Eminem Encore Original Tracklist

In the original tracklist, "Mockingbird" (track 6) sat alongside "Like Toy Soldiers" and "Mosh." It was intended as a deep album cut, not a lead single. The tone was somber from the start. "We As Americans" opens the album with a tense guitar riff and Eminem rapping: "I'm just a man, but I'm the leader of a whole nation / Amazing, the shit that I'm tastin'..." It is directly political, angry, and sharp.

Had the original Encore been released, it would be remembered very differently. Here is why:

Introduction Released in November 2004, Eminem’s Encore arrived at the peak of his powers—but also marked the beginning of a critical decline. Often remembered for its goofy singles ("Just Lose It") and the infamous "Accents Era" (which would later plague Relapse), the album is frequently cited as Marshall Mathers’ creative low point. But for hardcore fans, there has always been a lingering question: Was the album we got the album he intended?

Let’s take a deep dive into the Encore era, the "original tracklist" theories, and the lost tracks that could have shifted the album's narrative.

The "Official" Released Tracklist To understand the changes, we have to look at what hit the shelves. The standard edition ran 20 tracks deep, bloated with skits and comedic filler.

The Myth of the "Original" Sequencing While a completely different "beta" tracklist has never been officially confirmed by Shady Records in full, leaked snippets and industry insights suggest that Encore underwent significant surgery before release.

The most famous deviation from the final product centers around the song "We As Americans."

Originally leaked in high quality prior to the album drop, "We As Americans" was widely believed to be the original opener or a centerpiece of the record. The track contained the controversial line, "I don't rap for dead presidents, I'd rather see the president dead," which forced the label to reconsider the song's placement. On the final retail version, it was relegated to a "Bonus Disc" (along with "Love You More" and the Ricky Martin parody "Rickidy").

If "We As Americans" had taken its rightful place in the main sequence, it would have provided a jarring, serious political tone that the album desperately lacked.

The Lost Tracks & Leaks The Encore sessions are legendary for the amount of quality material that stayed on the cutting room floor (or ended up on mixtapes). If the original tracklist had incorporated these tracks, the "joke" factor of the album would have been significantly reduced:

The Sequencing Theory Many fans theorize that the "Original Encore" was a darker, more serious follow-up to The Eminem Show. The prevailing belief is that Em—or the label—panicked due to political pressure (the Bush administration era) and legal threats. As a result, the serious political tracks were swapped out or pushed to a bonus disc, and the comedic/gimmick tracks were pushed to the front to secure radio play and safety. eminem encore original tracklist

Imagine an Encore that opened with "We As

The "original" tracklist for 's 2004 album was famously scrapped and reworked after several key songs leaked online roughly a year before release. This leak led Eminem to record replacement tracks—like "Big Weenie" and "Rain Man"—which many fans consider to be of lower quality due to his struggle with drug addiction at the time. The Lost "Original" Tracks

Before the leaks, the album was intended to feature several songs that ultimately appeared as bonus tracks or were held for years.

Eminem’s fourth major-label album, Encore, remains one of the most polarizing and fascinating chapters in hip-hop history. Released in November 2004, the project was famously derailed by a massive internet leak, forcing Eminem to scrap several songs and record new material in a matter of days. This led to a jarring shift in tone, replacing high-concept lyricism with the "zany," toilet-humor-heavy tracks that define the album's middle section.

To understand the "original" tracklist, one must look at the songs recorded between 2003 and early 2004 that were ultimately leaked by the group Straight from the Lab or relegated to bonus discs and soundtracks. The Impact of the 2003 Leaks

In late 2003, a collection of Eminem tracks leaked online. At the time, Eminem was arguably the biggest star on the planet, and the "Straight from the Lab" EP leak devastated his creative process. Because these songs were intended for the upcoming album, Eminem felt he could no longer use them as primary tracks, leading him to record "filler" songs like "Big Weenie," "Rain Man," and "My 1st Single" to meet his release deadline. The "Lost" Songs of the Original Encore

While an official "pre-leak" tracklist has never been released by Shady Records, fans and historians have pieced together the songs that were meant to provide the album’s emotional and thematic core:

"We as Americans": This was intended to be the album's mission statement. It featured a controversial line about the President that triggered a Secret Service investigation. After the leak, it was moved to the Encore Deluxe Edition bonus disc.

