This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Sure, tough guys are scary. But the unpredictable ones can be scarier.
Detroit rapper Obie Trice, the latest homeboy-protege-whatever of Eminem, knows he doesn’t really belong in the same category as the likes of 50 Cent and D12 — “I’m no gangster, I’m an average man,” he admits. So, on his debut disc Cheers, he tries to come off like the guy who’s too crazy to mess with. During cuts like Got Some Teeth, he jumbles together offkilter beats, loopy samples, cartoon sound effects to provide a technicolour backdrop for his understated, lisping delivery and smart-mouth lyrics (“That goddamn okra and beans got you Oprahin’ jeans”). Trouble is, there aren’t enough cuts like Got Some Teeth in these 17 tracks. Too often, Trice takes the easy way out, resorting to cliche tales of dead homies, slinging ’caine and baby mamas over the whumping, creepy minimalism of Em and Dr. Dre’s trademark backbeats. If Trice really wants to be the toast of the town, he made need to skip the hard stuff on the next round.
