Month: November 2004

Growing up in the Northwest Detroit hood

Obie Trice grew up on the Northwest side of the D. The hood he grew up in can be described as « mix of struggling families and thugs ».

Growing up in the hood, no matter where you come from, has never been easy. Even going to school will confront a kid very early to typical problems like drugs and bullies. Ghetto inhabitants are survivors and they have it at least 10 times harder as other people.

Obie’s family

They used to call him « stank » as a kid. A nickname that sometimes annoyed Obie when he was growing up:

“We called him ‘Stank,’ ’cause he was a little stanker. He didn’t like that. When he was 12, we were in the store, and I called him by that name. He said, ‘Mama, don’t call me that no more!’” (Eleanor Trice)

Obie is the youngest of four brothers names Gerald, Terry and Damon. All of his brothers are graduates with good job positions.

Obie was the rebellious character of his family. Why? Simply because he was as spoiled kid:

« The reason why Obie was sort of rebellious is because I think he’s the one that was spoiled the most. »

« Gerry and Terry, they were sort of self-reliant. Damon was kind of a loner, but he was focused on his future. Obie got everything he wanted. And, you know, when it comes easy, it goes easy. He didn’t learn the value of anything at that time. You know how kids are. » ( Obie’s dad)

The brother Obie is close to is Terry:

“That’s the only manager I roll with, he’s a father figure to me, but [back then] he was gone away to school. I’d holler at him over the phone, but the phone ain’t shit on havin’ somebody around you, know what I mean? »

Obie’s parents are divorced, but Obie has always been in touch with his dad. Obie’s dad had a determinant role in Obie’s rapping skills:

« He had a dictionary and some index cards, and he would ask me questions about various words. What’s this word mean, that word mean? How do you use it in a sentence? I never realized that he was building his vocabulary to rap. »

Beef with Eleanor Trice

Like many teenagers, Obie caused some trouble and sorrows to his mom.

Obie was a rebel who raised hell in his mom’s life.

Those conflicts between kids and parents are necessary, because they are part of growing up in an adolescent’s life.

“Me and my moms used to have a good time together,” you tell me, “and, as I got older, just seein’ the transition in her face, like, you know, her lovin’ me as a little guy to gettin’ to where she can’t stand me, that shit was crazy. I was doin’ what I was doin’, though. You couldn’t tell me shit back then.”Eleanor had also to struggle with her son’s bad frequentations. Obie happened to bring unwanted guests at his mom’s home, like this girl his mom had to through out of her living room at 4 am:

“I went and grabbed a knife long as my arm, ‘Bitch, get outta my house.’” (Eleanor Trice)

Obie also got involved in hustling and the fact that he rapidly quitted his job « because it was too cold » became a living nightmare for his mom.

But right now Obie has settled his beef with his mom. His recent « Don’t Come Down » song and video out of his debut album cheers is an open and moving apology to Eleanor Trice.

Obie Trice’s career

Obie has known his D12 fellows since the Hip Hop Shop:

“I’ve known Obie since the Hip-Hop Shop » (Proof)

Proof gave him his rap name:

« That was around ’94, ’95. I thought he was incredible. Back then, he said his rap name was Obie One. I asked him, ‘What’s your real name?’ He said ‘Obie Trice.’ I said, ‘That’s your rap name.’” (Proof)

But his way to stardom is a long story of determination and patient work in the shadow.

Track Nr15 on D12’s « Devil’s Night » album made people attentive at Obie’s voice.

Rufus Johnson (D12’s Bizarre) introduced Obie Trice to his future boss, Marshall Mathers.

Obie Trice appeared in the « Without Me » video in 2002 and he made a second apparition in the well made « Rap Name » video.

Obie appears on the 8 mile soundtrack. Listeners had the pleasure to enjoy Obie in sonsg like « Adrenaline Rush » and « Rap Name ».

With his debut album « Cheers », released in 2003, Obie made his official steps in the rap game. He is certainly one of the realest and skilled Detroit rapper signed to Shady Records.

London, Nov 20 : After enraging Madonna and Michael Jackson, Eminem gave some anxious moments to the French security services by planning to stage his show near Jacques Chirac’s gunship.

According to The Sun, the rapper reportedly wanted to stage a gig on HMS Belfast, which is docked on the Thames just yards from the gunship, which is being used by the French president, who is currently on a state visit to UK, as an emergency bolthole in the event of a terrorist scare

Have you ever watched Obie’s video « Don’t Come Down »?

