1. A Fitting, Mature Finale to a Trilogy
With The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP, and The Eminem Show, Eminem built a hall-of-fame run. The original Encore felt like a genuine closing chapter—darker, introspective, and politically charged. Songs like “We As Americans” (a blistering anti-Bush, anti-greed anthem) and “Love You More” (a conflicted, obsessive love letter to Hip Hop) showed an artist still hungry, not yet drowning in pill-pop humor.
2. Strong Emotional Core
3. Fewer Clunkers
The official 2004 Encore had 5-6 unlistenable joke tracks. The original version had “Puke,” “Ass Like That,” and “Just Lose It” – still weak, but fewer in number. The absence of “Big Weenie,” “Rain Man,” and “My 1st Single” alone upgrades the album by two full letter grades.
4. “Bully” & “Come On In”
Though not always on the base tracklist, these leaked tracks are ferocious. “Bully” is a menacing, piano-driven diss aimed at critics and foes (including a scathing Michael Jackson jab that predates “Just Lose It”). It’s top-tier Slim Shady menace.
| Original Encore (Leaked) | Official Encore (2004) | |------------------------------|---------------------------| | “We As Americans” | “Evil Deeds” | | “Love You More” | “Never Enough” (kept) | | “Bully” (bonus/b-side) | “Yellow Brick Road” (kept) | | No “Big Weenie” | “Big Weenie” (added) | | No “Rain Man” | “Rain Man” (added) | | No “My 1st Single” | “My 1st Single” (added) | | Tone: darker, political, sad | Tone: goofy, erratic, rushed | eminem encore original tracklist
The story of the Encore original tracklist has become a cautionary tale in the music industry. It is the ultimate proof that the physical medium (CDs, vinyl) combined with digital leaks created a vulnerability that could ruin an artist’s intended statement.
Today, streaming services allow artists to swap out songs, issue "digital deluxes," and even delete tracks post-release. But in 2004, once the plastic was pressed, the art was frozen.
Encore stands as Eminem’s most debated album—not because it is bad, but because we know what it could have been. Every time a fan hears "Yellow Brick Road" transition into "Like Toy Soldiers" and wonders why it is followed by "Puke," they are hearing the ghost of a different album.
The story of the Encore tracklist is a cautionary tale about the pre-streaming music industry. An album is a snapshot of an artist at a specific moment; in Eminem’s case, a chemical dependency and a leak scare caused that snapshot to be blurred. The story of the Encore original tracklist has
While the released Encore remains a commercial giant, the "Original Tracklist" remains a fan-favorite thought experiment—a testament to the fact that even when Eminem was falling off, he still had enough high-quality material in the vault to create a classic, if only he had kept the tapes in the deck.
Here’s a review of the original, leaked tracklist for Eminem’s Encore (often referred to by fans as the “original version” before the 2004 leak forced changes).
1. The Missing "Serious" Tracks The most significant losses from the original vision were "We As Americans" and "Love You More."
2. The Replacement Filler To fill the void left by the leaks, Eminem recorded tracks like "Big Weenie," "Rain Man," and "My 1st Single." Eminem recorded tracks like "Big Weenie
Eminem has since admitted that the replacement songs—the ones that defined the public’s negative perception of Encore—were recorded in a "stupid, pill-induced haze." On Encore, you can hear the difference in vocal quality.
In his 2022 interview with Sway in the Morning, Eminem explicitly said: "If the leak never happened, Encore would have been a classic. I had a masterpiece and I threw it away because I was scared. I replaced it with fart jokes."
The following three tracks were not on the original retail CD, but were the ones that got leaked. They were later added to Encore (Deluxe Edition).