Eminem Encore Album Free Download Zip
Sofia Gilcrease
The album contains several lyrical themes, most notably Eminem's opposition to then-US president George W. Bush and parodies of Michael Jackson. The album features more comedic themes and lyrics than Eminem's previous albums.[3]
Critical reception of Encore was less favorable than Eminem's previous albums, with most of the second half being heavily criticized for its lackluster quality and lack of lyrical content, though "Mockingbird" and "Like Toy Soldiers" were particularly highly praised and retrospectively have been noted as being some of Eminem's best songs. The album has sold 11 million copies worldwide and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 17, 2004.
The album featured two covers, the first cover features Eminem standing in front of an audience, bowing to the crowd. The tray insert features Eminem holding a gun behind his back. The inlay shows Eminem holding the pistol in his mouth without the jacket of his shirt and tie. The CD itself shows a note written by Eminem saying "To my family & all my friends, thank you for everything, I will always love you. To my fans, I'm Sorry, Marshall" with a bullet underneath the note. The note is also seen in the album's booklet, where Eminem is writing the note. Some pictures show Eminem shooting everybody, which makes a reference to the ending of the album's title track. The second cover features the same audience from the inlay on a black background with a blood splat on the top right. This cover is used for the Shady Collector's Edition.
Encore received generally positive reviews from critics, but received more of a negative response compared to his past three albums.[16] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 64, based on 26 reviews.[6] Josh Love from Stylus Magazine felt Eminem was "dying" with this album, whose concept was "end-to-end mea culpa", full of "clarifications, rectifications and excuses", revising the history of "a man who knows he doesn't have much time left".[17] Scott Plangenhoef, writing for Pitchfork Media called Encore a "transitional record" and "the sound of a man who seems bored of re-branding and playing celebrity games".[11] BBC Music's Adam Webb believed it starts "fantastically" but ends "abominably", writing that it has too many "low points".[18] David Browne from Entertainment Weekly said Eminem "sacrifices the rich, multi-textured productions" of his two previous albums for "thug-life monotony, cultural zingers for petty music-biz score-settling, and probing self-analysis for juvenile humor". He concluded his review by saying that Eminem has become "predictable" on Encore, something that he wasn't before.[8]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine was more enthusiastic in his review for AllMusic, calling the music "spartan", built on "simple unadorned beats and keyboard loops", and the lyrics "plain-spoken and literal".[5] Robert Christgau said Eminem still sounded "funny, catchy and clever, and irreverent past his allotted time", noting that even the bonus tracks "keep on pushing".[15] In Rolling Stone, he wrote that Encore was not as "astonishing" as The Marshall Mathers LP, but praised Eminem for maturing his lyrical abilities while retaining his sense of humor.[12] Steve Jones from USA Today also spoke positively about the album, calling Eminem's producing and lyrical skills as "top-flight" and noting that the record explores "the many sides of Marshall Mathers".[19] The album earned Eminem Grammy Award nominations in three categories at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards: Best Rap Album, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for the song "Encore", and Best Rap Solo Performance for the song "Mockingbird".
Encore provoked some controversy over anti-Bush lyrics and lyrics that parodied and targeted Michael Jackson, who was upset about Eminem's depiction of him in the video for "Just Lose It".[4] On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted it was "looking into" allegations that Eminem had threatened the President of the United States, George Bush,[20] after the song "We as Americans", as an unreleased bootleg, circulated with the lyrics "Fuck money, I don't rap for dead presidents. I'd rather see the president dead." This line was eventually used as a sample in Immortal Technique's single "Bin Laden", which featured Mos Def and Chuck D. The incident was later referenced in the video for his song "Mosh" as one several news clips on a wall, along with other newspaper articles about other unfortunate incidents in Bush's career. The song eventually appeared on the album's bonus disc, with the word "dead" being reversed.
