Lets just face the facts at hand  even if Obie Trice was a garbage rapper (and he is)  hes packed by the Superman of Hip-Hop, the seemingly invincible Eminem - able to make death threats in 16 bars, and pistol whip fools for jealousy, everything that Eminem touches really does turn gold. Taking executive producer credits on his protgs debut album Cheers  Obie Trice has been literally blessed with success before he even said one whack word. From the promise that in several copies of his album are golden tickets to meet the blonde one (why not meet Obie? Oh yeah  no one cares), to the cornball lead single  the sky is the limit.  
 
The aforementioned lead single entitled Got Some Teeth is classic Eminem material  from its attempt at humor (it fails), to its elementary lyrics: and this is my favorite song/ to sing along/ when the deejay throws it on/ and if I leave here tonight and I fall asleep/and wake up/ hopefully she got some teeth. Right. Raise the roof yo  or, lets not and pretend we did.  
 
Average Man finds Obie busting more caps than the folks that dont like 50 Cent, which brings me to another important point: Hip-Hop is seeing the resurgence of thug mentality and while there are plenty of artists on higher planes, the mainstream is so convoluted with thuggery and ignorance that its enough to break my b-boy loving heart. The bad boy persona continues with Cheers, a mediocre track that can only be described as well  mediocre.  
 
Dont Come Down has an ill sample, but then Obie had to go and mess it up by rapping. The parallels to Slim Shady continue with Obies apparent disdain for the woman who gave him life and sadness for the hardships he experience growing up as a young ghetto youth  which apparently is the only requirement for getting a record deal these days. While Eminem does get the executive producer credit  his beats are just the swap meet equivalent of Dr. Dres harder and edgier material and so all of the tracks produced by Em sound budget. Perpetual hook singer Nate Dogg stops by to bore me with his voice on The Set Up, where Obie rambles on about a shady woman (yawn). Dr. Dre also gets his flow on on Sh!t Hits The Fan - and while I like the sound of Dres voice, his flow is just not getting it so his best bet is to stay behind the boards, Obies on this track too  but he sucks.  
 
We All Die One Day finds two thugs (50 and Obie) uniting for what sounds like a cheap mix tape track. The gun talk, dont f($8k with me talk keeps on going like the energizer bunny and it wasnt original on track 1 and at 9  its wearing thin on my nerves. D-12 fans (all one of you) can be happy since Kon Artis guests on Spread Yo Sh!t whose only savior is that the beat is a head nodder.  
 
The one good track (and I use the word good loosely) on Cheers would be Hands On You and maybe its only because Obie sounds like 50 Cents Hip-Hop stepchild. Featuring Eminem  the song has a strong hook, average beat on this thugged-out love song of sorts.  
 
I might be alone in my beliefs  but I feel like lately Busta Rhymes has been good lately on everyones material but his own  case in point would be Oh!, despite the fact that the music sounds like the score from Gremlins  Obie and Busta sound pretty damn good on the track and it would get my pick for one of the better tracks.  
 
 
- Final Thoughts -  
 
While I respect everyones right to try to help their friends out once they get famous, everybody cant be a star and Obie Trice is just not a star. His rhymes are average at best, his flow is monotonous and the fact that he seemingly cant stand independent of Marshall Mathers, doesnt help his cause either. So if youre thinking about getting a shiny gold ticket, dont even waste your time  its back to the drawing boards for Obie: real name, too many gimmicks.  
 
Great Music to Play While: counting the minutes to the album ends.  
