Monster Music & Movies

Reviews:

''Cheers'' is the debut album by Obie Trice, released on September 23, 2003 after he was signed to Shady Records in 2000. The title track "Cheers" celebrates Obie's successful debut into the rap game after being in the Detroit underground for many years. The album's title is a homage to the long running NBC sitcom ''of the same name'', and the album cover features a logo similar to that used on the show.

The album consists of 17 tracks, with executive production from Eminem, and additional production by Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Mike Elizondo, Emile, Fredwreck and Denaun Porter. Artists featuring on Cheers include Busta Rhymes, D12, Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Timbaland.

Topics Obie has touched on this album include his life on the streets of Detroit, problems with his mother, relationships with women and the soulful reminder that, despite having made it into the mainstream, he has not forgotten his friends.

This album contains no skit tracks, unlike other albums made by artists on the Shady label. - Wikipedia

Modesty is a rare trait in hip-hop, and rarer still among members of the Slim Shady camp. But when Obie Trice promises "Eminem gave the clearance/ So I'm here to show you niggas brilliance" on his debut album, it's one of the MC's few displays of ego. If 50 Cent is less a dis king than a playa whose thoroughgoing nonchalance makes his needling sting harder, Obie Trice is a workaday rhymer without much of a chip on his shoulder at all. There's almost nothing of Trice's own personality in his entrees into the anti-Ja Rule fray, "S*** Hits the Fan" and "We All Die One Day"-those songs are owned by their guest stars (Dr. Dre on the first, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and Eminem on the second).

Trice sounds more like an indie-label rapper than a street-endorsed hotshot bankrolled by the biggest star in hip-hop, his rhymes self-deprecating as often as not. The single "Got Some Teeth" not only features Trice hoping his bad one-night stand works out OK (the title refers to what he hopes she has in the morning), it's got an Eminem production that hews closer to his goofy side ("Without Me") than the stern-faced stuff that dominated The Eminem Show and Get Rich or Die Tryin'. (Em sounds a lot looser on his four guest spots here than he did on 50's album, too.) Cheers rarely announces itself as the biggest and baddest-assed around, even when Dr. Dre or Timbaland take over the production, but its low-key charm works in the album's favor.