Album: Encore
Artist: Eminem
Type: Studio album
Release year: 2004
"Bully" is arguably one of the most vicious diss tracks Eminem ever recorded—directed at Ja Rule and Irv Gotti, with a hook about Columbine that was so controversial it never saw a proper commercial release. "When I’m Gone" is one of his most emotionally devastating songs. Removing these from the standard tracklist weakened the album’s emotional backbone.
Rating for the original tracklist: 8/10
Rating for the released album: 5/10 eminem encore original tracklist
The original Encore wouldn’t have matched The Eminem Show – but it would have been a respectable, emotional end to a legendary three-album run. Instead, panic over the leak gave us an album where Eminem rapped about vomiting on a birthday cake and shitting on a record label.
Listen to this playlist if you want:
Final thought: If you’re an Eminem fan, hunt down Straight from the Lab (the original leak bootleg). That’s the real Encore. The 2004 retail version is a compromised, drug-hazed detour. The original tracklist? A lost classic that deserved a proper release.
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. Album: Encore Artist: Eminem Type: Studio album Release
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."