Monday at 7:43 PM PROLOGUE: I decided to finally share this essay of mine, which I began close to ten years ago, to generate further discussion about the oft-misunderstood album, ENCORE. I hope to inspire further conversation and debate about this era of Em’s career, particularly about what might have originally been intended for the album. This is no mere shallow speculation; this here is a truly deep dive which I hope you enjoy reading, and which I hope encourages more of the same from the fanbase. One thing that prompted me to finally share this work was the recent leak of “Smack You” which got me thinking about the essay all over again, as it’s a song which I’m almost certain was part of the original track list - it’s exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about in the heart of this piece. So, pour yourself a beverage and sit down to enjoy this long-a--- essay (it’s a fun ride, and definitely a trip down memory lane for us older fans) and lets talk about it on the other side. Part of me even hopes that maybe Shady Records will one day release a version of the album that more closely resembles Marshall’s original vision for his 4th studio album…one can hope! My initial thought and goal when I began writing this essay all those years ago was we might encourage this to happen for the 25th anniversary in 2029…so lets get talking about it and see what we can do to #ALTERENCORE.
Monday at 7:43 PM ALT-ƎRNCORE The Almost Album A retrospective look at what might have originally been on tap from the controversial rapper, Eminem, before the infamous 2003 leaks. As most long-time fans of Eminem do from time to time, I found myself thinking about the disappointment that was Encore the other day. Coming on the heels of the Big Three, and with the pre-eminent rapper, Marshall Mathers, at the top of the rap game, Encore’s shockingly scattershot and seemingly uninspired track list left many fans at the time in a shocked state of disbelief. As a long-time fan of Em’s since he first broke on to the scene with 1998’s The Slim Shady EP, I can attest to the dejected state of the fanbase upon the album’s release in November of 2004. It was a dismal time for fans, to be sure. The final product was on a level so clearly beneath his previous offerings that it had many at the time expressing their disappointment on rap message boards, some literally believing that the release was a fake, a troll; the level of denial was so deep, some thought that the real follow-up to The Eminem Show was still to be released in the weeks that followed … but as the weeks passed, it became more and more apparent that what we were left with was Eminem’s first dud, leaving fans to wonder just how this could have happened. The infamous leak, which happened in December 2003, eleven months prior to the release of Encore, was massive news at the time, and was no doubt an even bigger drain on Eminem’s creative process. Long before the dawn of social media, word of the leak trickled out to the fans only through interviews and wild rumours that spread online. It’s no doubt difficult for his younger fans to appreciate the depth of the impact of this leak; at the time, Em was the biggest artist in the world, at the very peak of his fame, and his rabid fanbase were foaming at the mouth to hear what the creative genius would offer up next. But then the leak happened…and whatever Em had been cooking up was dashed, leaving the embattled artist scrambling to cobble together something to release in its place. Eminem said of the experience years later: "Five or six songs leaked from the original version of Encore. So I had to go in and make new songs to replace them. In my head I was pissed off: ’Oh well. Songs leaked. f--- it. I’m just going to take a bunch of f---ing pills and go in there and have a party with myself.’ I’m sure the more pills I took, the goofier I got.” It’s clear from his words here that whatever vision he initially had was lost; Em was prepared to phone the rest in, and call it a day. And that’s exactly what happened. Even though half the album remains peak Em in fine form, one can’t help but wonder what might have been if all those painfully mediocre tracks hadn’t been plopped in the middle. What might we have heard instead had the those leaks never happened? While it's always interesting to consider how the three bonus tracks later released as part of a supposed “Deluxe edition” could improve the seemingly uninspired album, the track lists fans usually put forth are often about the same; sub those three in for your least favourite of the cornier tracks (Big Weenie, Rain Man, My 1st Single, Puke, a--- Like That) and there’s no denying you’ve got a much better listening experience. Some like to discredit this notion, insisting Em wanted to give us all of the lack-lustre tracks that plagued this offering, or that these songs weren’t intended as part of the