Parents, moms in particular will get Obie’s touching message towards Eleanor Trice. When I saw Obie’s video, it immediately made me think about my 14 years old son and the many conflicts that have opposed us as he entered his adolescence. You might be the coolest mom in the world and even have a liberal point of view on education, share the same musical tastes, have a lot in common with your progeny , there will always be conflicts.

The words that come out of Obie’s mouths are the words of a matured man who fully understands his former mistakes. The song is an open apology towards his mom, who obviously suffered from his foolish teenage years behavior:
“I could write a book on Obie. Obie was a mess. Yes, he was.” (Eleanor Trice)

Picture Obie in front of his house in Northwest Detroit in the middle of the winter. The whole lanscape is surrounded with snow.

Obie is very conscious that he didn’t take his mom’s advice seriously when he was younger. Typical teenage behavior. Teenagers always think they know better. Now that he’s a grown man, he is perfectly conscious of it:

« As a child i was fowl
(uh) Ma, I couldn’t understand them things that came out ya mouth (daddy’s ain’t shit)
You would cuss, fuss till your blood pressure went up, then give up and slouch on the couch and drink ya liquor (fuck you dog)
A hard headed nigga I was quick temper short attention span not attending class (no) what a dummy
I would run over you honey
You confront me and say Obie you no longer have a mommy
Don’t use my phone don’t even eat my food
Matter a fact, Dont speak
It was just me and you in that house with that mouse and them traps and they gat, waitin on the day when you gon pull the
trigger back »

When our children don’t act the right way, we often reject them out of anger. That’s exactly what happens in this song. Picture Obie and Eleanor’s arguments…

Eleanor knew that her son was involved in some drug deals and it literally broke her heart:

« You tryin to kill me boy (no)
Is that what you wanna do, kill me? You wanna kill me (kill me)
Your not feelin me the beepers not that drastic
Its the B blasted, bastard
Your lyin (your lyin)
You took plastic freezer bags with dope inside of em
She knew, damn but she hated that it was true »

Sometimes as a responsible parent, you have to be your own son’s enemy in order to protect him from himself:

« I done raised two boys I can do away with you
The locks changed and the nights got colder
Im slinging bolders lookin like the bolda tolka
Fuck it im the osta
Im down for mounds ride by my corner
Like Im not gone cry (no)
Not reek the pain of watchin my youngest man (no no no)
On the corners slangin cane
Im callin the cops… »

Picture Obie being caught by the cops, probably mad at his mom.
But after all those years, after so many misunderstanding, so many hurtful situations, a son’s love for his mom will remain for ever. And that’s the wonderful part of Obie’s song and video.

Take some time to watch this moving video that is also an ode to Eleanor Trice, Obie’s one and only mom.

Never Enough clearly targets the media. It is a clever Eminem- Nate Dogg-50 Cent collaboration.

Because Eminem is always speaking his mind, he often gets so much negative feedback from the press. How many times has he been misinterpreted, misunderstood, misquoted?

As Eminem expresses it so well, he sometimes has so much to say that the words just flow out of his mouth rapidly. He sometimes even needs people like Dr Dre to slow him down:

‘ There’s not much you could do or say to phase me
People think I’m a little bit crazy
I get it from all angles, even occasionally Doc Dre-zie’ll
Have to step in every once in a while to save me
To make me stop and think about it ‘fore I just say things’ ‘It is also a matter of fact that Eminem’s lyrics need a further examination if you want to get his many and subtle rhymes:

‘ Sometimes the average listener rewinds and plays me twenty times
cuz I say so many rhymes, it may seem like I’m goin too fast cuz my mind is racing ‘ ‘

Even some fans don’t always get Eminem. To get each inch of him, you need to spend time focusing on his words and music. I admit that even the few songs of Eminem’s Encore that I didn’t like in the beginning are growing on me: sometimes, you missed a line or a word combination or simply the artist’s intention’sometimes, you also need to be in a specific mood to get one of Eminem’s songs. That’s exactly what happened to me yesterday with the song Puke. I was in the mood of full disgust. Not for the same reasons as Eminem, but it helped me to understand the song better and my mood alteration made me feel close to Eminem’s feelings. ‘ Feeling bad’total disgust of everything and everybody’just wanna puke ‘. Then I took time to listen to the song a second time and it enlightened me on the beauty of some rhymes I hadn’t even noticed in the beginning.

Eminem has so much to tell and he often gets so much criticized for his sincerity. People shouldn’t forget that he is also the product of his environment and the fertility of his rhymes can be explained by his many and often rough experiences of the past while he was living across 8 Mile.

