Eminem

"Just Lose It" took shots at fish-in-the-barrel-du-jour Michael Jackson and sounded like a parody of previous singles "Without Me" and "The Real Slim Shady." Elsewhere, fart jokes were the order of the day. It worked for Em a half-decade ago, but he was no longer the scrappy kid from Detroit. He was, instead, a cultural phenomenon, and people wanted blood, not gas. "Mosh" managed to make waves with its Moveon.org slogans, while "Like Toy Soldiers" was an emotional look at the dynamics of hip-hop beef. But for the most part, this album was a disappointment.

Supposedly, the mainstream is where you go under and "maturity" means one foot in the
grave. So the success of 8 Mile and its single "Lose Yourself" put Eminem in a bind. How and
whether he'd come through was impossible to say, and the opening sallies from Encore
were inconclusive. Would the dance-music dis "Just Lose It" lead us to an album as
retrograde as its MJ-mocking video? Or was that a feint designed to double the w... More >

Any lingering doubts that puking and diarrhea noises might effectively forestall maturity were allayed by the crinkled noses and pursed lips they've elicited from arbiters of creativity at Billboard and Cokemachine-glow alike. Except to report tediously that he sounds bored and complain ad infinitum that he's obsessed with the love of his life (plus, right, the beats are no good, details later), how else to objectify the cycle of disinterest inevitably inspired by the mainstreaming of 8 Mile? Me, I say good riddance to his rock dreams, so much vainer than his mosh dreams, and note that said noises are hard to listen to, which is a compliment. Funny, catchy, clever, and irreverent past his allotted time, he can't make records this good forever--no one else has. But I also note that the mostly unreviewed three tracks on the bonus disc keep on pushing--"We as Americans" is a high point. That's rare. (Grade - A)