The intro to the Lonely Planet guide to Detroit claims that the city “quite frankly, looks like it has had the shit kicked out it” and it’s not exactly a libellous statement. Like most cities circled by a decrepit monorail line, Detroit’s glory days are a distant memory. The Motor City hasn’t run on all cylinders in a long time, but it does still do two things better than most – music and violence.
Obie Trice’s life has certainly been shaped by all that his city has to offer. The Detroit hip-hop survivor’s album titles might suggest long nights downing 40 oz bottles of malt liquor and shots of whatever is on offer, but these days his outlook has been dramatically changed by the gun shots that ended the life MC Proof – his friend and a fellow member of Eminem’s Detroit crew.
When FL caught up with the rapper just before the release of his third album, Bottoms Up, he was quick to describe the 2012 vintage of Obie as “reserved” and even lists “chilling out at a lot of wineries” as the one of the highlights of his recent Australian tour with the Heatwave festival.The title of Obie’s new record is just as boozey as his first two – 2003’s Cheers and 2006’s lazily named Second Round’s on Me – and the recent compilation record Special Reserve, but in the long gap between albums Obie has matured. His next record could well be titled Fine Wine or Well Aged or perhaps he could even go for a booze/shotgun pun with Barrel Aged.
Obviously there’s a stack to talk about with your return and new album, but as you’ve just been out here I wanted to ask about your tour with Heatwave. With D12 missing shows, Kid Cudi busting up the stage and a heap of other issues the festival copped a fair bit of flack from fans. What was your impression of the tour from the inside?
I had a great time man. The Heatwave festival was great for me. I enjoyed being out there touching the people with music and just being out there again. Australia’s always a beautiful place to go and perform. I had a great time; it was great man. I didn’t see any kangaroos. We chilled out at a lot of wineries out in the country. Was went to Bondi beach; I had a great time you know, just looking at the ocean and some of the history of that shore. It was a great time; it was a beautiful time.
The promoter of the shows – Mastacraft – has said that you guys were working on a collaboration. Can you tell us anything about that track?
Sure… I mean we probably will be. You know, that’s probably a question for my manager. I remember him so I’m sure that something is going to stir up in the future.
You claimed on stage at the festival that Tupac is alive in Cuba. Do you have any proof?
[laughs] Well he might be! He might be over there, you know what I mean? I don’t have any hardcore evidence but there’s a lot of Tupac pictures coming up on the internet. It’d be great if he was.
It’s been five years since the last official record. What has been the biggest change between the Obie of 2006 and today and how has that affected your music?
I’m not as wild as I used to be. Back in those Shady days I was just an animal with how I carried myself even in the streets. I’m more reserved today. I lost someone that was real dear to me, which was Proof. He was a real important person in my life. That was kinda overwhelming for me and I had to take a break and really just put things in perspective. It’s just a more mature Obie Trice than you would have previously.
On that idea of maturity – in the gap between albums you released that collection of much older material that was recorded when you were in your early 20s. Do you still recognise the Obie that’s rapping on those tracks?
Nah! I definitely don’t! I was probably about 17 or 18 when I recorded those things with MoSS. In those days I was still searching and finding myself, still living and going through life like everybody else but I listen back at some of those songs and it’s just funny. Like Jack My Dick you know that was hilarious. It’s just me at that time. MoSS had the reels and all the vocals and he wanted to put it out. I said ‘Go ahead put it out. It’s your production and it’s something that you wanna do. Go ahead.’ So it was more sorta a MoSS idea to release Special Reserve I just gave him the go ahead and that was it.
Any advice that you’d give now to that younger Obie?
Not necessarily. I appreciated the art of music and hip-hop back then. I’d probably tell him to stay off the streets. I used to just run the streets a lot and be in a lot of different mischievous things back then. But that Obie Trice made this Obie Trice and I’m still here thank god.
When Proof was shot you were outspoken about the violence in the city and those issues and yet there’s a track on the new album, Dear Lord , where you rap that ‘Sometimes shooting your enemy can feel like the only remedy’. Do you think that people will misinterpret that line?
On that song I’m explaining to my creator that I don’t want this violence, but this demon is not going to go away and is trying to take my life so I’m gonna have to defend myself to stay with my family. When somebody has a gun raised at you have to defend yourself. When somebody is shooting at you, you have to defend yourself. That’s what Dear Lord is about; it’s telling his ‘this is something I don’t want but at the same token I’m not going to risk my life for this demon or this enemy to take me away from my family. You could see that as a contradiction, but there’s violence everyday. I’ve lost people. It’s not my immediate resolution and it’s not something that I bring forth from the jump – I’m a real reserved type of guy – but I refuse to be taken away from my family if guns are drawn.