main course, but I don’t believe that, nor does history really support the notion. Regardless, this has been done to death, and it is more interesting to consider what kind of album Em had originally envisioned before any of the leaks had occurred. This essay is a look at what might have been, which I explore through an in-depth lyrical analysis of his creative output in 2003-2004; the leaked tracks, songs released on Encore, as well as the Invasion mixtapes which seemed to be dropping every other month in the wake of 8 Mile, and which offer clues to Em’s mindset and possible creative direction. So, when Em took to the studio to begin recording his fourth major-label studio album, he had a mighty task ahead of him: when you’ve just put out three acclaimed albums, a holy trinity of sorts, and are currently enjoying the view from the top of the rap game, just what do you do for an encore? Ǝ First of all, and most importantly, if we take a closer look at some of this work’s predominant themes and his other lyrical content during this era, it seems very improbable that his original vision for Encore included any of the anti-beefing sentiments expressed in Like Toy Soldiers, as the leaked tracks show that Em was still in a very combative state of mind. I think people have it backwards when they suggest Like Toy Soldiers’ presence on the track list meant that the diss tracks would not have been included on the album. The content of the leaked tracks suggest he was more than willing, if not eager, to bring the 2002/2003 beefs with Benzino and Murder Inc to the masses on his first studio album since The Eminem Show. It is the opinion of this writer that LTS was actually an artistic afterthought brought on by the 2003 leaks that irrevocably altered Encore forever. Make no mistake, Like Toy Soldiers is a good song, a mature take on the very real dangers of beefing and surely one of the highs on the Encore we got. But again, this speculative essay is about the album Marshall Mathers was originally inspired to make… which was a very different beast. While Em may not have planned to pick any new fights per se, Encore was surely going to be his cockiest album to date, with more than its fair share of braggadocios bars, and plenty of egging on of rivals in the rap game to challenge his skill and dominance, and that of his label, as it would be the first album where he could showcase his new label mates. I think he was still riding the high of those 2003 beefs and felt very much at home having fallen back into something like ‘battle rapper mode,’ his old comfort zone. This after putting out three highly acclaimed album that had already cemented his legacy as a rapper and lyricist of the highest order; also Em was still riding the wave of superstardom that 8 Mile had brought him. I believe when a 2017 Eminem recalls on “Walk on Water” a point in his career where he had the world by the balls, licking out his palm - this was surely that moment. Em was brimming with confidence in those days. I remember when those Invasion mixtapes were dropping, Shady Records was at it’s absolute peak and literally everything Em touched was dope as f---: (“I got 50 Cent, I got G-Unit, D-Twizzy in this b----, with Obie Trice, so watch what you say ‘fore you call our name, cuz you say one more thing, it wont be nice!!”) Those truly were the days to be an Em fan. (“Bring Daddy his Oscar…we’re gonna shove it up Ja Rule’s a---!”) He was on top with the much anticipated follow-up to The Eminem Show finally on the way, and fans couldn’t wait to hear what he would have to say next. I think it’s honestly difficult for some fans, who came to Em later in his career, to truly appreciate just how huge he was at this exact moment in time - which is a big part of why the Encore he delivered was such a disappointment to many. However, getting back to Em’s headspace when he began these recording sessions, it’s clear he intended to deliver a very different album that the scattershot and goofy one we got. The leaked Monkey See Monkey Do, awesome though it may be, unfortunately sounds like it was intended only as a promo track, one he likely planned to drop in the months leading up to the album release, but it gives a vivid peek in to his headspace at the time, and it was like nothing Eminem fans had ever heard before. I always loved this track, particularly where he mentions his wish for someone like Nas or Jay-Z to come at him so he can dust off his chainsaw (“and give 'em the surgery that he came for”). Of course, the song goes on to say that he's got a list (“that just ain’t Ja”) that he’s going to read off come April, and that he’ll be shooting more than just paint balls (trust me!), a reference to fictional scenes in 8 Mile, and frankly, one of the more intriguing lines of his career. The leak also unveiled both We As Americans and Love You More, two high quality tracks that would have