There are certain things that are just black or white.
And on his fourth major commercial release, Eminem forms those figurative boundaries into his own literal interpretation. Encore is Em’s first solo joint since the critical and cash register success of The Eminem Show.
In the interim, he became a movie star, won an Oscar and displayed uncanny Teflon tendencies by brushing off the backlash from his self-inflicted foul-ups involving the words “nigger” and “Black bitch” on a 15-year-old recording. Well”¦truth be told, Eminem probably owes a great deal of that “pass” to his old friend Michael Jackson.
It’s funny how molestation allegations (which were announced shortly after the Em tapes came to light) can kick every other story off the front page.
But, Eminem isn’t quite out of the woods yet. Encore would unquestionably be his most important album to date. His litany of fans and detractors have long since entrenched themselves either side of the fence. And with his unprecedented levels of acclaim and controversy over the last 24 months, the pressure to deliver an album that would appease his supporters and silence the rest was greater than ever.
Unfortunately for Em, he stumbled right out of the radio gate with Just Lose It. As with his first three releases, Eminem chose irreverence over substance for his first single. True to form, it’s upbeat and unusual, but somehow manages to come across as forced and contrived. The Michael Jackson mess is much ado about nothing”¦with “nothing” being the operative word on this one.
The album, itself, opens with Evil Deeds, which features Dr. Dre on production. It’s a weird beat that doesn’t seem to know if it wants to be up-tempo or depressing, while Em, again, goes all autobiographical on the audience. He hates his mother, he had a rough childhood and”¦this just in”¦fame is apparently not all it’s cracked up to be.
Speaking of which, for a guy who often raps about so desperately wanting to preserve his privacy, Em spends a lot of time putting his personal issue out there for millions to hear. Mockingbird is supposedly the most emotional song he’s ever wrote, but it’s nothing new lyrically as even casual fans know what’s up with his wife and the demons she’s fighting. Even worse, the nursery rhyme-inspired hook conflicts with the sparse sincerity.
And, that leads into the biggest beef with Encore. One of the things that made much of his earlier material work was the fact that there was such a sense of realism in nearly every word he spit. You could savor the inspirational struggle behind Lose Yourself. The tragedy of Stan was practically palpable. Sadly, much of that passion has been stripped down and sold out.
Mosh has gotten nearly universal praise for it’s “strong political message”. For those of you who haven’t heard the track, here’s that message: “F*ck Bush and bring the troops home”. Wow, hadn’t heard that in the last 18 months. Em spends the rest of the track trying in vain to stir up the disenfranchised youth of America, but that message gets lost in the fact that Marshall Mathers is a rich, white man who likely gets whatever he wants, whenever he wants.
And, that’s great”¦the American Dream and all that, but let’s face it facts: Eminem is more like “the enemy” he speaks of than not.
On one of the better cuts, Like Toy Soldiers, Em goes back to the ’80s for the hook and, lyrically, does everything he can to rise above the “little drummer boy” beat. This one’s an introspective look at his feuds with other artists (and magazines) over the years. Most notable are the one word that’s edited out of this cut and Eminem’s assertion that he helped “build” Hip Hop. Ooooo-kay.
Even more galling is Yellow Brick Road. On it’s own, it’s much more effective as a back-in-the-day track than Evil Deeds, but it’s all smoke and mirrors to set up the final verse where Eminem finally addresses the Oh Foolish Pride tapes and the African-American community that he may have offended.
Make no mistake”¦there is an apology buried somewhere in there, but the fact that he would wait until he could slap a price tag on it is borderline grotesque. Those who say he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t say something about the tapes are missing the point. By putting this mea culpa on wax, he’s managed to marginalize what could have been an important message for the almighty dollar.
Of considerably less importance”¦can anyone explain the deal with all the scatological sound bites? Bodily function funnies peaked with Blazing Saddles 30 years ago. Yet, on a few cuts, we’re exposed to”¦well, let’s just say that it doesn’t help on tracks that are already lacking like My 1st Single and Puke
The good on Encore comes from those you might expect, such as Nate Dogg on Never Enough, as well as those who you won’t believe like 50 Cent on the same song. OK, it’s nothing you haven’t heard from Curtis before, but this time he sounds awake and his flow here is respectable. Also, Dr. Dre gets some ghostwritten goodness off on the final track, which is an odd position for one of the actual songs that works.