Violence is definitely something that’s hard to avoid, but you avoid it. And that’s anywhere – not just Detroit. It’s anywhere in the urban communities and it’s getting into the suburbs. It’s not just blacks; it’s whites also. There’s violence occurring everywhere throughout the nation.
Speaking of the nation – how do you rate Obama’s first term?
Oh man! I’m all for Obama. I’m hoping he can get elected again but we do need to see more jobs created. We have seen more jobs created in Detroit, but not an abundance it [the recession] was just a landslide of jobs. We need him to work harder producing jobs across the nation.
You’ve been in touch with your Senator [Michigan Senator, Virgil Smith, Jr] about
initiatives to support the music scene in Detroit. Has anything happened as a result of that?
We had that one talk. We wanted to create a music district somewhere in Detroit. We haven’t figured it out yet but I’m sure in the future we’re gonna talk again about it. That’s something I want to finish and accomplish. I want to create some type of situation for The Arts and music for Detroit. It’s important to me. Eminem has done that; he’s reached back to the city and created careers. And I wanna do the same.
Who are Detroit artists to watch?
Well you got No Speakers; they’re a team of younger producers who are very talented. Drey Skonie – I got him on my album – he’s a RnB singer who was on Puff Daddy’s Making the Band. You got Guilty Simpson. Some of the cats from Proof’s label Iron Fist. There’s a lot of music here.
There were plans for the Bottoms Up record to come out back in 2008 and then a release date set for late last year. Has the album changed much as a result of those delays?
Yeah; this record is very much new music except for maybe a few songs like the MC Breed song, we did that a few years back right before he passed away. I still wanted to put that on Bottoms Up for his family and things of that sort; he was a real close friend of mine.
I wanted to ask about that Breed track – I guess that was one of his final tracks. Could you tell me a little about him and how you came to work together?
We would see each other out here and there and we were fans of each other’s music. I would ask him many times about his relationship with Tupac and he would tell me a lot of different stories about back in the day. He was a real cool guy and we just decided to work together. I’m appreciative of the verse that I got from him.
As the track is one of Breed’s final tracks I assume you’re quite proud to have it on the album, but is there one track on the record that really stands out for you?
Yeah, yeah yeah. Definitely the Richard song. Getting back and working with Em was great for me. We had a great time making Richard; it just brought the old days back up. We laughed and joked and talked about some real deep things, personal things that is going on in both of our lives.
I guess having a verse from Eminem on one of your tracks can be both a blessing and a curse – it brings attention to the track but that attention is focused on Em. Does that force you to raise your game?
I rise to my best on any track! We have killed many records together; we do our best. It just brought that old feeling back man; how we used to do. I’ve had Eminem change his verses before, he’s had me change mine. It’s just a level of creation that we have with each other where there’s nobody in the studio – just him and me and we just create.
So his superstar status doesn’t come into it – it’s just two old friends in a studio.
Yeah he’s my brother. It’s more than just his availability to be on my record and he up rise from people saying ‘Oh you’ve got an Eminem song’. There’s more to it than that. It’s a long days process – or even a few days process – of me and him getting in there and working.
I wanted to ask you about Detroit after Eminem’s success. There was a lot of attention on the city and labels were looking for the next breakout rapper. Did that help or hurt the scene in Detroit?
It didn’t hurt the Detroit scene. The automotive industry hurt Detroit; the economics of the city itself and the jobs. As far as music goes you’ve got some artists now on the forefront. You’ve got Tech9’s with Slaughterhouse who’s been around for ever. Then you’ve got Danny Brown, Big Shan, Black Milk, and those guys. I don’t think it changed anything.
Most of the guests on the record are from Detroit, Michigan or nearby. It that important to you, to keep it local?
Well it’s important to keep it local; to interact with local artists and regional artists for that matter but I’m willing to work with anybody. If they’re from the South and I’m appreciative of that artist’s music or the East Coast or the West Coast – I really don’t have a preference on who I work with. It’s just that I don’t really know a lot of artists to be honest. I come from the Shady camp and we kept our camp quite small in how we dealt with things back then so I didn’t really get a chance to interact with a lot of different artists, but I definitely will be in the future. We didn’t need to go anywhere else as we had everything we needed.
Both Cheers and Second Round’s on Me made it to the top ten on the Billboard charts. Are you expecting the same level of success with Bottoms Up even though you’ve been away for a little while? I’m hoping so! That’d be great but my main focus is that I have another body of work out and I’m able to travel internationally to see my fans and connect with them. We’re definitely touring this album in Australia.
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