In retrospect, Eminem said in numerous occasions that he considers Encore one of his worst albums. About the album's reception, Eminem said: "I'm cool with probably half that album. I recorded that towards the height of my addiction. I remember four songs leaked and I had to go to L.A. and get Dre and record new ones. I was in a room by myself writing songs in 25, 30 minutes because we had to get it done, and what came out was so goofy. That's how I ended up making songs like 'Rain Man' and 'Big Weenie'. They're pretty out there. If those other songs hadn't leaked, Encore would've been a different album."[21] In the Kamikaze interview he did with Sway Calloway, although he stated that "Encore... [is] not what I would consider one of my better albums", in the same interview, he considered it better than its follow-up Relapse.[22] He reiterates his statement about Encore in 2022 for the XXL's 25th anniversary issue and singled out the album as his first misstep: "It became a misstep and I struggled to get over the fact that I didn't do my best. My best would've been good enough if the leaks hadn't happened. But I released what I had at that point in time, and I feel that put a kind of a mark on my catalog. Encore did some decent numbers, but I was never that concerned with numbers. I was more so worried about what people think about the album. Critics and fans were important to me, and they were always at me about that project."[23][24]
Encore was pushed up to a midweek release to countermeasure leaks; it sold 710,000 copies.[25] The following week, the album's first with a full seven days, it moved 871,000 copies, bringing the 10 day total to 1,582,000.[26] It was certified quadruple-platinum that mid-December.[27] Nine months after its release, worldwide sales of the album stood at 11 million copies.[28] The album made digital history in becoming the first album to sell 10,000 digital copies in one week.[29] As of November 2013, the album had sold 5,343,000 copies in the US.[30]
Some records take years before people realize their genius, some take decades. Eminem's Encore album may not have been as well received as his earlier albums (and subsequent albums), but it has a legitimate case for being the best rap album of all time.
No album has combined such comedy (Big Weenie, Ass Like That, Rain Man), such intensity (Mosh, Never Enough, Like Toy Soldiers), personal struggles (Evil Deeds, Yellow Brick Road) and just straight dope tracks (Encore, One Shot 2 Shot). At the same time, the album didn't have any shitty tracks on it, which can't be said for any other Eminem record. And the level of offensiveness was toned down, which was needed due to how offensive MMLP and SSLP were. To top it off, you have Dre beats and 3 songs featuring a prime 50. What more can you ask for?
This album is considered by most critics, fans and even Eminem himself to be a big step down from his normal level and was his only album not to win him even one Grammy, despite being nominated for three.
Well, Maureen, Andrew, and Greil, get ready to be excited; most of the rest of you-- the ones who've been held enthrall by Em's complex games of shifting his identity, challenging hypocrisy, baiting liberal guilt, and spitting deft rhymes with his labyrinthine flow-- prepare for disappointment: Encore is a fourth fascinating record from Eminem, but it's also easily his weakest and, in many ways, tamest album to date.
Therefore, if Encore is anything, it's a transitional record. After an image-confounding trio of pseudo self-titled records, the Eminem of Encore is wounded and weary; he's removing the layers of meta, still laughing and nodding but rarely winking, and not disappearing behind what The Village Voice's Frank Kogan once labeled Em's lyrical "trapdoors and escape hatches." Instead, the LP is the sound of a man who seems bored of re-branding and playing celebrity games, and often seems to be rapping only to entertain himself with little regard for any potential audience. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Despite the album's pronounced maturity/infantilism divide, it's a different dichotomy that characterizes the album's highlights: Here, Em is at his best when he's either more focused than even before or at his most scattered and playful. Unfortunately, most of the tracks that don't veer toward either extreme are plodding and unremarkable.
Em also shines when he spins well off his axis, as he does on both the hilarious "Rain Man" and the R. Kelly/Triumph the Insult Comic Dog-baiting "Ass Like That", songs that both tell a lot of the same sort of celebrity- or redneck-oriented jokes as previous Em tracks, but have new punchlines and almost completely skip the need for structure. The songs sound more like mixtape or freestyle material than album tracks, and they're better off for it.
Hands down, Encore is, in comparison to much of the disposable pop and hip-hop products on record store shelves, several steps above. Encore is the album of a true artist, in his prime, creating quality music.
RIAA 5x Multi-Platinum Album Award for Eminem album Encore. The album was released on November 12, 2004 and a short time later by December 17, 2004 was simultaneously certified Gold, Platinum and 4x Multi-Platinum by the RIAA.
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