clearly made the final cut and likely would have been centrepieces on the album (more on these later). On Bully and Can-I-b----, we get another hint on the type of content Em might have wanted on the album. On the former, he addresses the beefs with Ja Rule and Benzino just as he did in Like Toy Soldiers, but the tone is not so conciliatory and his verbiage is notably not in the past tense, as it was on LTS. It’s very clear that on Bully, Em is still firmly in beef mode, though perhaps a slightly more restrained version than we heard on some of the posse cuts the Invasion mixtapes gave us. As toned down as it may be, Em still sounds dead serious with his promise to have anyone killed in Hailie’s name should this beef ever cost him his life.This after mentioning too that if Ja doesn’t quit while he’s ahead, someone from G-Unit could k--- him. Interestingly, in Bully Em also mentions Suge Knight for the first time (referencing his control over Irv Gotti), a line which is obviously in direct opposition to the one we ended up getting on Like Toy Soldiers: “I went my whole career without mentioning [Suge],” where he mentions the hip-hop mogul without mentioning him at all. By contrast, it’s pretty clear that Like Toy Soldiers is a sanitized and tonally different version of Bully, one which he likely wrote after deciding Encore would no longer present a continuation of the beefs of the previous year. Ricky Ticky Toc would have further helped to set that cocky tone had it been included on the main album, but sadly was likely another track to be axed once the concept changed. “Once you call my name out things will never be the same, they should have never let us get a foot in this game” sounds like a foreboding warning to anyone/everyone in the wake of Em’s TKO beefs of 2002/2003. Em is making an example of both Ja and Benzino here; let the quick work he made of them be a warning to anyone else with their eyes on the prize. Right after mentioning how far the beef with Benzino went, Em tells us he wants more: “I’m waiting for that next beef, I’m cocked, locked and loaded, I’m ready to go so bad I’m going bananas” all but confirms Em’s desire to stir s--- up on this album. Soon after these bars, he’s quick to assert his dominance over any would-be challengers: “Egos aside, 'fore I bruise 'em all. Swallow your pride ‘fore I step on it with shoes you call Nikes, Earthlings, how do you like these? You gotta love ‘em, look at the bottom of em, they’re like cleats. Stompin’.” The vintage Nate Dogg hook on Encore’s second track, Never Enough, also speaks to the originally intended flavour of the album: “no matter how many MC’s I eat up, it’s never enough.” Ǝ So, just how beefy was Encore going to be, that’s the question. I think the answer is…pretty beefy. Can-I-b---- is a decidedly more playful diss track, this time aimed at Canibus. A creative tour-de-force to the tune of Slick Rick’s Children’s Stories, Em has finally devoted an entire track to Canibus, and even if it is a bit silly, it’s still a fun ride (in the Rapmobile). In the track, he also sneaks in quick jabs at Jermaine Dupri and the Pet Shop Boys, the latter having penned a song about Em’s allegedly homophobic lyrics in 2002. So as some names begin to pile up here, are we perhaps seeing some of this supposed “list” of Em’s? Was he perhaps planning to respond in typical Eminem fashion to some of those who had dissed him during his rise to the top? A few of the name of this supposed s--- List: Ja Rule. Benzino. Canibus. Jermaine Dupri. Suge Knight? (Pet Shop Boys, lol?). Who else might have been on this list? Perhaps some would just get the odd bar, others entire tracks. Are there more diss tracks from this period stashed in the vault which didn’t see the light of day because they were shelved when the concept changed? Most certainly. A more aggressive track aimed at Canibus perhaps? Probably. Considering how aggressive Monkey See Monkey Do sounded, I’d like to think he recorded more aggressive bars than we got with Can-I-b---- and Bully, perhaps some savage battle rap-style bars to finally eat up Canibus once and for all. On another one of the leaked tracks, Em rides Ja Rule some more, this time with D12, on Come On In. Em touches on the sport of hip-hop and his preference to keep it on wax, but hints once more that if you push him, he might take it further: “I’d much rather lift a pencil than a pistol when I’m pissed now, but it all depends on just how far it gets took on the mic, cause I’m telling you right now, you’re not gonna like it.” Given Em’s apparent creative direction, there is little doubt this was likely to be the D12 cut on the project, in the place of the mediocre One Shot 2 Shot. Clearly, Encore is about as ‘gangsta' as Em has ever sounded on an album; not his style per se, but one fans were happy to hear from as he was righteously pissed after having heard Hailie’s name