How did people react to Encore when it first came out?

[Notalius]

I remember that the reactions were pretty mixed on that body building forum. Some people were saying that it's his best/funniest, some said that they expected a lot more and hated that one

[Raul]

10/10 since day one

[csw621]

In 2004 people's heads were still spinning from the eminem show and 8 mile, and nobody who liked em hated encore until there wasn't another album the next year like there always had been. or the next year. or the next yeaar. or the next yeaar. then, at a point when as has been mentioned the internet was heavily influencing music and how people felt about it, he put out the most rappity rap album ever made. then recovery (the only cd with two 10x platinum songs), and now we've got mmlp2. so of course in the time since its release encore has become a contender for one of the lower points of his career. even though encore > most of current mainstream "hip-hop". it's easy to see why though, he's completely sober now (what a nightmare that must be) and the shit he was on ten years ago would have killed most of us. happy birthday marshall

[UofLCard]

I think, while most fans didn't particularly like Encore, some reviewers gave it nice reviews. IIRC, People Magazine gave it four stars. Being the young 14-year-old stan I was, I cut out this review and taped it on my bedroom door.

[csw621]

(i quoted hip hop because i was referring to stuff that will never be on em's level)

[Mr Change]

then, at a point when as has been mentioned the internet was heavily influencing music and how people felt about it, he put out the most rappity rap album ever made. (Relapse)

even though encore > most of current mainstream "hip-hop".

10/10 since day one

So much L in this thread

[shadyblogger]

even though encore > most of current mainstream "hip-hop".

Dude...

Lol ikr

[csw621]

do you think 2 chainz or meek mill or juicy j could win an oscar then write we as americans and yellow brick road?




the answer is no

[Mr Change]

do you think 2 chainz or meek mill or juicy j could win an oscar then write we as americans and yellow brick road?




the answer is no

What does winning an oscar have to do with this?

Encore sucks.

[csw621]

well, sleeping pills because of the schedule lead to encore "sucking", so it has a lot to do with it

[Raul]

let's turn this into a encore vs recovery fred

[Mr Change]

let's turn this into a encore vs recovery fred

no m8 lets discuss the wit of relapse!!!!11

classic


no m8 no m8 better yet

lets make a totally innocent Recovery fred n hav it be completely overrun by Relapps on da first page!!!

[yoda you can call me]

I

[EminemInsider]

I wasn't an Em fan at this point. Did people believe it sucked immediately? It seems like Em could do no wrong before this point, so it must have been unbelievable that he would put something like Encore out (whether you like it or not, it's almost objectively worse than MMLP and TES, and probably SSLP too).

Yeah, it's still slightly debatable whether this overweight, sedentary 4-year-old basketball player is objectively worse than LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, and he's only probably objectively worse than Michael Jordan, too.

Some people at the time thought it was fake to throw off piracy. Then the fans wishfully started talking about how it was "growing on them." The attempted justifications and rationalizations began.

"Well, if you take out these songs, the rest of the album is still.......good? Right?"
"These songs are.....good?"
"It's weak by his standards, but it's still better than 99.998% of other rappers' albums."
"You can't put out a classic every time."
"Eminem is getting older and he's rich now and not as hungry as he used to be."

I had no idea what the deal was at the time, but after a few years of listening to and looking at Pillinem, especially his eyes (where it looked like an atomic bomb had gone off in his brain...nobody was home) and comparing it to how he used to look, I remember telling someone around late 2007 or early 2008 that I thought he was going to die soon. My hypothesis at the time was that he'd had an undiagnosed stroke (I stupidly thought the late 2005 rehab stint was just something minor..."oh, sleep medication, biiiiig deeeeeal"...and I figured he had gotten over it after rehab).

[UofLCard]

I wish this forum was around when Encore released. It would be fun to read people's initial reactions.