Published: Wednesday - September 13, 2006
Words by Michael Cooper
Obie Trice (Photo: Interscope)
Things are on the up and up for Obie Trice III. With a new album out called Second Round's On Me, the Detroit rapper is feeling pretty good about himself, and it shows.
The year started off on a bitter note for Obie, with the untimely events including getting shot on New Year's Eve (see "Obie Trice Shot While Driving On Detroit Freeway"), and then, the tragic death of good friend Proof (see "D12's Proof Shot And Killed At Detroit Club". Detroit is known to produce some tough cats though, and Obie is showing just how much intestinal fortitude he has, overcoming those horrible events and proving his worth with the mic in his hand.
Some might have only known Obie as the dude that tackled Moby in that video or solely for his work with Eminem, but there's more to the man than meets the eye. He's even dabbling with some acting right now.
Coming off the success of 2003's Cheers, Obie is primed to take it to a newer level with sharper lyrics and appearances by some of the biggest names in the business like 50 Cent and Nate Dogg. Plus, he's doing this pretty much on his own, with creative control, and a touch of help from some of Detroit's finest up and comers. That's saying something for a man with a bullet still lodged in his skull.
So, sit back, relax, poor your self a nice glass, and celebrate the bright future of one of hip-hop's next legends, Obie Trice.
Ballerstatus.com: Obie, how you doing?
Obie Trice: Good man. Actually, I'm in a shop right now. Obie is doing a little shopping.
Ballerstatus.com: Good to hear. So, you've got you're sophomore album coming out. You pretty excited about it?
Obie Trice: Oh yeah. Yeah, definitely man. It's like a blessing to be able to come back out with another album, you know? And add to the collection. It's definitely something that I appreciate happening. Good things.
Ballerstatus.com: Is this more diverse from the first one?
Obie Trice: Yeah, I would say the album... This album, I'm doing a lot of things different. I'm doing a lot of things different lyrically that I didn't do on the first album. It's not as structured as the first album. Cheers, on that I wrote the whole album on paper. This album, I kind of like did eight lines off the top. And then, did the next eight lines and pasted it together. So, it's more spontaneous lyrically than Cheers was.
Ballerstatus.com: Did you have more freedom with the lyrics?
Obie Trice: Well, you know, I had freedom on Cheers. It had freedom too. You know what I'm saying? This album was just done differently. It was different in terms of the approach and the way I took in making it.
Ballerstatus.com: So you started rapping at age 11?
Obie Trice: Yeah, it was around that time.
Ballerstatus.com: Who were some of your influences back then? What sort of led you to taking part in hip-hop?
Obie Trice: I just always loved the culture itself. I felt something towards that hip-hop culture. My influences back then were Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap... and then there was NWA, Ice Cube, Pharcyde, Scarface. There was a lot of people. I just loved hip-hop as a whole. So, it was something that I always wanted to do, even when I was small.
Ballerstatus.com: How'd you start, you go to the clubs and start trying your hand?
Obie Trice: You know, the way I started, I played my hustle money. I went to the studio and I would spend time in the studio for like an hour and knock out like four or five songs. I would get them pressed up on vinyl, shoot them out to the DJ's, and things like that. And we ended up getting a distribution deal. They had us overseas. It was a good look. My man Moss, from Toronto, was my producer at the time. It was fun then. It was a fun thing.
Ballerstatus.com: How involved was Eminem on this? Was he around a bit?
Obie Trice: Mainly on this album, I was doing my own thing. I would go to his studio, grab a couple beat CDs, go back to my studio, and just lay it down. I would listen to beats for three days in a row and just try to find those distinctive beats from Eminem. So, that's how we mainly did it. You know, the songs that I appreciated, that I liked, that I did music too, I brought back to his attention and he pretty much mixed and mastered it.
Ballerstatus.com: You brought some of your guys from Detroit in on this didn't you?
Obie Trice: Yeah, um, of course. There was Eminem and another local cat from Detroit. I really like his music. His voice is real distinctive, Big Hurt. So, that's how I did it.
Ballerstatus.com: Don't 50 and Nate Dogg drop in somewhere?
13. Obie Trice: Yeah Nate's on there, Fif's on there, Trey, some of my other boys are on there on that song. Yeah that's about it.
Ballerstatus.com: I saw a while back you were on "CSI" or something like that.
Obie Trice: Yeah!
Ballerstatus.com: On TV man. How's the difference between acting and rapping? What's tougher?
Obie Trice: I wouldn't say either of them is tough. I think I'm going in my craft in the music industry. You know, I go in the studio and I make a great song in a couple hours. The TV thing wasn't a big deal. It was something like a video. You have to do the same shots 50 million times. It was all good.
Ballerstatus.com: Do you foresee more acting in your future?
Obie Trice: Yeah, most likely. Yeah, right now, I'm just focusing on this album and starting touring. It's time to tour and promote this album.
Ballerstatus.com: By the way, I'm sad about what happened on New Year's to you. I hope you're ok and wish you the best. How much did that incident take away from you're being around the business and getting the thing out?
Obie Trice: New Year's Eve was like a tremendous blow to me, my family and my loved ones. It was one of those experiences, you know, where I was less than an inch from dying. I was in the vehicle, a couple cats roll up and just started dumping in. That bullet came through the car, struck me in the head, in the back of the head. You know? They wanted to remove the bullet, but then they didn't.
Ballerstatus.com: It's still in there?
Obie Trice: Yeah, it's still in there. You know, because I cracked my skull and things like that, so they didn't want to have to mess with it. They'd have had to drill on my skull. They didn't want to drill on my skull, so that was the main reason they didn't remove it. It's not giving me any headaches; my motor skills are still intact, so yeah I'm good.
Ballerstatus.com: And then Proof dying, R.I.P., he meant a lot to you, didn't he?
Obie Trice: Yeah, Proof was my man. Proof was a real intelligent brother. He was real creative. He was a real down to earth dude. It was an unfortunate thing that happened to him.
Ballerstatus.com: We have to do something about this violence man, from the broader scale to locally; it's tearing us all apart.
Obie Trice: It's something that's been going on for a long time. It's something that's not going to change over night.
Ballerstatus.com: Where you headed on tour?
Obie Trice: Yeah, I'm not in front of the itinerary right now, but I'm pretty sure we got something popping off.
Ballerstatus.com: What cities do you like to go to the most outside of the Midwest? What places?
Obie Trice: I like all over man. Any time I'm out of Detroit and I'm working, visiting other places, it's all good with me.
Ballerstatus.com: Overseas?
Obie Trice: Overseas is dope. It's all good for me. I just love to travel. There are some great places over there man.
Ballerstatus.com: I tell you, I'm really looking forward to this album, been some good reviews and everything.
Obie Trice: I'm working on my third album now. It's coming out late next year. It's called Bottoms Up. Be looking for it too next year. I ain't stopping.
Ballerstatus.com: We sure hope you don't. Keep them cracking. I love the theme you got going with the albums by the way. Whenever I see you, you have to buy the drinks.
Obie Trice: Sure thing, as long as you got the next round.
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