I still can't explain why I like Eminem. All I know is I have all his albums, and I rushed out to buy his latest, Encore. Part of me knows that he's a misogynistic, homophobic bastard, but he's got talent, man. And I can appreciate that. Encore is not his best effort, perhaps because it feels like he's starting to move in a different direction whether he recognizes it or not. His attempts at humor (mostly the gross variety) feel like a stretch back to some of his earlier Slim Shady work, but the joy isn't there. That's what made some of his best songs click -- he was just so gleeful in the lyrics, so happy to be offending. The first half of Encore contains some of its best tracks (up to and including Mosh), but it then devolves into some just ... worthless songs. I can't believe Puke even made it onto the disc. (The tracks on the bonus disc are much better than the middle and should have been included on the album proper, if you ask me.) If you skip over the pointless middle, the end picks up a bit with a couple of songs that seemed more filled with regret than rage. His collaborations with 50 Cent, Feat, and others are some of the best tracks on the album (I particularly like Never Enough).
As for the feminist implications of my Eminem fandom, well, I honestly haven't figured it out yet. I've been thinking about it for a long time, and I haven't come up with anything.
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