on that Ja track. The swagger he had during this period was truly something else. The outro on Monkey See Monkey Do further solidifies how cocky and confident he was feeling, hence the desire to brings these beefs to the fore as a part of the album experience.There is little doubt beef and battling were at the top of his mind in ‘04, and fittingly so considering the world had just been introduced to his origin story in the Oscar-winning 8 Mile. At the end of Monkey he speaks to anyone who might want to step into the ring against him and the rest of the Shady camp: “We ain’t just talking to one person. We talking to every-motherfucking-body who wants to bring it, cuz we bringing it to anybody who wants to bring it. So bring it. Don’t pick up the ball if you don’t wanna play, man. It’s all f----- up now. The f--- I’m suppose to do now? Huh? The f--- I’m suppose to do?” The Diddy reference at the end also speaks to Em’s apparent boredom at the top, asking what else he’s got to prove, or do, besides defend the throne upon which he sits. Any challengers? I believe this is exactly where Em’s head was at for those initial Encore recording sessions. Was it hubris? Perhaps. Would it have made for an entertaining album? Absolutely. Now, let’s consider We As Americans. If this track hadn’t leaked, not only would it have been included on Encore, it would have been hailed as one of the best tracks on the album, but what’s more interesting is that it would have made him a poster boy for the Second Amendment, whether he intended it or not. In the song, Em is referencing his gun charges and subsequent probation, while questioning how he’s supposed to protect himself in the meantime. With his bare hands? Yeah, right. Later in the song, joking or not, he mentions the need to have a couple of concealed carries tucked away. We as Americans. We have to protect ourselves….by any means. With this song’s inclusion, the album takes on a very different tone indeed, especially in the absence of much of the silly filler. Notably, on the D12 track, there’s also talk about the possibility of taking rap beefs past the mere swapping of verses: “…and that’s when it just happens and I snap then it’s a wrap, then it’s a scrap and it isn’t rap, is it? Hip-hop isn’t a sport anymore when you gotta go and resort back into that s---. Maybe I’m old fashioned but my passion is to smash anyone rapping without having to slap him. Believe me, I’d much rather lift a pencil than a pistol when I’m pissed now, but it depends on just how far it gets took on the mic.” *gun shots* Add to that We As Americans’ likely placement in-between the two skits that mention a supposed gun purchase by Em (which he denies making), and it seems to further solidify the notion that Em was trying to say at least *something* about gun rights. On the other hand, the mass shooting at the end of Encore adds a whole different dimension to the theoretical gun politics of this almost album. There is no doubt that the album was going to be a vastly different experience, and the other leaked gem is yet further proof of that. The darkest track on the album, Love You More, adds another layer here. While the song is notable for the brutal honesty and dark imagery in the lyrics touching once more on his tumultuous relationship with Kim, those lyrics aside, that the song begins with the two of them in some Bonnie ’n Clyde-type scenario, cocking their guns and shooting them in unison…again, just imagine the original tone of this would-be album right now. This isn’t toilet humour, this isn’t gay put-put golf, and this isn’t puppet dog beefs….this Encore that Eminem wanted to give us was clearly something else entirely, and it would have no doubt been another very strong entry in his catalogue. Interestingly, on this (the real?) Encore (or something like it), Em also seems to have largely traded the dissing of pop stars heard on previous releases for more focused attacks on rappers and rivals in the industry; a refreshing change, as any Eminem fan would agree. Back once more to the possible promo track, Monkey: “You p-----s think I went soft cuz 8 Mile, when I come back I’ll be shooting more than just paint balls” does not sound like the words of an artist about to give us a scattered and cheesy album bordering on self-parody. On the contrary, Em sounds hungrier than ever and ready to feast on rapper’s corpses. So, the evidence is there to suggest Encore was going to be Em’s most combative album to date, cocky and sure of himself in a way we hadn’t heard before on a studio album - braggadocios as all h--- with a classic trilogy under his belt, a biopic to his name, and the release of 50 Cent’s debut album Get Rich or Die Trying pushing Shady Records further into the spotlight as rap’s preeminent label. All things considered, it seems Encore was going to be a portrait of a rapper (‘slash actor’) at the top of his