Back again for an “Encore,” Eminem releases his sixth album, a follow-up to “The Eminem Show.” However, Slim is not raising much controversy with his tired themes of making fun of celebrities like Michael Jackson, railing on his mother and ex-wife and sharing his love for his daughter.

Despite rehashing old subjects, “Encore,” produced by Dr. Dre, is already claiming the top spot on Billboard’s charts and on TRL. “Just Lose It,” currently at number ten on the Billboard Top 100, samples “Without Me,” and makes fun of Pee Wee Herman and Michael Jackson’s court problems.

“Encore,” features Dr. Dre and 50 Cent and tells about how Eminem doesn’t want to leave “the game” without saying goodbye. It also talks about the future of Shady Records, the coming of a new Obie Trice album and rap newcomer Stat Quo.

Other guest appearances include Nate Dogg, D12, Obie Trice and Stat Quo. Nate Dogg teams up with 50 Cent in “Never Enough.” Stat Quo and Obie Trice appear in “Spend Some Time,” with Eminem and 50 Cent. D12 appears in “1 Shot 2 Shot,” a song similar to D12’s song “I’m Gonna Get My Gun.”

One song grabbing some attention is “Mosh,” which includes verbal attacks on President Bush. Eminem has often publicized his disagreement with Bush’s decisions, such as going to war.

You can’t have a Shady CD or song without mentioning Ja Rule. Rule is repeatedly bashed on the CD, like he is in every Shady Records production. In “Like Toy Soldiers,” Eminem discusses the “battle” between his posse and Ja Rule, how much energy he wasted on it, and how difficult it was for him to sit back and watch. Rule is also the subject of the song “Big Weenie,” which is one of the funniest songs ever recorded. Eminem raps about how Ja wants to be like Em but can’t, and he is just too afraid to admit it.

Overall, the CD is exceptionally good, one of the better rap albums of the year. Compared to Eminem’s past work, this CD ranks near the bottom. It gets some criticism because it’s not what we have come to expect from Eminem. It’s clear he is running out of stuff to rhyme about. In “Rainman” he admits near the end of the song that he just wrote about nothing. He should have named it “Seinfeld.”

Eminem claims that he’s nowhere near done with his career. He’s working on another album for 2006 and expanding Shady Records with Stat Quo’s debut album. With the huge success of G-Unit, Eminem will certainly be around a lot longer, even if it’s as producer instead of in front of the mic.

Judge’s Comments:
Interesting mix of review and entertainment feature. This is a thoughtful, entertaining and often hilarious (love the “Seinfeld” line) review. Maybe a little more analysis of the song structures would have helped flesh this out, but very informative for the newcomer. Also, your style is almost perfect-you’re the first student reviewer in this group with no spelling errors. Congratulations! Overall, very nice, but work on being more descriptive about individual tracks. Giving a sample of lyrics is always a good way.