All those difficult experiences that he went through made him become the person he is:

‘ I’m thankful for the talent in which God gave me
And I’m thankful for the environment that he placed me
Believe it or not, I thank my mom for how she raised me
In the neighborhood daily, they jumped and chased me
It only made me what I am today, see.. ‘

Love him or loathe him, let Eminem be who he is. Let him say what he has to say.

Eminem a has a message for many cowards who keep hating him:

‘ Regardless of what anybody believes who hates me
You ain’t gonna make or break me
Tryna strip me of my credibility and make me look fake, G
You’re only gonna be in for a rude awakening
Cuz sooner or later you haters are all gonna face me
And when you face me with all the shit you’ve been saving to say to me
You had all this time to think about it
Now don’t pussy out and try to wimp out, face me
Cuz I’ve been patiently waiting for the day
That we finally meet in the same place to see’ ‘

In fact many people prompt to judge him without even knowing his story nor the whole context in which he grew up. I myself have read so many negative critics from people who -obviously- did not even know very much about hip hop nor about Eminem himself.

Eminem is like a soldier who never stops battling against emcees, against magazines that won’t leave him alone:

‘ No matter how many battles I been in and won
No matter how many magazines on my nuts
No matter how many emcees I end up
Ooh ooh, it’s never enough’ ‘

50 Cent goes on with an offensive verse. Like a winner, he takes his enemies over with his ‘ untouchable flow ‘:

‘ My flow’s untouchable now you gotta face it
Uh oh, it gets worse when I go back to the basics
You go say the wrong shit and get your face split
The smell of victory, love it so much I can taste it
The spot my talk, it blaze a direct hit
Graze it, your peace talk, save it’ ‘

Haters, stop hating, you’ve already lost the battle. Our hot emcees will get you busted:

“You shit sounds dated, you’re overrated
I’m obligated to study your moves then crush you mutherfuckers
If I’m the best and the worst, then God’s gift is a curse
Soldier trained to destroy, you payin’ attention boy?
I spit shit, slick shit, so quick you miss it
To be specific I go ballistic as hieroglyphic
My music is a drug, press play, you ain’t gotta sniff it
Chew it or pop it, roll a bag of the chocolate
Get your high over and over, but you gotta cop it
When it’s hot, it’s hot
Your hatin’ is undeniable, stop it …”

Never Enough is a real hot song on Encore. Unfortunately, it is a little bit short. I was looking for a little bit more of those hot rhymes. Don’t miss track 3 on the album, it is really worth your attention.

Evil Deeds is a major track of Encore. It is well written and meaningful. Marshall shares very personal memories and all day sorrows with his audience. No wonder this very emotional song managed to move me deep inside. ‘ Evil Deeds ‘ also looks like the prayer of a tormented soul that is longing for some peace, as the introduction clearly reveals it:

‘ Lord please forgive me for what I do’ For I know not what I’ve done’ ‘

Marshall is asking God for forgiveness about his sins. Marshall sometimes wishes he could erase some episodes of his past, but he can’t. Old memories about Debbie always come to his mind and Marshall recalls his painful past with his shady mom. Maybe Eminem also addresses to Marshall Mathers II at the same time he talks to God, because Debbie wouldn’t let him the chance to meet his dad:

‘ Father please forgive me for I know not what I do.
I just never had the chance to ever meet you.
Therefore I did not know that I would grow to be
my mother’s evil seed and do these evil deeds.
I said father please forgive me for I know not what I do.
I just never had the chance to ever meet you.
Therefore I did not know that I would grow to be
my mother’s evil seed and do these evil deeds. (*Echo*) ‘

As I have stated it in a preceding article, Marshall didn’t really spend his early childhood years with his mom. The person who really witnessed Marshall’s early years and who raised him as a little baby is great aunt Edna Swartz from Missouri.

(At the time I wrote my article about Eminem’s hidden childhood, I didn’t know that aunt Edna had passed away 6 months ago.)

Edna Swartz and her husband Edmond Charles (who died around 1992) offered Marshall some stability and love in their home:

‘ My Aunt Edna, which would be my great-aunt Edna, and my Uncle Charles, my great-uncle Charles. This was in Missouri. They’re from my dad’s side. They took care of me a lot. My Uncle Charles passed in ’92 or ’93, and Aunt Edna passed away just six months ago. She was, like, eighty-six. They were older, but they did things with me; they let me stay the weekends there, took me to school, bought me things, let me stay and watch TV, let me cut the grass to get five dollars, took me to the mall. Between them and my Uncle Ronnie, they were my solidity. ‘

Debbie’s character clearly appears in the song and her sick behavior towards her son is still very hurtful:

