Ironically I listened to some songs on the album just 2 days ago, without knowing the anniversary was coming up.
What I like especially is the fact that dre contributed lots of good beats here, which were ideal for Em in my opinion as they were pretty sparse, stripped down with some bounce to it which highlighted the rap performance. Which was undeniable, insane rhyming/mic performance/flow. Makes it all the more unbelievable how incredibly wack as fukk he became later on.
That Kim song is unbearable tho
Side note: This Dude Bizarre is so fukking whack, its mind boggling
Hes like Em with shock value x1000 but absolutely no rap skill. His part on Amityville
....putting it in and being like 
wow this dude gave 0 fukks half the fukking album
for the entire duration.some of your post i agree with but if this is really or was really eminem in his "final form"(which i dont buy) if anything its a reflection of how he didnt ultimately grow as an artist much at allThis was Eminem in his final form. The Slim Shady LP was mostly him telling stories, introducing himself to listeners and talking about being broke, but this was his first album as a mainstream star and a celebrity. This album is harsher, darker, and more serious than the last one. But it's also Eminem being reflective on what fame has done to his life. Not many people can make albums about hating the fact that they're famous and almost hating the people that got them there, but Eminem didn't care. He was going after everyone and everything.
A lot of people look at this as his best album, including Eminem. He said this is the album he's still chasing. I don't agree with that, but I understand. This album has Eminem at his angriest. He absolutely didn't care about the reactions he would get. He started the whole thing off with "Kill You" and ended it with "Criminal." You could feel his pain, frustration, and intensity in every verse he spit. He wasn't trying to rap 100 bars in less than a minute, he wasn't trying to impress you with his rhyme schemes, and he wasn't trying to come up with shytty punchlines. He just wanted you to feel him. By doing that, you noticed how slick he was with his pen game. He didn't have to force it on you back then.
There are a lot of great songs on here. "The Way I Am" will always be one of the best songs Eminem's ever recorded. "Criminal" is also a classic, especially the third verse when he's talking about what he'll do after he robs the bank. "Remember Me?" is ridiculous. Sticky Fingaz has the standout verse, but Eminem's able to hold his own ("Sick, sick dreams of picnic scenes/Two kids, 16, with M-16s and ten clips each/And them shyts reach through six kids each/And Slim gets blamed in Bill Clint's speech to fix these streets?"). "Amityville" is overlooked a lot, but that's mostly because it doesn't reach that higher level until Eminem's second verse. "Kill You" is prime Slim Shady, even with those questionable lines.
The only song I can't listen to is "Kim." That one didn't age well at all. If Eminem himself won't perform it in concert, even he knows he went too far. It's not really the content that bothers me, it's the shouting. I can't even try and get invested in the story because the whole song is
Either way, this is a classic and an example of what Eminem was capable of in his prime. This album proved that The Slim Shady LP wasn't a fluke and in addition to being a great rapper, he could be a great songwriter.
when u look at eminem in retrospect encore is the album that should have been his magnum opus classic
TES and 8mile were his best work and he was becoming more mature and growing as an artist......
and then just lose it dropped and it was clear aftermath didnt understand that eminem didnt need some cornball recrod to sell he was eminem he was white and he was going to sell period
I remember getting encore after considering TES to be a 4.5/5 great album
to me thats where even as much as eminem claims he cares about his place in history ect and respect yeah sure everyone does as a lyricist but you could have been remembered differntly had you cared about quality control on your projects
might make this into a thread
ok I get that
might make this into a thread
Ironically I listened to some songs on the album just 2 days ago, without knowing the anniversary was coming up.
What I like especially is the fact that dre contributed lots of good beats here, which were ideal for Em in my opinion as they were pretty sparse, stripped down with some bounce to it which highlighted the rap performance. Which was undeniable, insane rhyming/mic performance/flow. Makes it all the more unbelievable how incredibly wack as fukk he became later on.
That Kim song is unbearable tho
Side note: This Dude Bizarre is so fukking whack, its mind boggling
Hes like Em with shock value x1000 but absolutely no rap skill. His part on Amityville
