Eminem- Encore (W)
(Shady/Aftermath/Interscope/Universal)
Whether you liked him or not, Eminem has become the
music world’s biggest star- right into 2003 he was easily the most bankable
artist in the world, using his own work or his influence on others’ work to
gain widespread fame and sales. “The Eminem Show” and the 8-Mile Soundtrack,
both Eminem projects, sold nine million copies in total, while protégé 50 Cent
and his crew G-Unit each carved their own multi-platinum success stories in
2003 and 2004 respectively. With rave reviews following his 8-Mile stint,
Eminem seemed poised to cement himself as one of our time’s biggest legends, if
not the biggest.
However, these developments seem to overshadow the
fact Eminem is largely living off the success of his most successful album to
date, his second album “The Marshall Mathers LP”, with this fact culminating in
“Encore”, his fourth album for Interscope Records. On his previous album, “The
Eminem Show”, he showed several signs of coasting (e.g. “Superman”) but kept
enough of his focus to record a decent album. On “Encore”, Eminem does
virtually nothing except coast, perhaps with the idea that no matter what he
does he’ll be successful.
To quantify, it’s not like “Encore” is a horrendous
album- if this was the work of an up-and-comer, maybe this would be a passable
product. However, “Encore”, which is largely a collection of stupid,
run-of-the-mill gangster party rap songs with Eminem’s trademark sarcastic
scowl, is simply not good enough for Eminem. From the man who gave us “Lose
Yourself”, “Role Model” and “The Marshall Mathers LP”, one can expect more than
rote party material.
For example, most of this album
is full of bouncy but mundane party material, as songs like “Crazy In Love” and
“Evil Deeds” have the prerequisite bounce but really lack any substance to be
interesting. Then there’s “A** Like That”, where Eminem degenerates into the
clichéd male chauvinistic territory too many of his peers (who he’s supposed to
be “90% better than”) have delved into, while “Weenie”, where Eminem reacts
childishly on purpose to his detractors’ comments, simply comes out too stupid
to even be bearable.
There are, of course, some
highlights, such as the highly reflective “Toy Soldier” and “Mockingbird”, plus
“My 1st Single” is actually pretty funny. However, “Encore”
represents a regression, where Eminem coasts far too much and produces
something that’s been heard all too much before. If he ever rediscovers his
fire he just may become that legend we thought he would be, but if all he
thinks about is just staying bankable (as is the case here), then all we’ll
ever know (or care) about him is “The Marshall Mathers LP”.
-DG