‘ In elementary the came to me and sang this song. (*Echo*)
It went a little something like this. ‘Marry had a little lamb. (*Echo*)
Debbie had a Satan spawn. (*Echo*)’
Momma, why do they keep saying this? I just don’t understand. ‘

The absence of his dad has deeply wounded Marshall:

‘ And by the way, where’s my dad? ‘

As the song goes on, other memories from the past will come to the surface. Marshall’s life across 8 Mile, the way he experienced racism from the black side. But there is certainly an important message to understand at the beginning of the second verse: Eminem feels as he has been caught in the middle of two different communities. He doesn’t want to be pictured as total part of the white nor of the black Detroit community. Why? Simply because he belongs to both:

‘ Predominantly. Predominantly. Everything’s always predominantly.
Predominantly white. Predominantly black.
But what about me? Where does that leave me?
I guess I’m in between predominantly both of ’em.
I think if I hear that fucking word again I’mma scream.
Wild projectile, vomiting. What do I look like, a comedian to you?
Do you think I’m kidding? Do I look like some kind of idi-
Wait a minute, shit, don’t answer that. Why am I so misunderstood?
Why do I go through so much bullshit, it’s such bullshit, touch this bitch. ‘

Marshall has often been misinterpreted about his intentions, particularly as a rapper. The white community hasn’t stopped asking about his ‘ whiteness ‘ as a hip hop artist, while some components of the black community considered him as a ‘ culture stealer ‘. It is a matter of fact that Eminem is often very misunderstood and it is also due to the fact people don’t bother to have an attentive look at his cultural past in the particular Detroit contest. Anybody who knows Marshall won’t doubt his will to embrace black culture and to be a contributor of it.

Today Marshall is rich. He has fulfilled his dream to become a rapper. A dream that didn’t go without pain and hard struggles. A dream that went true, but that also increased his pain.
Marshall didn’t intend to get that big. All he wanted was to allow his family a comfortable life and give his daughter the life he never had. Some people keep telling me:

‘ Now that Eminem is rich, he should just should up and quit whining about his past, his mom and his ex wife ‘

I wish the same people had walked a mile into Eminem’s shoes. I wish they had only experienced half of the dramas he went through. Honestly, if you ask me, I think that after what he experienced during his childhood, you can consider Marshall breathing and being alive as a miracle in itself.
The experiences we had in our childhood- particularly if you’re been wounded physically or psychologically can haunt you for life. That’s what Eminem is telling us: ‘ I’m still wounded’this is how I feel inside and wealth won’t change anything. ‘:

‘ There goes poor Marshall again,
whining about his millions and his fortune and
his sorrow he’s always drowning in
and the dad that he never had and how his childhood was so bad
and how mom was a dope addict and his ex how they go at it.
Man, I’d hate to have it as bad as that Mr. Mathers claims he had it.
Man, I can’t imagine it. That little rich poor white bastard needs to
take some of that cash out of the bank and take a bath in it. ‘

And you don’t know Marshall’s complete story and he sometimes wishes he had less money and would feel happier:

‘ Man, if I only had half of it’You only knew the half of it’ ‘

People have judged Eminem the wrong way because of his arguments with Debbie. But they need to realize that those arguments are due to his mom’s sickness.
In Evil Deeds, Marshall is also trying to do a public apology to Debbie. It is his way to say: ‘ I’m sorry Mama ‘:

‘ Evil deeds, while I plant these evil seeds.
Please release me from these evil demons
I never had any of this shit planned, mom, please believe.
I don’t wanna be Satan’s spawn.
Never got the chance to say I’m sorry.
Now look at all the pain I caused.
Santa Clause, why you not comin this year again?
What did I do that was so bad to deserve this?
Everything coulda been so perfect, like life in a fairy tail
I’m bout to be hoist up in the air. ‘

After all those years, Eminem has matured. As an artist and as an individual. His mom is gravely ill and I think he realized about the shortness of life. Those few lines are his olive branch aimed at Debbie.

The greatest pain Eminem has currently to face with is the abnormality of his life: there is no place for privacy. People surround him from everywhere. All he wants is a peaceful moment with Hailie.
His life is a never ending show. The curtain never falls, and Marshall is caught up in the middle of a never ending and infernal circle.

Evil Deeds is a very good song that people should listen to carefully. I’ve been objected that this song is so selfish and so personal many times. Think twice: Eminem talks about himself, but how many monoparental families are there in this world? How many mishandled kids? How many people wounded by a hurtful past? The more personal Marshall gets, the more universal his message becomes.