Obie Trice talks about new album "Bottom's Up" (Rap Basement)

Written by Dave
Monday, 21 May 2007
All is quiet in the Shady camp at the moment — besides the hailstorm of publicity that Shady/Aftermath artist 50 Cent has been stirring up, Eminem and D12 are playing it low-key.
But that hasn’t stopped Obie Trice from gearing up for his next project, Bottom’s Up. He’s a few songs deep and hopes to be able to drop the album by the top of next year. Obie has only been in the lab with Daz Dillinger so far, but it’s another vet he’s recently linked with — former Suave House CEO and current Clipse manager Tony Draper — that has the Detroit rhyme-slinger thinking about the big picture.
“I’m in the makings with him about doing some management [for me],” Obie said of Draper. “We working some things out. It’s a good look. He knows a lot of people and knows how to move things around. He’s been out here for a minute, so that’s a good look as far as I go. I’m just trying to branch out and get in this game correctly.
“I don’t really know a lot of artists — I’m in Detroit,” Obie continued. “It’s not Atlanta, where everybody is everywhere, or L.A. or somewhere like that. I actually think it’s time for me to start branching off and start connecting with cats. Getting my collaboration on and working with some hot producers — unknown and known — and just make them joints that feel good and that are radio. I just want to make that transition.”
With that goal in mind, Obie has compiled a wish list for Bottom’s Up that includes Eminem, Young Buck, Akon, Jazze Pha, and Devin the Dude. He also told us he’d ultimately like to be the type of artist who gets invited to perform at award shows and talked about for having the song of the year.
But Obie’s in no rush to pull a crossover move. He recently leaked his latest joint, “Detroit Summer,” which will also be on his next mixtape with DJ Whoo Kid, The Most Underrated. Obie revealed a few tracks he’s working with, like the cautionary “Short Distance” and “Hold Up.”
” ‘Short Distance’ just talks about how a short distance it is between being right and being wrong and what’s disrespecting a man and what’s not,” Obie explained. “It’s like a short distance between living life and not. Just that quick something can happen when you trying to back a person against a wall.
” ‘Hold Up’ [has] a real banging bass line with a constant freestyle, like a different type of flow,” he continued. “A verbatim, repetition-type flow. It crazy, something different. There’s a few joints I got.”