Encore ABJ’s EE Feels Like a Project That Comes From Right Inside the Moment He’s In
-
by Rahul
It’s difficult to sit with EE and not think about everything that’s been happening around Encore ABJ recently.
Not just the music, but the way people have been talking about him. The opinions, the debates, the shift in how he’s being perceived. And I think that context matters here more than it usually does, because this doesn’t feel like one of those projects you can just separate from everything else and listen to on its own.
Because if you go back even a little, there was a time when Seedhe Maut were in a very different place in the scene. Not perfect, not beyond criticism, but there was a kind of general agreement around them. People respected what they were doing, and more importantly, most people liked them.
That’s a rare position to be in. But that kind of space doesn’t really stay the same forever.
At some point, something shifts. It’s not always clear what exactly causes it, but the way people look at you starts changing. And once that starts, it usually moves faster than you expect.
EE feels like it comes from right in the middle of that shift.
Not after it’s settled, not after things have been understood, but while it’s still happening. And I think that’s why the project feels the way it does. It doesn’t sound like something that was carefully put together to explain anything. It sounds like something that’s still reacting, still processing, still trying to make sense of what’s going on.
The World of EE: Mostly Built Through the Writing
If you spend some time with the EP, the first thing that really stands out is how much of it is carried by the writing.
Not in a show-off way, but in the sense that everything seems to come back to how Encore is putting things across.
You can also feel that in what EE represents as a name.
On the surface, it’s just his initials. But as you spend more time with the project, it starts to feel like something more than that. Almost like that extra energy, that extra push, doing a little more than what’s expected, saying a little more than what’s comfortable.
There’s this sense of wanting to go beyond just being good at what you do, and instead pushing towards something more personal, more complete. Not just for yourself, but for everything around you.
And in a way, the EP sits inside that space. It’s not always polished, not always controlled, but it feels like it’s coming from that place of pushing a bit further than usual.
Even on a track like ALL CAPS, which could have easily just been a straight flex track, there are moments where something else slips in. When he talks about “passive guilt” and ties it to where he is now , it doesn’t feel like he’s trying to make a big point out of it. It just sits there, almost casually, but it adds a layer to everything else he’s saying.
And then you have Neelam Aur Neeli, which feels like a completely different space.
The way that track unfolds is slow, almost uncomfortable at times. He takes his time with it. There’s no rush to get to the next line, no attempt to keep things constantly engaging in a typical way. It’s just the story, moving forward bit by bit.
By the time it reaches that point where everything comes together again, it doesn’t feel dramatic in a forced way. It just lands, and you’re left sitting with it.
And I think that track says a lot about Encore more than anything else on the EP.
Because for all the noise around him right now, for all the conversations about what he says or how he comes across, this is still what he does best. The writing, the ability to hold a moment without needing to overdo it.
Then you go into Kya Mai Yahan, and the tone shifts again.
This one feels a lot more direct. When he says, “kal ka nayak, lekin aaj kal mujhe lage khalnayak” , it doesn’t feel like he’s trying to explain anything to anyone. It feels like he’s trying to understand it himself.
And that feeling carries through the rest of the track. The self-doubt, the frustration, the back-and-forth between pushing back at people and questioning himself at the same time, none of it really gets resolved.
Even the question he asks — “kya tu chahta hai ek saccha badbola rapper… ya koi calculated, chup rehne wala?” — just kind of stays there.
Across the rest of the EP, you keep seeing different sides of that same space. Sometimes it leans more towards confidence, sometimes more towards frustration, sometimes it just feels like he’s brushing everything off.
But it never really settles into one thing.
Standout Moments
While the writing is the strength of the EP, that is no surprise — we already know the kind of writer Encore ABJ is.
Apart from the writing, what really stands out is the sequencing of the project and how smoothly everything transitions from one track to another. Nothing feels out of place, and the transitions feel seamless without trying too hard to be.
Another thing that really works is how, despite some of these tracks being very different sonically and thematically, the project never feels disjointed. When you listen to it front to back, it doesn’t break the emotion or the journey it’s trying to take you through.
In many ways, this EP captures the duality of Encore ABJ as an artist really well. It starts off with ALL CAPS and Neelam Aur Neeli, which feel almost meditative at times — introspective, slower, more internal.
And then towards the later half, you have tracks like Masti, Dilli Ka Driver (skit), and Crash Out, which bring out a much more chaotic, wild side of him. It almost reflects how this journey he’s been on can feel both rewarding and draining at the same time.
Special shoutout to the producers as well, the production across the EP is top notch.
Kya Mai Yahan has one of the most memorable beats on the project, and the use of ad-libs really adds to its emotional weight. Masti on the other hand is a completely different energy — it’s vibey, easy to move to, and one of Rijul’s strongest contributions on the project.