game, playing king of the castle with his competitors, while flaunting the success and dominance of his label. He was going to stomp on Ja in solidarity with 50; he was addressing the Racist tapes and airing his beef with Source magazine owner, Ray Benzino, who had accused him of trying to steal and destroy hip-hop culture; he would tell us more of his origin story in Detroit and bring us deeper into his dark and complicated relationship with Kim; he would address his gun charges and his suspended 2nd amendment rights, all in the wake of superstardom so immense that it was threatening his right to privacy more than ever before. And by the end, in the final song/title track Encore/Curtain Down, he reminds everyone that his legacy has been a positive contribution to the culture as he helped bring hip-hop to a larger audience, reaching new ears around the world. So, anyone that tells you Encore was supposed to be the cheesy, uninspired mess we got, since he was all drugged out at the time, just doesn’t have all the facts: Encore was going to be dope as f---. But then the leak happened. Ǝ When I consider the apparent gun politics of ALT-ƎRNCORE, at first it seems quite pro 2nd Amendment (based mainly on the lyrics from We As Americans), but when you consider this hypothetical track list on the whole, it ends up sounding almost like an argument against guns, a cautionary tale perhaps (which lines up with the axed Like Toy Soldiers, but with a different, darker tone entirely). Now, whether this was intended, we may never know, but let’s look at the events on the album: you got a rapper, embroiled in beefs that got very personal the previous year, who states he’d rather keep it on wax, cuz that’s the sport of hip-hop upon which he was raised. But if history has told us anything, it’s that when things get heated in rap beefs, s--- can happen. So on first listen, we’re wondering where this is going? Clearly he gets his hands on a gun or two, as we hear on We As Americans and Love You More. Perhaps listeners were supposed to be wondering just how ‘gangster’ Em was going to be as the album played out, but then when you get to the end of the album, he keeps the battles on wax like the battle rapper he is, and instead, in a surprise ending nobody saw coming, we get Eminem going all Mandalay Bay on his own fans in a mass shooting/suicide to end his career (Reminder, for those that may not know: at the time, Encore was rumoured to be his last album; a working title of ‘The Funeral’ had even floated around the web). No matter which way you look at it, there’s no doubt guns were a part of some kind of album narrative here. But what happened happened, and it would result in the first real blemish on Em’s discography. Not only had two standout songs leaked, but the others had revealed too much of the intended direction and general flavour of the album, something which I’m sure he’d hoped to keep close to his chest. But the cat was out of the bag, and so…Em abandons all tracks that were leaked, as well as some others that were written for the album (Ricky Ticky Toc) and goes the other way. He writes Like Toy Soldiers, a decidedly more introspective look at the beefs where he takes the high road instead, officially squashing the beef and then gets to work on trying to fill out the rest of the album. Unfortunately, lacking any real direction in the absence of what had been taken from him, he replaces much of it with the tracks that Encore tends to be remembered for, the goofier ones, and while still fun, the tone of the album is what suffers the most and we end up with something rather directionless and seemingly uninspired. To be fair, half of Encore truly remains a classic, while the other half…not so much, as Eminem himself has stated many years later: ”I’m cool with probably half that album,” he said of the album in a 2017 interview. Indeed, there’s some peak Em on Encore. The album just lacked that certain feel, that mood, the polished product we’d come to expect from Marshall which he’d delivered on each of his previous releases. And so, as I said at the top of this long-winded essay…the other day I got to wondering just what Encore would have sounded like if we’d gotten the album Em had originally intended to make had those “oh so notorious tracks” not leaked in December 2003. Just what does Encore look like in that alternate timeline, the one where that friend of Em’s brother Nate (as the rumour went at time) didn’t steal a CD full of tracks intended for big bro’s next album… right off Nate’s coffee table when he wasn’t looking (yes, that was really the rumour). The evidence strongly suggests, and this essay further demonstrates, that it would have been a very compelling follow-up his massively successful trilogy. So…how do you follow-up SSLP, MMLP and TES? What DO you do for an Encore?? By asserting dominance and playfully gloating about being the best, of