Obie Trice Gives Us Nothing To Cheer About

Detroit has recently become a cornucopia of hip-hop, from Eminem to the sick, twisted rhymes of D12. The new kid on the block, Obie Trice, hails from the same hood with his first release, Cheers, but unfortunately, doesn’t manage to kick it like his fellow Detroit hip-hop stars.With Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Nate Dogg on this album, one would think that this would be an original, mind and speaker blowing disc. It’s a shame that Trice seems to fall short on all counts.
Unlike his guest appearances on D12’s album and the 8 Mile Soundtrack, his vocal and lyrical content sound uninspired, generic, and lacking. He raps about the usual; guns, growing up hard, and bitches, but over and over he sounds cookie cutter, instead of trying to be fresh or original.
The most interesting track on this album, “Shit Hits the Fan”, a Ja Rule diss, only works well because of Dr. Dre and Eminem. The song would have been fine without Obie Trice on it at all (especially with his trash talking at the end).
Obie Trice raps repeatedly about how real he is (his name actually is Obie Trice), but he doesn’t manage to convince. Even with slick production and strong beats, Obie Trice sounds more fake than genuine.