(This article is sponsored by Sounds of India)

Marshall Mathers’s fourth CD ‘ Encore’ is, in the humble opinion of the reviewer, not only his best release yet, not only one of the best records of the year, but one of the greatest musical albums ever recorded.

His topics of discussion vary from devotional love songs to his daughter to hilarious songs about random topics.  Mathers’s grasp over the English language can be just short of jaw dropping and his flow through his lyrics truly inspirational.

Perhaps the best part of his music is the feeling of absolute abandon that it induces in the listener. When Mathers raps about how he dropped out of school and realizing, nonetheless that he’s still the most literate public figure in the media today, the listener feels a similar sense of empathetic gangstaness.  Eminem’s lyrics are not just entertaining rhymes, but also convey a very rare feeling of realness. Too many rappers and hip-hop artists in the industry are transparently ignorant of the subjects they sing about.

Eminem, in his raps, relates true stories and real situations with stunning grace and flow.  His use of poetic techniques in his rhymes puts him at a level above all other competition. ‘Encore’ is a CD where a fan of rap can be entranced by every single song in the album.

Perhaps the highlight of the CD is the song “Never Enough”, featuring 50 cent.  A great instrumental beat and melodic chorus is the icing on the cake that has a verse a piece from Eminem and 50.  The “Patiently Waiting”-esque alliteration style of 50 cent and Eminem seems to never get old. It is surprising that Eminem has been able to experiment with new techniques which all seem to work in all 18 songs. One can listen to the entire album over and over and never get sick of his style. While using a unique style for each song, he also infuses each with his trademark Eminem stamp that makes them all eminently enjoyable.  Eminem’s new CD can truly be called a masterpiece.

Sid Muralidhar, 17, is a freshman at the New York Univeristy (NYU) where he is majoring in Music Business. He also heads his own band 'SNWS' in New York City.

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