Album Review: Encore by Eminem

Unlike most lefties, I not only like Eminem, I think he's an incredibly talented artist and satirist who used his skills to rise out of Detroit's slums, make a lot of money, and share a little bit of his social outrage with the world. I don't think he's homophobic, and his raps, especially the recent Mosh, have a distinctly political overtone to them.

Today I picked up his new album, Encore. I've got his other three albums, and I'm of the opinion that he's gotten better with age (The Eminem Show being his best work to date). Part of this is because he's become increasingly self-referential, and the more material he has, the more he can reference.

That being said, my initial thoughts about Encore were not good. A few songs into the album, and not only is he referencing himself, he's sampling himself, and the tunes have a high tempo that sounds more like Em's on speed than rapping. They've also got a distinctivly "Total Request Live" or nightclub feel to them, as if they were specifically (over)produced to be chart-topping hits. There's also a lack of cursing, and in some instances silence where you expect a f-bomb - I had to double-check to make sure I didn't have the "sanitized for my protection" version.

About three-quarters of the way through, when the songs get a little more traditional, I realized what he was trying to do: the entire album, or at least the first part of it, is satirizing the music industry. It's supposed to sound overproduced and clubby, and he intentionally left the cursing out (sadly, there's nothing on here that comes close to the shock value of Drips from The Eminem Show.) It's actually pretty slick, but I'm not sure if he really succeeds - a lot of the reviews I've read seem to miss the satire, as so many people often do.

I've gone through the album twice completely, so I'll probably need to give it another listen or two before I make up my mind, but it seems like it's a strong effort, but not quite as good as The Eminem Show. He's certainly toned down the anger, but anger is what he used to build a career, so the results are mixed, but overall, err on the side of being good.