iHipHop Interview: Obie Trice: Open Bar

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Right now, the house that Eminem built, better known as Shady Records has a new set of faces with a new name; Shady 2.0.

But before the 4-headed monster recognized as Slaughterhouse, and the rapid-fire specialist, Yelawolf all signed their government names onto Shady contracts; the original stable of verbal assassins included one Obie Trice.

After making headway with his gold-selling debut, Cheers, the Detroit MC who got his deal by rapping for Eminem through a car window, whilst Eminem sat in the car released his sophomore effort Second Round’s On Me, also through the powerhouse label.

It failed to garner the same amount of success as his previous record, and soon following that, the man who uses his real name as his stage name was off to make it on his own via his Black Market Entertainment imprint.

He went onto release a collaborative project, Special Reserve with Moss back in 2009, and the lyricist who still has the bullet lodged in his skull from a 2005 shooting is once again on the scene with his newest project, Bottom’s Up; in addition to his DJ Whoo Kid-assisted mixtape Watch The Chrome serving as the appetizer.

So now with the dinner table set, the only thing left needed are drinks, and by now, you should already know that Obie always has the covered.

 

 

iHipHop.com: You’re back on the scene with your Watch The Chrome mixtape that you just dropped with DJ Whoo Kid… So what can people expect to hear from your upcoming studio album, Bottom’s Up?

Obie Trice: Bottom’s Up is going to be vintage Obie Trice music… If you were ever a fan of my music, it’s more of the same…

Streets, club; it’s just all over the place… Its just good music coming out April 3rd

iHipHop.com: I saw that you have some work from [Dr.] Dre on there, so was it hard to track him down for the project?

Obie Trice: Nah, it wasn’t hard to track [Dr.] Dre… He was able to send me the music, and I knocked it out… It was pretty easy actually…

iHipHop.com: You also have some work from Eminem on Bottom’s Up too… A lot of people think you left Shady [Records] on bad terms… So can you break down what Eminem did for you on the album, and your relationship with him?

Obie Trice: We’ve always had a great relationship… He actually did ‘Going Nowhere’ for me on Bottom’s Up, and he’s featured on ‘Richard,’ which was produced by Statik Selektah out in New York… Em has always been there for me… Whenever I need something, he’s down…

iHipHop.com: Watch The Chrome and Bottom’s Up are the first two projects that you put out since the release of Special Reserve with Moss back in 2009… So was there any reason for the three-year hiatus?

Obie Trice: Sometimes, the music business gets overwhelming, and sometimes you have to sit out… I just felt like I had to chill a little bit… I just had to deal with some personal things outside of the music, and that’s what it was…

iHipHop.com: Has the transition been difficult going back and forth from CEO of your Black Market Entertainment label to an artist?

Obie Trice: Nah… I think I know good music, and I know artists that are really about working… I know artists that are really about working, and not about the bullsh!t…

iHipHop.com: Throughout your career, you haven’t really been known as the type of artist that jumps on someone else’s remix, or on their album for features… Is that all by design? Is that something you plan on changing?

Obie Trice: On Watch The Chrome, I jumped on a few artists remixes… Back then when I was with Shady [Records], it was more of a family thing… It was more of a family type of situation… But right now, whatever I’m feeling, I’m going to get up on it… When I was with Shady [Records], we were just keeping it all in-house…

iHipHop.com: One of your all-time popular songs is ‘Cry Now’ from your second album, Second Round’s On Me… Can you just touch on what your mindset was during the time you were creating that song?

Obie Trice: Oh man, I blacked out on that one… That was right after I got shot [Laughs]… I actually didn’t write that down, it was all off the top… I haven’t written anything down since Cheers… I was just going in, and Proof heard it right before he died, and he went crazy…

That was a special moment for me, even though it was a tragic moment for me; you understand? I just felt the music, and went it… I know a lot of people who felt that song, so I appreciate you for bringing that up…

iHipHop.com: I appreciate you for creating it [Laughs]… So you haven’t written down any lyrics since your first album?

Obie Trice: Yeah… Second Round’s On Me was just me punching in eight bars, thinking about my next eight, and then going back in… Second Round’s On Me was a classic album, and the only reason why it didn’t get as much push as it should have was because me and Jimmy Iovine wasn’t getting along…

But that was a great album, and nothing was written… I want people to go back, and really listen to Second Round’s On Me before they listen to Bottom’s Up

iHipHop.com: So, Bottom’s Up is the format? Nothing was written down?

Obie Trice: Yeah, I didn’t write anything down… I don’t even write anymore, I just basically listen to my thoughts, see where it takes me, and ride with it…

I haven’t written anything on paper since Cheers… Some people say that was a classic album, and some people say Second Round’s On Me was a classic album…

So since 2003, I haven’t wrote any music down physically on paper… Maybe it has a little to do with Jay-Z, maybe it has a little influence from Nas, and people like that; and at the same token, Biggie

But at the same time, I know what I want to say for the first eight lines, then I take a break, and go back to work for the next eight… That’s just how I work…

iHipHop.com: With the landscape of Hip-Hop always changing, factored in with your three-year break; do you feel like you’re reintroducing yourself to the people?

Obie Trice: Yeah, definitely… I think with the hiatus I was on, it’s definitely a reintroduction… Hopefully the listener can listen to the music, and listen to what I’m saying in the music, and still feel like “Obie” has something to say…

There are a lot of artists out right now, so there’s a whole lot of music, but at the same time; the fans that do appreciate “Obie Trice” will listen and appreciate the album…

iHipHip.com: I just want to touch on a soft subject for a moment… There’s no surprise that you were really close to your mother, and you made no secrets about that through your music… So when you lost her to breast cancer, was it hard to get back on that musical horse?

Obie Trice: Yeah, it was kind of hard… I didn’t make a record for my mother on this album… It was definitely even hard for me to speak on it… I did a little bit on the ‘New Day’ joint on Watch The Chrome, and that was just a brief expression… I still can’t really find the words to make a record about her…

So it was definitely hard for me to really express myself after she passed… That’s the lady that’s been in my life for the first 33 years, and it was really difficult for me to lose her. It’s still a challenge for me not having her, because she was my best friend…

iHipHop.com: With you going through that tragedy, along with your shooting back in 2005, how has those events changed your perspective on life?

Obie Trice: It just gave me the view of having to really watch your situations… You just have to live life to the fullest… We’re only here for 15 minutes, you know? We’re only here for a brief second… We’re all going to die, and that’s inevitable… So while we’re here, just have fun… That’s all you can do, and that’s basically what it is…

iHipHop.com: Lets get back on a positive note… Can you talk about the work you’re trying to do with Senator Virgil Smith Jr.?

Obie Trice: We just want to make a music district in Detroit… Where artists or people interested in the art of music can come down, learn, record, or just hang out and see what the music is all about… That’s what we talked about… Just having a district in Detroit that’s all for the arts…

It’s still in the air right now, because we only talked the one time about it… But he’s a really good brother that definitely wants to do some things for Detroit, and I can see myself working with him, and making that happen…  I’m hoping that we can really do something in the future…