course. So let’s take a look at what might have been, and as you do, know one thing for certain: this hypothetical track list is, without a doubt, a lot closer to how the album was initially intended than what we got. This proposed track list is a sort of Best Guess, based on what we know, and some of what we got, with a couple of fictional, but highly likely, vault tracks that were shelved thrown in for good measure. So buckle in to the RapMobile, and enjoy this timewarp back to the year…2004. Eminem has been in the studio for the past year. No tracks ever leaked and the last thing we’ve heard from Em via the label was his 8 Mile OST contributions Lose Yourself, 8 Mile, Rabbit Run and Love Me. People with their ear to the streets (read: paying attention to the internets) had heard the mixtapes and were treated to The Sauce and Nail in the Coffin as well as Bump Heads, Hail Mary, Doe Rae Me, and Go To Sleep in the past year or so as Em, 50 and D12 went at Ja Rule, Murder Inc, and Ray Benzino, co-owner of the Source magazine, with a certain ruthlessness fans hadn’t seen before in Em’s career. Clearly a lot had happened since the Eminem Show, and he had a lot to get off his chest… Ǝ The New Year hits, it’s 2004. You turn on the radio to your local hip-hop station and hear the deejay talking about a brand new song from Eminem that he’s about to debut, a promo track from the latest Shady Records mixtape, this time hyping Em’s follow-up to TES. The rumoured title…is ENCORE. The beat drops, you hear Em laugh: “Heyo, Fifty…what I tell you? We ain’t even have to say s---. They did it…ha ha!” Monkey See, Monkey Do, don’t ever make the first move, just let ‘em come to you…” The internet is all atwitter - before Twitter - about the upcoming Em album to be released in April. Many people (the masses) have never heard him talk this way; hoping high calibre rappers would come at him so he can dust off his chainsaw? He’s got a million bucks for anyone who gets on a track and spanks them? No doubt many, fans included, are hearing about the beef with Ja Rule/Benzino here for the first time too. And so, without further ado, I bring to you… the track list as it was (hypothetically, of course) intended to be. For reference below, I’ve included all relevant lyrics from various songs that help illustrate what I believe is Em’s initial creative direction for the album, many that made it onto Encore and some that didn’t. As an addendum to the track list, I’ve also listed main topics and ideas from each song that made the ALT-ƎRNCORE track list, which I believe further demonstrate the rather cohesive themes that appears to hang over this mysterious body of work. While much of the bones of this almost album are very much present in parts of the Encore we got…the true flavour of Em’s intended direction for the album truly come into focus with the inclusion of the excluded tracks which allows this listener to view the works through a fresh, much darker lens… Eminem’s 4th major label release: ƎNCORE (Release Date; April 1, 2004) Monkey See, Monkey Do (promo track) - released January 15, 2004 Tracklist Themes/Topics CURTAINS UP EVIL DEEDS: Unstable upbringing; anti-fame; evil seed “head popped off…” NEVER ENOUGH: he’s crazy, unpredictable (bullied, made him who his is today, see) BULLY: Beefs, started by bullies - both bested by Em (Ja & Benzino diss) RICKY TICKY TOC: Em bullies the rap game, and he’s got 50 too YELLOW BRICK ROAD: Origin story of an outsider; addresses racist tapes; “music we all enjoy, the music you accuse me of trying to destroy" *KING OF THE CASTLE*: Vault track - braggadocios; how he came to sit on the throne *JACK THE RIPPER*: Vault track - savage bars for Canibus MOSH Anti-War track (bully Bush?) *DISS TRACK*: Vault track (Dupri diss? Someone more interesting?) PAUL (skit): (“I heard you bought a new gun”) WE AS AMERICANS: Em’s probation; pro 2nd Amendment (intruder, cops, lack of privacy) LOVE YOU MORE: gun shots; dark imagery about relationship with Kim EM CALLS PAUL (skit): (“No, I didn’t buy a gun”) *COPYCATS (ft. 50)* Vault track - Em & 50 vs Ja (sounds likely) SPEND SOME TIME: groupies; mentions pistol-whipping incident, “decision that’s life altering” MOCKINGBIRD: Mockingbird. Papa was a rolling stone, Mama developed a habit. CRAZY IN LOVE: Kim, crazy love (1st time Em samples vintage 80's rock song) COME ON IN (feat D12): “Stop sleeping on my roof, b----!" Pencils over pistols *gun shots* FINAL THOUGHT (skit): Backstage: Em grabs gun, suicide note ENCORE/CURTAINS DOWN: Legacy: “broke down barriers of language and races”; Em shoots fans, self. “See you in h---, f---ers.”
