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Eminem · S4 E7
Encore
Pills in the studio, leaked tracks, re-recorded songs. The first cracks in the armor
A near-finished album leaks online in October 2004. Eminem has three weeks to save it, and he reaches for the pill bottle first.
Eminem: Just Lose It (official music video, 2004). The lead single from Encore. Eminem as Michael Jackson, as MC Hammer, as Pee-wee Herman. It is funny, but it is also hollow in a way his earlier comedy never was. Michael Jackson himself publicly condemned the video, calling it "demeaning and disrespectful."
Just Lose It
Produced by Eminem and Dr. Dre, but missing the tension that defined their best collaborations. The beat is deliberately goofy: a bouncing keyboard riff, cartoonish sound effects, and a hook built for ringtones. Compare it to "Without Me," which had the same manic energy but also had something to say. Listen for the flatness of Em's delivery in the verses. The technical skill is still there, but the hunger behind it is gone.
“I was taking a lot of pills at that point. Vicodin, Ambien, whatever I could get. When the album leaked, I just went back in the studio and started recording whatever came out. I wasn't in the right headspace to make those decisions.”
— Eminem, interview with Zane Lowe, Beats 1, 2017
TAP TO REVEAL: Which Encore tracks were pulled after the album leaked online?
Two Albums on One Tracklist
Encore is the album where two Eminems exist side by side. "Mockingbird" and "Like Toy Soldiers" are among the best work of his career. Then, tracks later, "My 1st Single" and "Big Weenie" sound like a different artist recorded them on a different planet. The leak broke the album in half.
Yellow Brick Road
The track where Eminem confronts the worst version of himself. In 2003, The Source published a recording of a teenage Marshall rapping racist lyrics. Instead of dodging it, "Yellow Brick Road" walks directly into the fire. He explains the context without excusing it and delivers one of the most honest verses of his career. On an album defined by pills and panic, this song is the one moment of total clarity.
Yellow Brick Road, Eminem (2004)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Eminem confronts the worst version of himself. No dodging, no excuses. One moment of total clarity on an album defined by pills and panic.
What event forced Eminem to scrap and re-record several tracks on Encore just weeks before release?
Season 4 ends with Eminem still standing, but barely. What comes next will nearly kill him: an indefinite goodbye and a best friend who will not survive to see the comeback.
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To be continued
Season 5: The Dark Years
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