When Encore came out...

[whore to a chainsaw]

How did you guys feel?

I will tell you what happened in regards to me.

I was in grade 12, and it was first semester... I forget the exact release date of Encore but I know it was between September - December 2012.

I was totally psyched for the album, as after the Eminem show and 8 mile, I really thought he might have been done. I had heard the straight from the lab EP with the leaked Encore songs and after hearing Monkey See Monkey Do I thought he had a new CD coming out in April. I think that may have been when we got D12 world, or close to it, but I didn't think Eminem was making a new solo album.

When I heard he was making it, as well as the release date, as I said I was totally psyched.

I can remember waiting for it to leak. I was 16, almost 17 so it must have been before November 2004.

Anyways, usually I was the first guy to get an Eminem CD when it leaked, but a guy at school claimed that it leaked earlier that day and he skipped first class and listened to it at home. I was asking him what it's like because all I heard was Just Lose it, and Mosh, and I wasn't really into Mosh but I actually thought Just Lose it was alright.

His response?

''It's fucking SICK. DUDE. IT'S THE SICKEST ALBUM HE'S EVER MADE. WAIT TILL YOU HEAR IT, OMG, IT'S SO SICK.. Best one he's done yet except for infinite. I will always think infinite is his best one. (This guy apparently really appreciated long strings of rhymes rather than content, but I took his word for it.)

Excited, I got home and downloaded the whole CD.

The first song I heard was ''Rain Man'', and to be quite honest, I think Rain man is a kick-ass song. If there were only one silly song on the album, and it was Rain man, I think you all might agree... some of you...

Anyways, I listened to all of it and I was ecstatic, but I felt like something was missing. I almost convinced myself that this was a gag album and although I wouldn't admit it to anyone, I was hoping he would surprise us with the real album.

Surprisingly enough, the song I liked to play the most was Puke. I remember letting a friend hear it on my mp3 player and saying ''Isn't Eminem way better than he used to be?'' and my friend agreed. From listening to the chorus of puke... lol.

Anyways, I won't get into it much further. I subconsciously felt quite disappointed with Encore but my conscious mind had me thinking I loved it. It wasn't until years later that I saw someone post online ''Let's all face it, Encore was shit.'' and I actually agreed. Although, it is nowhere near shit. I just didn't live up to Eminem's previous work.

Oh, before I conclude this thread, I would like to mention that I do NOT wish that Encore was never made. I get this feeling when listening to the album... and maybe it was because of the intense times in my teen years when it came out that I have associated the album with... but Encore gives me this weird, dark, romantic feeling that none of the other CD's give me.

I will admit it is his worst CD, but for Eminem that isn't really that bad.

I know these threads have been done a thousand times (the ones where people try to fix encore) but if you take ''I love you more'', ''We are Americans'' and ''Bully'' and switch them with the ones he obviously quickly jimmied in because of the leak... my first single... ass like that... big weenie (I honestly don't mind puke or rainman. they are both unique/original) you would have an album comparable to the Eminem Show in my opinion. I know a lot of you will disagree.

Encore just gives me that dark, romantic, haunting vibe... blasting yellow brick road while going on bake tours in the winter as a teen... when I hear it now I get flashbacks of the emotions I felt back then. Now, all of his songs and all of MOST people's songs do this to me. Memories of different girls, emotions, etc. All trapped in the variating notes in the melodies of songs. Although with Encore the collective amount of tracks on it kind of paint the same picture in my mind. What the picture is of, I can't verbalize... but it's something and I feel it.

[EmTV]

I agree. I get a weird ass feeling listening to Encore. Especially on songs like WAA and LYM and the album just feels... Weird. Also, I have more of a sentimental value to this album because it was the first Em I had heard, so it took a while for me to admit it's his worst.

[Jimmy Conway]

I heard I love you more and We as Americans whenever they leaked, March 04? I thought they were pretty good so I was excited for the album. But the album sucked. I didn't buy it or even download it. I heard it and hated it. in 2013, I still feel the same and still don't own the album.

[Ubb]

He also should've put Stimulate or No Apologies on the album tbh.

[Kill You]

I agree with you guys about feeling weird listening to it. Idk what it is it's just sometimes I'll be in an Encore mood and listen to it and almost feel like I'm on drugs or something. It's the same with Rlapse because Relapse gives off this weird vibe, but in Relapse's case it's a great weird because Relapse is brilliant while Encore isn't. Not a terrible album really but his worst album definitely.

[Solace]

I was in grade 4 and I bought the CD and I thought it was awesome. Especially Big Weenie.

I was in grade 12, and it was first semester... I forget the exact release date of Encore but I know it was between September - December 2012.

What

[Guess_Who]

I loved The Eminem Show so Encore was dissapointed for me. Ass like that, Big weenie...never liked much those songs...I hardly ever listen to it.

[UofLCard]

A while back, I posted an old rapbasement thread that showed someone posting the real Encore tracklist, and no one believing them because of tracks like 'Big Weenie'.

I was in grade 12, and it was first semester... I forget the exact release date of Encore but I know it was between September - December 2012.

It was November 12th.

[ShadyxEminem]

It was my favorite Eminem album I played Like Toy Soldiers, Spend Some Time, Encore, and Yellow Brick Road the most.

Then when I saw him perform the album 2005 in New York, it made me love it even more. I still bump Encore til this day

[VictorVerzion5]

The first minute I listened to Encore, I texted my friends (all of my friends in real were Eminem fans) and said Em has fallen off with this album. However, the more I listened to it, I thought it was somewhat decent.

[Chet Starr]

I loved it when it came out

But I was a stupid foster kid, so I have an excuse

[Trimss]

I don't know about when it came out, but when I heard it fully for the first time I know I loved Spend Some Time, Crazy In Love, Like Toy Soldiers, Mockingbird, Never Enough, Puke, Mosh and Evil Deeds. The rest was meh.

[AbramIsaac]

I listened to it, liked it well enough, and then eventually put it down because it just wasn't that good.

I was online when it leaked onto the biggest fansite at the time, StimLTD, and they posted the whole album to the website itself. Back in the day, when site admins were still naive enough to do shit like that! Anyway, a rep from the RIAA signed up, and told them to remove it, before contacting them formally with a warning about piracy laws.

It leaked so early, and the quality was so "meh" that people were trying to say it was a fake, a decoy album. It was a trick, Eminem was fucking with people by leaking a fake album. As stupid as that sounds, there were people on here that thought the same shit when Relapse leaked too.

Good times...and bad, because Encore was such a disappointment, and it was the beginning of the dark days of Stanhood. No music, no news, barely any hope to cling to. Then, there was that pneumonia hospitalization years later, which would actually signal the beginning of the end of the drought.

Ah...to go back. Or forward, I want this new shit already.

[UofLCard]

It leaked so early, and the quality was so "meh" that people were trying to say it was a fake, a decoy album. It was a trick, Eminem was fucking with people by leaking a fake album. As stupid as that sounds, there were people on here that thought the same shit when Relapse leaked too.

When Recovery's tracklist was posted, some people genuinely thought it was a prank. They were like, "Haha, funny joke Eminem, now release the real one."

[tadpole25]

i was 13. i didnt have high standards for music, but i hated the encore cd.

i listened to his first three albums religiously before i bought encore.

big disappointment.

i grew to like it though. but still half the album it could have been.