Monday at 7:44 PM REFERENCES: (Notable Quotables from ALT-ƎRNCORE) EVIL DEEDS: “my elementary they ganged up on me and sang this song (sang this song, sang this song, sang this song)…” NEVER ENOUGH: “There’s not much you could do or say to phase me, people think I’m a little bit crazy” “Believe it or not, I thank my mom for how she raised me in a neighbourhood daily that jumped and chased, it only made me who I am today.” “I can give a f--- what category you place me, as long as when I’m pushing up daisies and gone as long you place me amongst one of them greats, when I hit the Heavenly Gates I’ll be cool beside Jay-Z.” “No matter how many emcees I eat up, it’s never enough.” BULLY: (ADD MORE LYRICS) “I’ll be d---ed if I don’t stand up to a (bully), fight like a man and throw my hands up to a (bully)” “…and if I get killed for this rap, I got a million in cash that says I will get you back in Haillie’s name.” RICKY TICKY TOC: “Once you call my name out things will never be the same, they shoulda never let us get a foot in this game.” “Ever since I was introduced to rap music I been missing a screw like Bishop in Juice, I could lose it at any moment.” “I’m waiting for that next beef, I’m cocked, locked and loaded. I’m ready to go so bad, I’m going bananas.” Anybody I throw flames at gets a name, it’s a game cuz they know that they don’t spit the same. It’s a shame what people do for ten minutes of fame.” “People in this game try to buddy-buddy us, just to get close enough to study us. Everybody just wants to have something to do with that, they all trying to get that stamp, they after that Shady/Aftermath money. It’s like a monopoly.” “Egos aside ‘fore I bruise ‘em all, swallow your pride ‘fore I step on you with shoes you call Nikes, Earthlings. How do you like these? You gotta love ‘em. Look at the bottom of ‘em, they’re like cleats.” YELLOW BRICK ROAD “…the music we all enjoy, the music you accuse me of trying to destroy.” “I’m well aware I don’t belong here, you’ve made that perfectly clear. I get my a--- kicked d--- near everywhere from Bel Air shopping centre just for stopping in there, from the black side all the way to the white side.” MOSH: “A father who has grown up with a fatherless past, who has blown up now to rap phenomenon that has, or at least shows, no difficulty multi-task, and in juggling both, perhaps mastered his craft, slash entrepreneur.” “Mosh now or die. If I get sniped tonight, you know why. ‘Cause I told you to fight.” WE AS AMERICANS: “We are Americans, us as a citizen, gotta protect ourselves.” “I’m a be the wrong one you wanna harass in this limo-tinted glass, flashing that flashlight on my a---. Where was you at last night when them assholes ran up on my grass?” “f--- money! I don’t rap for dead presidents. I’d rather see the president dead, it’s never been said but I set precedents.” LOVE YOU MORE: “You still love? Take this.” *cocks gun* “You ready? One…two…three. *gun shots* CAN-I-b----: “Hey mister, would you care to bare witness to the a----whoopin’ I’m about to adminster?” SPEND SOME TIME: “…till you pull up and see some other dude’s car parked and reach up under the seat as your heart starts to beat, before you make a decision that’s life altering.” MOCKINGBIRD: “Papa’s a rolling stone, mama developed a habit, and it all happened too fast for either one of us to grab it.” COME ON IN: “Stop sleeping on my roof, b----.” “Hip-hop isn’t a sport anymore when you gotta go and resort back into that s---. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but my passion is to smash anyone rapping without having to slap him. Believe me, I’d much rather lift a pencil than a pistol when I’m pissed now, but it all depends on just how far it gets took on the mic." “You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone.” ENCORE: “Enough with all the pissing and moaning, whining and bitching. Sit and observe; listen, you’ll learn if you and pay attention why I have ten multiplatinum albums, later three diamond, worldwide, we’re on the charts with a bullet and still climbing.” “…whom if it wasn’t for rap to bridge the gap may have been raised to be racist, or may have never got to see our faces, grace the cover of Rolling Stone pages, broke down barriers of language and races.” MY 1ST SINGLE “Shady’s the label, Aftermath is the stable that the horses come outta, of course we’re bout to stir up some s---.” “Geronimo! MFers is dominos, I’m on a roll.” “I’m at the top of my game, that s--- is not gonna change. Long as I got Dr. Dre on my team I’ll get away with murder….I’m like O.J, he’s like my Cochrane today, we keep the Mark Furman tapes in a safe, lock ‘em away.”
Monday at 7:44 PM @EminemSXN @CavalierTD @EvinemKobe24 @PistolPistol @Noid @Krazee D @Hip Hop Gawd @MikkelR1 @Oldboy @icecube @cz1nonly @KMann If there's a mod that can mention everybody, I'm not sure how to do that; just had some names of some of the old heads that used to be in here, but I think any/all Em fans, young and old, can enjoy this piece. EDIT: Think I figured it out. Share this X link elsewhere to drive traffic to sectioneighty: https://x.com/altENCORE2029/status/1906861370106130722 #ALTERENCORE
