catalogue, it's just... not that good??? I don't care if I get flamed for this, but 1.5/5.
8. "Just Lose It" - A... parody of Michael Jackson? And this was one of the album's biggest single? Man, this... aged really badly. Also, this has maybe the fourth fart joke in a row on the record, what was Eminem's obsession with farting at this time?? The hook has an annoying, sampled yell that gets worse to listen to as it goes on. It also lazily samples "Without Me" without any meaning or reason behind it. 1/5.
9. "Ass Like That" - i'm actually feeling so much secondhand embarrassment from this song. this might be one of the worst rap songs of all time, to tell you the truth. Sorry Em, but... this song is bad. 0/5.
After "Ass Like That", I just can't listen to the rest of the album, not with the same enthusiasm I did when I was even younger. The middle part of Encore is so bad, and it drags for so long, and it makes me not have the patience to approach even good songs in the last third of the album like the sweet-hearted "Mockingbird" or the cool, street savvy "Encore".
Encore aged really, really badly. Its' serious and/or badass moments are so much better than its silly songs, but the silly songs dominate the album, a choice that feels poorly-advised in retrospect. It pains me to say it, given how crazy-tight and dope his previous four albums had been, but
Encore is... well, it's just not very good.
FAVORITE SONGS:
Never Enough
Like Toy Soldiers
Mosh
Encore (Curtains)
