For as dumb as a lot of this album is (i.e. "Big Weenie", "Just Lose It, "Ass Like That", "Rain Man"), there are still some very solid tracks on Eminem's fourth major-label release. "Yellow Brick Road" is a screenplay-detailed account of what led up to those controversial freestyle tapes and "Like Toy Soldiers" is his call for a truce with The Source and Murder Inc. "Mockingbird", a song for his daughter, is one of the best songs of his career. And the title track with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, in my opinion, surpasses "Crack a Bottle"- a collaborative song the three hip-hop icons would release five years later to much fanfare. Despite the album's highlights, Encore failed to live up to the standard Eminem set for himself with his previous releases. But this album's shortcomings, as well as the ones on 2009's Relapse, made Eminem's 2010 release, Recovery, one of the best revivals hip-hop has ever seen.
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