As great an emcee as Eminem was during the peak of his career, he's never translated that into much success as a talent scout. Not unlike Michael Jordan's repeated drafting of players that have displayed neither the talent nor the heart that #23 was known for during his own prime, Mr. Mathers' selection of rappers for the Shady Aftermath roster (not to mention the imprint's NBDL affiliate, G-Unit Records) has rarely shown even a hint of his own lyrical abilities.
Proof was just starting to come into his own as an emcee, finally stepping out from Eminem's shadow with the release of the severely underrated Searching For Jerry Garcia, when his real life reenactment of "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong" ended in tragedy. That left Obie Trice as the only remaining artist that Em had signed to Shady Aftermath deserving of the label "emcee." As one of the better lyricists in the game, Obie seemed to have everything in place to become a big name rapper: production from Dr. Dre, collaborations with Eminem and 50 Cent back when that meant something, a single made for MTV's TRL and a summer anthem. Unfortunately, Obie never seemed to catch on to the fact that in today's world of hip hop, it's as much about all about showmanship if you want to sell records. To build buzz for your album, you need a gimmick: a staged beef, a sex tape, a domestic disturbance - anything that appeals to the lowest common denominator and keeps your name in circulation. That left him on the outside looking in when the new economic reality hit the music business, where an artist without a history of multi-platinum albums or Top 10 ringtones is an expense that the major labels can no longer afford.
No longer on Shady Aftermath, Obie Trice is now working on his third album for his own label, World Wide Hustle. Without the backing of a major label, and with the smaller budget that comes with working for yourself, Obie seems to be relying less on big name producers and more on spreading his wings creatively. As an example of that, today I received a remix that he did for LA-based indie rock group Julie the Band. It seemed like a fairly odd collaboration, so I asked Obie's rep how it came about:
Their keyboardist, Mark Nilan Jr.'s Dad, owns a studio called Livewire in Detroit, where Obie had recorded his second album, Second Round's On Me. Obie was in that studio working on his third album and Mark's dad played the stuff for Obie and asked if he wanted to do a remix. Obie was beyond excited and did "Foggin up a clear view."
The last time Obie mixed hip hop with rock, it became the high point of the entire Entourage series and one of the best songs of the past decade. His collaboration with Julie the Band doesn't quite reach those same heights, but it's easily the most interesting track to end up in my inbox the past several days. It's unlikely to lead many of Trice's fans to go out and cop a Julie the Band cd (nor vice-versa), but fans of both artists should be pretty happy with the song.
The original version of Foggin Up a Clear View can be found on Julie the Band's album An Act of Communication. The remix will be on Obie's as-yet-untitled third album.
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