The title of Eminem’s fifth album, “Encore,” is a misnomer. The LP is far from a continuation of the take-no-prisoners attitude of his past records.
The shock-value is gone. If only the crude burping, vomiting and farting were gone as well.
The biggest shock is that Eminem celebrated his 32nd birthday the month before the release of the album. Apparently he is still very much in touch with his inner-twelve-year-old.
“Encore’s” scheduled release date was Nov. 16, but Internet pirating spurred the record labels to release the album nine days early. Other efforts to deter bootlegging include a free ring tone with purchase and complete lyrics.
In true Eminem fashion, the first single to reach the radio was “Just Lose It,” a dance ode to Michael Jackson’s child molestation dilemma. The chorus line sounds fittingly like Pee Wee Herman and pokes fun of his own homophobia.
Marshall Mathers reinvents his bipolarity as a political and social commentator, tired of the hip-hop world’s rivalries and still in love/hate with his on-again, off-again wife Kim.
Alternating with his signature insults aimed at feuding celebrities and offending as many groups of people as possible, the genius lyricist uses his rhymes to apologize and explains his behavior.
Slim Shady’s newfound remorse is patterned after his post-probation lifestyle just as his past lifestyle was manifested in his drug-laden, hateful lyrics.
After his scare that the courts would take away his daughter Hallie because he was charged on two counts of gun possession, Eminem said he stopped drinking as much and using drugs. After recording an album with D12 at the beginning of the year, he took some time off to spend with the three children in his custody. Besides his daughter, he is also raising his niece and half-brother.
The rap artist is the first one to admit that listeners are growing tired of his complaining about his junkie mother, being abandoned by his father and not being able to let go of his cheating, drug-addicted wife.
In the first track, “Evil Deeds,” he writes “There goes poor Marshall again/Whining about his millions and his mansion and his sorrow/That he’s always drowning in.”
“Yellow Brick Road” delves into Eminem’s past battles with the racism that he faced as a white kid aspiring to make it in a predominantly black hip-hop world. He explains his use of a racial slur in a track recently released that he recorded when he was 16.
“I singled out a whole race and for that I apologize, I was wrong,” he told a Rolling Stone reporter.
“Like Toy Soldiers” is about the feuds that exist in the rap world. The MC gives his side of the story and says, “Even though the battle was won, I feel like we lost it/I spent so much energy on it, honestly I’m exhausted.”
Eminem takes a swing at influencing the presidential elections in “Mosh.” He criticizes the war in Iraq and asks Bush to bring the troops home. “Strap him to an AK-47, let him go fight his own war/Let him impress Daddy that way.”
And what is an Eminem album without a ballad dedicated to his daughter and a soliloquy ranting about his co-dependence on his long-time companion Kim.
“Mockingbird” samples the traditional lullaby and coos, “If that mockingbird don’t sing and that ring don’t shine, I’ma break that birdie’s neck/I’ll go back to the jeweler who sold it to ya and make him eat every carat.”
“Crazy in Love” sums up perfectly the relationship between the rapper and the woman he calls the “slim to my shady.” In one verse he says, “One minute I wanna slit your throat.” In the next verse he says, “You are the ink to my paper, what my pen is to my pad/The moral, the very fiber, the whole substance to my rap.”
Who could have imagined the Eminem from the Slim Shady LP saying those words? Marshall Mathers might be growing up.
Gigi Alford can be reached at [email protected].
