In order to prove that Encore was Eminem's absolute worst album of all his albums, Pro has concluded the following:
1. The opening song, Evil Deeds, is the worst of all 'first proper tracks' of other albums basically. (actually it isn't Evil Deeds that was the second song in the album but the opening track was a skit-type track so I'll let Evil Deeds be the opening track as it benefits us both it seems)
2. Having the worst opening song defaults the entire album to be the absolute worst album of all the albums regardless of all other criteria of measuring how great and successful that an album was.
3. The reason that Evil Deeds was the worst 'first proper track' on an album of all time is that it is barely even rap which is apparently blatant from just listening to it. It is allegedly far less lyrical than the opening tracks of other albums and therefore the Evil Deeds is lacking in all elements of song-quality that aren't lyrical and somehow is to be concluded to be the worst lyrically because Pro says that 'it is blatantly not even rap just from listening to it'.
Oh dear, where to begin...
Evil Deeds is rap even if Pro says it's blatantly not rap at all. Evil Deeds is lyrical even if Pro says it isn't. Pro has proven nothing and lost this debate by failing to meet his BoP in any shape or form.
Let's get on with this.
Evil Deeds is possibly one of the greatest tracks of Eminem of all time. In my eyes it's in his top 10. It is so incredible in every way that a rap can be incredible and even though normally Eminem has 'whiny kid RAAA I AM ANGRY' delivery, somehow in Encore he toned it down (despite going straight back to it in the following albums and the ones before having consistently had this irritating tone).
The beginning is such pure-form poetry that it fascinated me, I have almost never seen another rapper other than perhaps K.A.A.N. or Tech N9ne, comprehend how to bend the rules of rap and deliver so flexibly around a not-so-rigid scheme.
Momma had a baby and its head popped off
Head popped off, head popped off, head popped off, head popped off, head popped off
But Momma don't want me, the next thing I know, I'm gettin' dropped off
Gettin' dropped off, gettin' dropped off, gettin' dropped off, gettin' dropped off
Ring-ring-ring on the doorbell of the next door neighbors, on their front porch
Their front porch, their front porch, their front porch, their front porch
But they didn't want me neither, so they left me on someone else's lawn
Else's lawn, else's lawn, else's lawn
'Til somebody finally took me in, my great aunt and uncle, Edna and Charles
Edna and Charles, Edna and Charles, Edna and Charles, Edna and Charles, they were the ones who were left in charge
Whether or not you like the repetition, it is consistent and is a style of rapping (repeating on purpose and yet like a fool) that Eminem had never done before and in fact the entirety of Encore was Eminem coming up with styles and themes that were far less 'I am a tryhard rapper who wants to rip your head off' and far more 'yo, time to spit meaningful lyrics and I'm a poet not just a rap artist'.
Those lines I just quoted may appear lyrically weak to Pro but they are not.
The head popping off may refer to how Eminem would always lose his mind, or be reference to previous songs from his old-school album(s) where he said he was brain damaged and seriously got his wig split by a bully by smashing it into a urinal. Aside from revealing 'maybe I'm just too crazy and dumb' for my mother this is a shout out to the nursery rhyme you chant while plucking dandelion petals (or can do with the whites of a full-formed dandelion)
https://ask.metafilter.com/143684/Wow-children-do-weird-things but the lyrics say the baby's head popped of while the saying usually is the mother's head.
The second line (well third, following the repetition) refers to that after his mother didn't want him, his great aunt and uncle on his father’s side, decided to take him in. It's also a shoutout to the show
Charles in Charge that refers to a situation where the parents aren't necessarily best for their children. That's basically what Edna and Charles were for him; makeshift parents and guardians.
Predominantly, predominantly, everything's always predominantly
Predominantly-white, predominantly black. well, what about me?
Where does that leave me? Well, I guess that I'm between predominantly both of 'em
I think if I hear that fuckin' word again, I'ma scream
This is ingenious. Seriously, this is the first time Eminem ever tried to be non-tryhard with how he used lyrics. He was semi-mocking Wayne and rappers like him who at the time were rising by repeating lyrics over and over. This is also ingenious as there's a subtle reference to how black rappers can repeat the N-word like that just to fill in bars. Eminem is saying that they say rap isn't for him because it's predominantly black and they say all the predominantly white walks of life aren't for trailer trash with bad grades and a dropout like he was so where exactly is he meant to fit in? They should shut up telling him what's normal or predominantly anything. He is an anomaly and he knows it (I'm surprised he didn't rhyme anomaly with it later on).
That's literally enough to show how lyrical the apparently dumb bars of Evil Deeds were.
I am not going to waste reader's time going into every part of the lyrics, not even the chorus and how that was both about his own father and father up in heaven. There was so much depth to it, and the entirety of Encore that you're left with nothing.
Mosh took on George Bush and really was a high-risk high-reward song that alienated a lot of right-wing Stans (hardcore Eminem fans call themselves Stans). That's the main song that led people to hate on Encore did you actually know how the meme started to say Eminem is becoming trash waaa waa new Eminem sucks? The thing is that the album following Encore pretty much did suck and received even more hate than Encore did from both Stans and non-hardcore fans. It only seemed to attract people who didn't like Eminem.
Mockingbird was a phenomenal song. He had never ever gone that deep with a song before and never has since, he was revealing more Marshall Mathers than Slim Shady there, for sure.
Toy Soldiers was fantastic and deeply emotional too.
I don't really know what people hate about Encore. The entire album was the first time Eminem ever tried to not be a yell-in-the-mic furious type of rapper and everyone's crying about it. Shut up, seriously. Let a guy show his emotional side. The reason it was named Encore is so many people were asking for Eminem to release another album so he teamed up with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent and released the album that cemented him in the history of rap. Until Encore it's a fact that Eminem was basically just a great rapper who came and went. Once he released Encore both his haters and lovers admitted he was undeniably hilarious, deep and ingenious with his lyrics.
He dared to fuck with Bush Jr., Michael Jackson (in the song Just Lose It's video and the song was about the children he victimised and how they should have just lost it and beaten the guy as well as bout him losing his sanity and dignity) and a whole lot more. Eminem was a fucking genius with Encore. It was the album that made me as a kid go holy shit this guy is a lyrical genius. Until Encore, he was basically just a 'I'm the best fuck all of you RAAAAR I'm so angry!!!!!!!!!' who still was good at rap but had a shit attitude.
I think the best part about Encore vs all other Eminem albums is that there isn't a single song in it that isn't all three of the following:
- Catchy
- Deeply Emotional
- Fascinating from a poet's standpoint in how he pushes the boundaries of rigid-structure rap and enters the realm of an actual artist painting words and such.
- Hilarious at points with the metaphors.
I leave you with one of Eminem's greatest songs ever:
I said 3 but meant 4 things
"isn't all four of the following"