I prefer the tracks like "Cold Wind Blows", "Talkin 2 Myself", "Going Through Changes", and "25 To Life", but even some of those feel by the numbers on this album. Tracks like the Pink featured "Won't Back Down", the first single "Not Afraid", the Rihanna featured "Love The Way You Lie", and the Lil Wayne featured "No Love" are high energy and favorites for the mainstream, but those songs don't do much for me. Still, that aside, this album feels uninspired to me, and almost as if he released it quickly due to the bad reception from Relapse, and while this was a commercially successful project, I haven't revisited it much since it first came out. It felt as if Em made better songs on this album, but in reality, they were just more pop orientated, something that went against what Slim Shady stood for all these years. While many people love this album, I'm not really in that category, as I felt this was ACTUALLY a step down from the lyrical output of Relapse. Encore has flashes of brilliance, but can't quite over the hump and ends up being dragged down by the unnecessary. Yes, I know these type of songs have always been a part of Em's albums, but these are ridiculously immature and despite the rebellious teenage fanbase loving these tracks, they're truly awful. He gets personal and raw on top tier tracks like "Mockingbird", "Mosh", the excellent "Like Toy Soldiers", and a personal favorite "Spend Some Time" featuring 50 Cent, Stat Quo, and Obie Trice, but loses me with the abundance of cringeworthy tracks like "Just Lose It", "Ass Like That", "Rain Man", "Puke", and the absolutely awful "Big Weenie". The biggest downfall here however is the songs that aren't serious at all and the production at times. However, this album flirts with the personal side of things that Em has always had in his music but adds a political element as well to mixed results. It was as if the fanbase had begun to grow up and wanted more from Em, the likes of which made Eminem Show and 8 Mile more accepted by the hip hop crowd. Lyrically, he was still as amazing as he had ever been, but the novelty of the subject matter had worn off now. After a string of solid albums, Em suffered a bit of a falloff that is hard to pinpoint the origin of. The title track, "Just Like U", and "How Come" are dope tracks here to listen to. Dre, and Hi-Tek help to diversify the sound some, but the songs themselves aren't disappointing. Production varies, which is different from the first album, as Red Spyda, Kanye West, Dr. Perhaps the album would have benefited from more Em verses, but the songs just aren't cutting it here. Porter, Proof, Swift, Kuniva, and Bizarre are all good rappers, but nothing sticks out on this album. He is featured a decent amount, but is missing from a lot of key tracks, which is a bit of a letdown.
Another glaring issue? There's not enough Eminem on this album.
Lyrically, while this album isn't as dark as the first, it is a bit more comedic, and while that should work, it doesn't. The production here was a bit more upbeat than their first project, but this was still missing something. I was a fan of the best lyricists in this group, as they all can rap well, but making music is a different animal clearly.
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