When Encore first came out, what were your first thoughts?

[RainMan44]

Since I was only about 12 back then, I remember LISTENING to Encore but I wasn't old enough to judge it lyrically.

So to y'all who were old enough, how did you feel?

Where you mad? Sad? How'd you feel that he went from the SSLP, MMLP, and TES, to this?

[BILI]

I actually liked it for some time

[AnalKiddo]

I didn't know about anything else Eminem made and I thought it was the best album I've ever heard

[Wreck]

I LVOED it, but now I just LIKE it

This. I was like 16 so I was right in the middle of listening to hip hop back then, and I loved it, but then again I loved a lot of Em shit, and to me that crafty, funny, pop bullshit on Encore I thought was genius. But it's funny cause my friend thought The Massacre album was one of the best albums in hip hop history when it just leaked back in like Feb. of 05 and that album fuckin sucks donkey dick, so sometimes you love it at first, and then you come down to Earth, kinda like how Eminem did, literally.

[Almostlity]

Since I was only about 12 back then, I remember LISTENING to Encore but I wasn't old enough to judge it lyrically.

Lol me too, I remember listening to Encore many times in a row while playing Spyro 2 on PS1 Good times

[Wreck]

Since I was only about 12 back then, I remember LISTENING to Encore but I wasn't old enough to judge it lyrically.

Lol me too, I remember listening to Encore many times in a row while playing Spyro 2 on PS1 Good times

I loved that game .

[Rindain1]

I remember really liking Evil Deeds, Yellow Brick Road, Mocking Bird, Toy Soldiers, Encore, Crazy in Love on 1st listen.

But I was embarrassed and like "wtf?" the first time I heard Just Lose It. After 3 amazing 1st singles Just Lose It sounded like a joke.

I tolerated Puke, Rain Man, Big Weenie, My 1st Single, etc for about a week, thinking that something must be wrong with ME for thinking they were a lot worse than Em's previous work. I just couldn't believe that Em could ever do wrong, so I was temporarily blinded to the lameness.

[Wreck]

I remember really liking Evil Deeds, Yellow Brick Road, Mocking Bird, Toy Soldiers, Encore, Crazy in Love on 1st listen.

But I was embarrassed and like "wtf?" the first time I heard Just Lose It. After 3 amazing 1st singles Just Lose It sounded like a joke.

I tolerated Puke, Rain Man, Big Weenie, My 1st Single, etc for about a week, thinking that something must be wrong with ME for thinking they were a lot worse than Em's previous work. I just couldn't believe that Em could ever do wrong, so I was temporarily blinded to the lameness.

I actually like Just Lose It as a single, I think it's an excellent approach. He references a lot of his old work and I thought the 8 mile battle line was funny/clever, and amusing, but that's just me. I remember not knowing any info on Em's next project after TES & the 8 Mile SDTK dropped, and then one day I was at my computer and my back was faced to my boom box in my room back then but I had the radio on to a rap/hip hop station in Philly and it premiered the first time and I was tickled pink .

[Wreck]

My friend Brian who burned me a few other CDs as well back in the day when we were in high school & middle school, burnt me this one too and I remember on Mosh the version he downloaded and burnt on to the CD had DJ Green Lantern on it. The same thing happened with when he burnt me this 50 Cent Power of The Dollar mix CD. I think 50 had a song called The World Turns, like Eminem did, but it was extremely rare, even more rare back then if you didn't have the physical copy of the CD or the right bootlegger, and I remember skipping to that song on the CD and it was the Eminem song from SSLP . I was like wtf, it must be a remix or fuck up, I was like . He also burnt me The Game's The Documentary, which is a classic, and when I got to Runnin ft. Tony Yayo, he downloaded and burnt the version of that song with DJ Whoo Kid on it, and I really liked it. I liked that version better, it just had grit too it, and it didn't have the Yayo Verse, it stopped at like 2:42 with gun shots and I remember when I first listened to the song online I was like wtf I didn't know it had a 3rd verse. I'm rambling but I thought I'd share that story about it, and about bootlegging the right track when you burn CDs .

[soundthegroove]

I remember I was eighteen years old when that album came out (you said you wanted an opinion from someone who was older, and I'm 24, so here-goes).

First: I remember being embarrassed. I heard Eminem was coming out with a new album, and I was pumped. I told a bunch of friends who were into rock music, but I was trying to get them into hip-hop and open their minds a bit. Then "Just Lose It" came out and it felt like a punch to the gut. This was NOT hip-hop.

Second: I remember being in denial. After hearing "Just Lose It," I thought, okay - it's one song, and the music video made it somewhat bearable.. I am sure he is just being stupid for his single, and the album would be great.

Third: I was PISSED. I got the album and it was everything it shouldn't have been. Rain Man, Ass Like That, My First Single, Big Weenie.. Even the song about his daughter had NO emotion in it. I took the album out of the CD player and snapped it in half.

This is just my opinion: It's coming from a guy who was a fan since age 12/13. Encore was like the "House of the Dead" of scary movies. It should have never happened.

[BigBangBazinga]

I LVOED it, but now I just LIKE it

[slimsoxshady]

first and only time i was ever disappointed with an Eminem album on first listen

[HereHere]

I was pretty young at the time, so to begin with I thought it was a great album. I knew it wasn't as good as the earlier ones though, since with them after I had finished listening once I wanted to listen again right away. With Encore though there was only 2 or 3 tracks I wanted to listen to loads. I stopped listening to Em for a while until Relapse was announced, went back and listened to all the old albums and realised how mediocre Encore is. It's not awful, I've heard other albums that are much worse. But it's shit compared to the rest of his albums.

[Unscarred]

I actually liked it for some time

Yea me to, i really thought it was a great album, but after time i realised how alwful it is

[BigBangBazinga]

first and only time i was ever disappointed with an Eminem album on first listen

So you fell in love with it second listen?