''Cheers'' is the debut studio album by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

rapper

Obie Trice Obie Trice III (born November 14, 1977) is an American rapper. He was signed to fellow Detroit rapper Eminem's Shady Records in 2002, where he released the albums ''Cheers'' (2003) and ''Second Round's on Me'' (2006). Trice formed his own record ...

. It was released on September 23, 2003 by

Shady Records Shady Records is an American record label founded by rapper Eminem and his manager Paul Rosenberg, after the highly successful release of Eminem's ''The Slim Shady LP'' (1999). Shady has seen negative times when being part of the unsuccessful i ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

served as the executive producer for this album. This album serves as his first release from Shady Records since being signed in 2000. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA.

Recording and production

The album was recorded between 2002 and 2003, since being signed to

in 2000. The standard edition of the album consisted of seventeen tracks;

served as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

and handled most of the

audio production Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

by himself. Additional audio production was provided by

Denaun Porter Denaun Porter (born December 7, 1974), also known by the stage names Mr. Porter, Kon Artis, and more recently simply Denaun, is an American rapper and music producer. He was a member of Detroit hip hop group D12 until its disbandment in 2018. ...

Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and ...

, Emile,

Fredwreck Farid Karam Nassar (born June 23, 1972), better known by his stage name Fredwreck, is a Grammy Award-winning American hip hop recording artist, DJ and record producer. He got his big break when he became a producer for Dr. Dre's newly founded re ...

Jeff Bass Jeffrey Bass ( ; born May 16, 1961) is an American music producer from Detroit, Michigan, best known as one half of the Bass Brothers and for his work with Eminem. Career At age 16, Bass, along with 4 of his childhood friends formed Detroit-b ...

, Luis Resto,

Mike Elizondo Mike Elizondo (born October 22, 1972) is an American producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A protege of Dr. Dre, Elizondo has worked with 50 Cent, Eminem, Carrie Underwood, Fiona Apple, Mastodon, Ry Cooder, Skylar Grey, Twenty ...

and

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. He has received widespread acclaim for his innovative production work and distinc ...

. The bonus tracks "8 Miles" and "Synopsis" had their audio production handled by

DJ Green Lantern James Christopher D'Agostino (born July 7, 1975), professionally known as DJ Green Lantern, is an American hip hop DJ and producer from Rochester, New York. In 2002, D'Agostino was signed by American rapper Eminem, to become the official DJ for S ...

and

DJ Muggs Lawrence Muggerud (born January 28, 1968), professionally known by his stage name DJ Muggs, is an American DJ, audio engineer and record producer. He is a member of Cypress Hill, a member of the trip hop band Cross My Heart Hope To Die and the l ...

, respectively. Featured artists on Cheers include

Nate Dogg Nathaniel Dwayne Hale (August 19, 1969 – March 15, 2011), known professionally as Nate Dogg, was an American singer and rapper. He gained recognition for providing guest vocals for a multitude of hit rap songs between 1992 and 2007, earning the ...

Lloyd Banks Christopher Charles Lloyd (born April 30, 1982), better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of East Coast hip hop group G-Unit, alongside childhood friends 50 Cent and Tony Yayo. After the ...

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

D12 D12 (an initialism for The Dirty Dozen) was an American hip hop collective from Detroit, Michigan. Formed in 1996, the group achieved mainstream success with its lineup of ''de facto'' leader Eminem, Proof, Bizarre, Mr. Porter, Kuniva and Swift ...

and

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

Content

The title track celebrates Obie's successful debut into the rap game after being in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

underground for many years. Topics Obie has touched on this album include his life on the streets of Detroit, problems with his mother, relationships with women and the soulful reminder that, despite having made it into the mainstream, he has not forgotten his friends.

Diss songs

Shit Hits the Fan ''Shit'' is a word considered to be vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British a ...

" The track "

" is a track which insults

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with ''Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single "Holla Holla". Durin ...

