By Jeff Clemens
Obie Trice is a man who’s lucky to be alive. The past New Years’ was a near-fatal one for Trice when he was shot in the head by an unidentified assailant. This was followed up a few months later with the shooting death of his friend and fellow rapper Proof. This prompted him to record some new songs to account for his newfound legitimacy. In the song “There they go,” for example, Trice raps about the violence in Detroit. Well intentioned, sure, but this is where Trice has a conflicting message. While he tries to appear restrained, a song called “Kill a Mutha” appears only a few tracks later.
While Trice may not know where he stands on the whole “violence” thing, he does know how to do one thing well: self promotion. With two songs dedicated to telling his story (“Obie Story” and “Ballad of Obie Trice”) he ensures that everyone knows Obie Trice, and that he’s “slung enough cane” to justify his hard-core Jay-Z wannabe rhymes. That said there are a few standout songs like “Jamaican Girl,” where Trice delights listeners with his best Jamaican accent. Even despite it’s high-points, Second Round’s On Me is pretty standard gangster-rap fare: not un-listenable, but nothing special either.
…Jeff Clemens