Disco de Obie Trice: “Special Reserve”

The only few reviews on this site that exist for this album just goes to show how underrated Obie Trice is. Underrated and under-appreciated. If you're a fan of Obie Trice's first two studio albums, I'll be honest and say you may or may not like this album. This album contains songs recorded from 1997-2000. No shady beats, no features. So it has a very different sound than his first two albums, but that is not a bad thing. This album features a young, hungry Obie Trice spitting his heart out over dope beats. I can very rarely run through a whole album track for track and sit through it all. Well, this is one of those albums where I can. 35 minutes of pure, real, underground Detroit Hip-Hop. It's no surprise to me that Obie Trice soon got signed after he recorded these tracks. It's unfortunate that Obie was overshadowed by 50 Cent back in the day, because truthfully Obie deserved the attention, respect, and success of 50 Cent. If you are a fan of Obie Trice and his Shady albums, or just a fan of real hip-hop in general, this album is great to add to your collection. And you know what, I wasn't going to say this because I figured I would catch heat for it, but I'm going to say it: This album is the equivalent to Nas's 'The Lost Tapes'. Next stop: Bottoms Up.

It's been a little over 3 years since his last album, and Obie releases a classic album here, even better than his 4.5 star debut, "Cheers". I guess you could call this his 3rd album, though it states all songs were recorded between 1997-2000 when he was just 19-23 years old, and it is an amazingly great album, and probably one of the top 5, if not, definitely a top 10 album from 2009. It's a shame it took 9-12 yrs. for these to be officially released. It is shorter than his other 2, with only 11 songs and under 40 minutes long (a few die hard fans may have heard before), but of the 11, 2 are classic, 2 are almost classic, and the other 7 are good, mostly real good songs. Only one guest is on the album and he just does the hook on 1 song. As always, his flow and delivery is top-notch and he doesn't disappoint. Prduction is great as well, not surprising though as MoSS did the entire album. A must have album and one of the best of 2009 and can't wait for his next one to drop.

#1 - 9.5 (great beat)

#2 - 10 (CLASSIC -- great beat)

#3 - 9.5 (great beat)

#4 - 9 (nice beat)

#5 - 10 (CLASSIC with tight beat)

#6 - 8.5

#7 - 9 (upbeat track f/ Deuce Wonder)

#8 - 9 (nice beat)

#9 - 8

#10 - 8.5

#11 - 8 (original version is a classic however)

Obie Trice -- b. 11/14/77 -- Detroit, MI

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I listen to "

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I LOVED Obie's first two albums. This one just did not deliver. His cadence was terrible and his lyrics just did not deliver. Maybe you'll get 'em next time 'Ob.

A very good album by obie trice,first one since he left SHADY RECORDS.

Great production by MOSS.I recommend this one to any one who loves real hip hop.peace