And then there’s Neelam Aur Neeli, which you can’t really talk about as just another standout track.
Beyond the writing and storytelling, what really makes the track stay with you is how everything comes together: the hook, the pacing, and the way the story unfolds.
Bhaskar’s hook feels almost haunting in the way it keeps coming back, especially with lines like “tere naino mein kho gaye, teri yaadon mein ro gaye”, which sit in contrast to the darkness of the story being told.
The story itself is difficult to sit with at times. From Neelam abandoning her child at birth, to carrying that weight into adulthood, and eventually coming face to face with her daughter again in such a disturbing situation — it’s not something that leaves you easily.
And what makes it even more uncomfortable is how real it feels. The idea of exploitation, of systems failing people, of cycles repeating themselves.
That’s where Encore really shows his strength as a writer. He doesn’t rush the story, doesn’t over-explain it, and doesn’t try to force a reaction. He just lets it unfold, and trusts the listener to sit with it.
The Way We Look at Artists, and How Quickly That Changes
Listening to EE, I keep coming back to this feeling that a lot of what we’re reacting to right now isn’t really about the music itself, but about everything around Encore.
Because if you think about it, what’s happening with him right now isn’t something new. We’ve seen this before, and not just in Indian hip hop. It’s a pattern that keeps repeating. An artist comes up, people connect with them, and over time that connection grows into something bigger. It’s not just about the music anymore, it becomes about who they are, what they represent, how they carry themselves.
And for a while, that works in their favour. People root for them, support them, almost feel a sense of ownership over their journey.
But then something changes.
It’s not always one big moment. Sometimes it’s just small things adding up. The way they speak, the things they say, how often they choose to be vocal. And slowly, the same qualities that people once liked start getting looked at differently.
With Encore, it feels like that shift is happening in real time, and very openly.
The thing is, when people say he’s being contradictory, I don’t fully buy into that. Not completely at least. I think part of it is that things get taken out of context, especially when you’re constantly speaking and putting yourself out there. And part of it is just the fact that people change. You go through different phases, you see things differently over time, you say things in one moment that you might frame differently later.
That’s just being human.
But when you’re an artist at his level, doing that publicly, it gets read very differently.
And the other side of it is that most artists don’t even allow themselves to be in that position. They stay careful, they stay measured, they avoid saying things that could be misunderstood. There’s a kind of unspoken line that a lot of people don’t cross once they reach a certain level.
Encore clearly doesn’t follow that.
And yeah, that comes with its own problems. There are definitely moments where you might not agree with what he’s saying, or how he’s saying it. But at the same time, at least you’re seeing something real. It’s not filtered to the point where it becomes easy to accept.
Maybe that’s where the discomfort really comes from.
Because we say we want artists to be honest, but only within a certain boundary. Once they go beyond that, it stops feeling comfortable, and then the reaction starts to change.
And that’s where things start getting extreme.
We either fully back someone, or we completely turn on them. There’s very little space in between. One moment someone is almost put on a pedestal, and the next moment they’re being picked apart for everything they say or do.
And that shift can happen very quickly.
What EE does, or at least how it feels to me, is that it doesn’t try to step outside of that and explain it. It just stays within it. You can hear both sides of that experience across the project — the part of him that’s pushing back, and the part of him that’s still trying to process what’s happening.
And instead of choosing one, it lets both exist. Maybe that’s why it feels the way it does.
At the end of it, EE feels like a project that makes more sense the more context you bring into it, but it also holds up on its own.
Because beyond everything that’s happening around Encore right now, this is still a very well put together EP. The sequencing feels thought through, nothing feels out of place, and the project moves in a way that keeps you inside that same headspace without getting repetitive.
And more than anything, the writing carries it.
That’s always been his biggest strength, and it really comes through here again. Whether it’s something more direct like Kya Mai Yahan or something as layered as Neelam Aur Neeli, there’s a level of control in how he builds moments and delivers them that very few artists in the scene have right now. At this point, it’s hard to argue against him being one of the best Hindi writers we have.
So even if you take away all the conversation around him, EE still comes across as a very solid project. It has replay value, it has moments that stay with you, and it feels intentional in how it’s put together.
At the same time, it’s hard to ignore what it sits inside.
Because this is also a reminder of how quickly things can change around an artist, and how easily we move from fully backing someone to completely questioning them. Maybe the answer isn’t to swing between those extremes every time, but to actually sit with the work, engage with it, and allow space for artists to be a bit more complex than we sometimes let them be.
And honestly, that goes both ways — for the audience and for the artists.
📌 Related Reads from Desi Renaissance