"Love You More": Widely considered one of Eminem’s best "toxic relationship" songs, this track was also moved to the bonus disc following the leaks. Its darker, more serious tone fits the The Eminem Show era much better than the final cuts of Encore.

"Bully": A scathing diss track aimed at Benzino and Ja Rule. This was intended to be the final word on his various feuds at the time but was left off the album entirely after leaking. In the original tracklist, "Mockingbird" (track 6) sat

"Can-I-Bitch": A humorous, storytelling diss track targeting Canibus. While lighter in tone, it possessed a lyrical sharpness that many felt was missing from the "silly" songs that eventually made the cut.

"Monkey See, Monkey Do": A hard-hitting street record that addressed the dangers of the music industry and his ongoing beefs. Reconstructing the Tracklist

If the leaks had never occurred, many speculate that the middle "humor" section of Encore would have been replaced by these more substantive works. A "perfect" version of the original Encore would likely have looked like this: Curtains Up (Intro) Evil Deeds Never Enough (ft. 50 Cent & Nate Dogg) Yellow Brick Road Like Toy Soldiers Bully We as Americans Monkey See, Monkey Do Love You More Spent Some Time (ft. Obie Trice, Stat Quo & 50 Cent) Mockingbird Crazy in Love One Shot 2 Shot (ft. D12) Encore / Curtains Down Why the Change Matters

The version of Encore that hit shelves was a commercial juggernaut but a critical disappointment compared to The Marshall Mathers LP. The "original" tracklist suggests an album that was a direct, more mature successor to The Eminem Show. Instead, the world received a project fueled by Eminem's growing frustration with the industry and his increasing struggles with prescription drug use, which he later admitted influenced the "goofy" recording sessions for the replacement tracks.

Today, Encore is viewed as a cult classic by some and a missed opportunity by others. The "original" tracklist remains one of the great "what ifs" in rap history.

In 2004, Eminem was on top of the universe. The Eminem Show had sold 10 million copies. 8 Mile had won an Oscar. He was a global pariah and a pop hero simultaneously. Then came Encore — an album fans have spent nearly two decades debating: brilliant finale or bloated farewell?

But the album we got isn’t the album he made.

The original tracklist for Encore leaked months before release. It was darker, tighter, and more personal. Here’s a reconstruction based on interviews and session leaks:

Original Encore Tracklist (circa early 2004):

Then everything changed.

In mid-2004, the unfinished album leaked onto peer-to-peer networks. Eminem was furious. In a panic, he scrapped three of the most aggressive, political tracks: "We As Americans," "Love You More," and the infamous "Bully" — a venomous, homophobic attack on critics and (allegedly) Michael Jackson. He rushed into the studio and recorded three new, goofier tracks to replace them: Rain Man, Big Weenie, and My 1st Single — songs that fans now routinely call the worst of his career.

The result? The Encore we know is split in half. Disc 1 (tracks 1–11) is classic Eminem: political rage, pop satire, and heartbreaking addiction confessions (Like Toy Soldiers). Disc 2 (tracks 12–15) is a fart-joke carnival, where he mocks his own legacy.

Had the original tracklist survived, Encore might be remembered differently — a lean, angry sequel to The Eminem Show. Instead, it became the first true sign that the pills were winning. The leaked originals eventually appeared on Encore’s bonus disc — buried, like ghosts of a better album.

In a way, the leak saved Eminem. The rushed, silly tracks were so poorly received that even he seemed embarrassed. He went quiet for four years. When he returned with Relapse, he was sober. But Encore — in both its leaked and released forms — remains the perfect, messy monument to a genius starting to crack under his own weight.

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).

Rating for the original tracklist: 8/10
Rating for the released album: 5/10

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.

In hip-hop mythology, few artifacts are as discussed as the "original" tracklist for Eminem’s fourth studio album, Encore. The album that hit shelves in November 2004 is widely considered a polarizing entry in his discography—marked by accents, fart jokes, and a noticeable dip in lyrical sharpness attributed to Eminem's escalating pill addiction. The Myth of the "Original" Sequencing While a

However, die-hard fans and music historians have spent two decades reconstructing the album Eminem intended to make. This "Original Encore" is viewed as a darker, more cohesive sequel to The Eminem Show, stripped of the filler tracks that plagued the final cut.