Eminem

The video for Eminem's anti-George Bush rap "Mosh" is getting extended life on MTV and other video outlets thanks to a reedited version that downplays the time-specific aspect of the original's emphasis on getting young people to register to vote on Nov. 2.

EMINEM'S latest album has proved to be quite an "Encore," sales-wise. In an era when pop loyalty seems especially fleeting, Eminem's CD sold 870,730 copies last week, giving it a nine-day total almost identical to the impressive 1.6 million registered by his 2002 blockbuster, "The Eminem Show." Both albums were rush-released to stores by Interscope Records in hopes of combating widespread downloading and piracy.

Eminem's latest album is serving as a barometer on several fronts for the Detroit rapper, and for rap in general. Not only is the music industry watching to see if he can post another first-week sales figure in excess of 1 million copies, but many are also eager to see whether "Encore" can give Eminem his fifth album in a row to reach the 5 million sales mark.

Even though Eminem gave the competition a three-day head start last week, the Detroit rapper's "Encore" album easily topped the nation's sales chart this week after selling 711,000 copies over the weekend, according to Nielsen SoundScan. To combat downloading and street piracy of the CD, Interscope Records released "Encore" on Friday instead of waiting until the scheduled Tuesday store date. Some stores even began selling the album last Thursday.

Eminem's "Encore" album got off to a powerful start over the weekend with sales that could run as high as 600,000 to 700,000 after just three days in stores. Although the album originally was scheduled for release today, most retailers around the country started selling it Friday, and early reports indicate it should enter the national album chart at No. 1 next week. "It's been huge for us," Tower Records Southwest region director Bob Feterl said Monday.

It was like looting in reverse -- all over America on Thursday retailers were anxiously watching each other to see who would get hot merchandise on their shelves first. In New York, managers at the Virgin Megastore got wind of a rumor that the new Eminem album "Encore" was on sale in other Manhattan shops, so they scrambled to put the year's most eagerly awaited CD in their window too.

Eminem has been called lots of things during his reign as the most vital figure in American pop: vulgar, misogynistic, homophobic, evil. Who imagined we'd now be adding sensitive and humble? In the most revealing track on "Encore," the stirring, often nakedly personal album that is being rushed into release Friday, he devotes nearly six minutes to clarifying an ugly moment in his past -- a tape from his teenage years, full of slurs against African American women.

Citing Internet piracy and bootlegging as well as "rabid demand," Interscope Records announced Thursday that Eminem's new album, "Encore," will be released next Friday instead of the scheduled Nov. 16. The move echoes the label's action on Eminem's 2002 album "The Eminem Show," which was moved up a week to undercut extensive piracy on both the Internet and the streets. Many tracks from "Encore" are currently circulating on the Internet.

Re "Eminem Swipes at Bush," by Geoff Boucher, Oct. 28: I can only say this for Eminem and other talented individuals who claim that America is a police state, etc.: The fact that they are even allowed to openly make such claims on the airwaves and then sell their recordings on an open market proves that this is not the case. If Eminem, et al., were truly on the money, they would be in a forced labor camp, a mental reconditioning center, or just plain dead. They strike me as spoiled children who have no clue just how good they have it and how bad things could really be. So go ahead: Talk big, attract attention and make your money.

Weeks before finally opening here, the national convention, its red, white, and blue posters blanketing Manhattan, had heads talking. Whose speech would mean "bounce" for the party? What would the candidate say to supporters? Answers came Thursday night, as delegates filed into Manhattan's Roseland Ballroom.