S. Samuel
[With Eminem and Big Sean heating up the Internet posing together in a studio last week, former Shady Records rapper Obie Trice gives SOHH readers the inside on what other Detroit hip-hop artists they should be up on.]
One of my favorite Detroit rappers is Patience. He’s just a diverse type of dude. Patience can talk about anything and he does it in a way that’s very vivid and very clear.
He’s also a great storyteller. He’s an artist that has a very good perspective in his verses. When you listen to his music, it really makes a lot of sense. That’s something I look for, not just in Detroit artists, but in all artists.
I look for that spark, I look for that gift. I like dudes that can be charasmatic with it and yet you’re still able to know that there’s some struggle with them. You can tell it’s just not someone who is rapping but instead a rapper that’s been through a lot and has some street cred. You can tell this person has been through some trials and tribulations through the streets.
That’s the type of individuals that I look for. I like Patience a lot but I like to see what everybody is doing. When I hear Patience rapping, I can just hear everything that he’s been through with his music. That’s a big reason to why I always look forward to working with Patience.
I take note of the spotlight being back on Detroit. I’m proud to see that we’ve got platinum-selling artists and people making great music that’s from Detroit. That’s a beautiful thing. That’s something that needs to keep coming.
It needs to be a plethora of artists from here that’s on like that. That’s my focus with being me and bringing more Detroit artists to [the mainstream level].
I’m a really big fan of Danny Brown. I started following him on Twitter and I really commend him and I definitely look forward to big things for him. He just brings a different style to music and that’s why he brings to hip-hop.
I’m proud of Royce Da 5’9 hooking back up with Eminem, Big Sean doing his thing and Danny Brown and all of those cats. Black Milk. Even D12 is working and trying to put out new stuff.
Everyone is working. I’m definitely a pioneer of Detroit hip-hop, being the first solo, black artists to ever go platinum. That’s definitely something I really work to.
In 2008, Obie left Shady, feeling the label had failed to give him the proper promotional push but making it clear that Eminem was not to blame and the two were still very close. Mixtapes and guest appearances would carry Trice until 2012 when Bottoms Up became his first release for his own Black Market Entertainment label. Dr. Dre produced the album’s title track while Eminem made two guest appearances, lending his vocals to “Richard” and producing the song “Going Nowhere.”
