Encore

The key to understanding Encore is through its pursuit of sheer offensiveness for offence's sake, be it the comic accent on "Ass Like That", or the relentless gay jibes of "Rain Man" - all of which seem to be more about prodding the hornet's nest of controversy that any genuine prejudice. Still, it's occasionally hard to escape that there's a certain weariness to Em's delivery, an impression that sometimes extends to the arrangements - see "Like Toy Soldiers", a jaundiced account of rap feuding, rendered unnecessarily corny by a sample of "Toy Soldiers" by '80s two-hit wonder Martika. --Louis Pattison