Few music artists ever enter the type of stardom Eminem has reached; from small two-year old white American children to 30-year old latinos in England, everyone knows who he is.  While that would usually translate to a higher level of quality he would have to adhere to, it has been almost the opposite with Eminem. Whether he was releasinga briliant sophmore album or a poor group album with his childhood buddies, Em could easily gain any kind of press coverage he needed and would instantly sell a million albums.  Even though he recieves a lot of criticism from those who like to keep hip-hop true, his insanely loyal fanbase, and the rest of the world, salivate at the idea of a new album.  Well, it's here, and just as it's title suggests, this is a big Encore.

Much like it's predecessor, The Eminem Show, Encore opens with the sound of a crowd waiting for their star.  That star shows himself on the first track, "Evil Deeds", a show of style over substance.  While the content is nothing more than commonplace for Em, the strange mix of sing-songy verses and string-heavy music is a certainly interesting sound for the ears; that does not neccesarily mean that it's any good.  "Never Enough" is a sound-alike song where Dr. Dre turns in a lazy performance behind the boards, and Eminem lays a boring, but flow-heavy verse.  The song is almost salvaged by Nate Dogg's excellent chorus and 50 Cent's suprisingly spry verse, but the operative word there is "almost".  If Eminem has been dissapointing so far, he certainly shows up on "Yellow Brick Road", a tell-all about his life in hip-hop which brings about interesting points about race relations in his lifetime.  The last verse's reference to his recent "racist" tapes is extremely poignant, and lines like this are excellent examples of Em at his best: "But I've heard people say that they heard the tape and it ain't that bad/ but it was/ I singled out a whole race/ and for that I apologize".  However, he's not done showing his listeners new layers to the man people like to single out as Slim Shady (a stereotype he himself helped popularize); on the next track, "Like Toy Soldiers", he addresses the numerous beefs and media problems he's had since the release of his third LP.  After comparing his camp's beef with Ja Rule and Murder Inc. to that of Jay-Z & Nas, he emotionally explains his current feelings on the situation in a line that says, "Even though the battle was won, I feel like we lost it/ I spent so much energy on it/ Honestly, I'm exausted".  He tries to continue this line of outstanding, introspective songs with his Bush-bashing second single "Mosh", but fails due to the plodding & boring Dr. Dre beat coupled with his complete & utter lack of flow here.  It all begins to change into a regular Eminem album with "Puke", an amazingly disgusting & vulgar track where Em literally vomits all over the beat.

On "My 1st Single", Em wastes his blazing flow & chaotic, energetic beat on terribly inane lyrics which would have even sounded out of place on a first single.  "Rain Man" & "Big Weenie" can quickly be classified under Generic Eminem Filler Tracks.  "Em Calls Paul" is a hilarious, yet idiotic skit which leads into one of the worst songs in the history of hip-hop, "Just Lose It".  The pathetic dance-hop lead single is a mish-mash of annoying synths, Pee-Wee Herman laughs, and pedophilia references which only add up to something purely unlistenable.  He comes back with the hilarious "Ass Like That", which still eerily uses the themes of child sex, yet in a much funnier way.  He's taking stabs at his pointless rival, puppet comic Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, but he is also making a point on accident: this is what "Just Lose It" should have been.  "Mockingbird" is a sweet sog dedicated to his daughter Hailie, yet it sounds a lot like his past song in tribute to his child, "Hailie's Song".  Even so, it's still very superior to it's two follow-ups, "Crazy In Love" & "One Shot 2 Shot".  The first wastes an excellent sample of Heart's "Crazy On You", and the second sounds like a leftover from the awful album, D12 World.  The album ends on "Encore/Curtains Down", a weak track which sadly leaves the listener with a foul taste in their mouth.  Dr. Dre & 50 Cent "help" Eminem finish this show, but Dre only helps make himself sound like an aging veteran while only Eminem seems like he spent anytime writing his verse.

Only Eminem could make four amazingly similar records, yet still be pushed upon the public as a hip-hop pioneer.  It seems that until Em can stray from formualic album-making, he will fail at making another great LP.  While that aforementioned fanbase may like this record, Eminem has succeeded in making his first bad album.  Congratulations, and make sure this show has no encore until there are major renovations.

iPod Worthy:  "Yellow Brick Road", "Like Toy Soldiers", "Mockingbird", "Ass Like That"

Skippable:  "Just Lose It", "One Shot 2 Shot", "Big Weenie", "Rain Man", "Spend Some Time"

Overall:  2.5 out of Six Shots