. Examples of disses from

in the track are: "This little nigga,

, Talking bout he's gonna slap me, Nigga please, you gotta jump and swing up to hit me at the knees." At the end of the song, Obie spoke over the beat telling

to, "Go behind all the gangsta's you want. Matter of fact get every gangsta from every hood in the United States of America to back you. Ain't nobody reppin' with you, you can't see that?" This was intended to mock Ja Rule's street credibility, declaring that no one was backing him again and that he "fell off." ;"We All Die One Day" The track "We All Die One Day" is a diss to

Benzino Raymond Leon Scott (born July 18, 1965), better known by his stage name Ray Benzino, is an American urban contemporary, urban media proprietor, television personality, rapper, and record producer. He produced records (as part of the production t ...

and

The Source ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the ma ...

. Examples from

include a subliminal shot at

and

Irv Gotti Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. (born June 26, 1970), professionally known as Irv Gotti, is an American DJ, music producer, record executive, and the CEO and co-founder of Murder Inc. Records. He is best known for producing multiple number-one rec ...

like, 'Your boss and your captain soft'.

dissed

with lines like, 'We burn

Source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

covers like fuckin'

Cypress Hill Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. They have sold over 20 million albums worldwide and have multi-platinum and platinum albums. They are considered to be among the main progenitors of West Coast and 1990 ...

'. ;"Outro" The track "Outro", which features

in the song, was a diss to

Murder Inc. Records Murder Inc. Records, LLC. (formerly The Inc. Records) is an American record label founded by brothers Chris and Irv Gotti in 1998. The label's flagship artist is Ja Rule. According to Chris Gotti, Murder Inc. had sold over 30 million units wo ...

and

Artwork and packaging

The album's title is a homage to the long running

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

of the same name, and the album cover features a logo similar to that used on the show.

Reception

Commercial

The album debuted at number five on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number three on the ''

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

'' with 226,000 copies sold in its first week. It went on to be certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and has been certified platinum in the United States for selling over 1.5 million copies, and worldwide sales of 2 million copies.

Critical

''Cheers'' garnered generally positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 73, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Jason Birchmeier said, "''Cheers'' boasts 74 straight minutes of inventive production, original ideas, thought-out lyrics, and straight-up MCing -- even if it lacks outright hits like "

In da Club "In da Club" is a song by American rapper 50 Cent from his debut studio album ''Get Rich or Die Tryin (2003). Written by 50 Cent alongside producers Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo, the song, which uses an unconventional off-beat rhythm, was rele ...

" or "

Lose Yourself "Lose Yourself" is a song by American rapper Eminem from the soundtrack to the 2002 motion picture '' 8 Mile''. The song was composed and produced by Eminem, longtime collaborator Jeff Bass, one half of the production duo Bass Brothers and Lui ...

." So cheers, indeed -- to Trice, that is -- because his debut is quite an accomplishment and deserves accolade, even if it's not a commercial juggernaut like its fellow Shady releases." J-23 of ''

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group. ...

'' praised the production from Dr. Dre, Timbaland and Eminem, Obie's "raw and abrasive" delivery having "flawless execution" and working well alongside the guest artists that help elevate the record despite being unnecessary at points, concluding that: "Nevertheless, ''Cheers'' needs to be saluted.

t is T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...

an excellent debut for Obie and he finds a great balance of radio friendly raps and hardcore hip-hop. While he isn't going to move 50 numbers, ''Cheers'' is the superior album. I'll drink to that." Melisa Tang of The Situation also gave praise to the beats for giving support to Obie's "skillful and witty flow" throughout the track listing but felt they only work half the time, concluding that: "Overall, Obie Trice has not failed to deliver. There is no doubt that he has the talent to succeed in the rap game, but the real test will be in winning over the haters, who constantly accuse him of riding on Eminem's phenomenal worldwide success."

Jon Caramanica Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, Caramanica received his ba ...

, writing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', commended Obie for utilizing his "workmanlike emphasis of craft over style" when delivering humorous tracks like "Hoodrats" and "Got Some Teeth" but was more interested in his vitriol side on "Shit Hits the Fan" and "We All Die One Day", saying they "distract from his otherwise almost demure display of skill." ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' contributor Cynthia Fuchs felt the record was overlong and repetitive with its "misogynistic malice" and "hood life" indulgence but gave credit to tracks like "Oh!" and "The Set Up" for telling significant street tales and "Don't Come Down" and "Follow My Life" for being "compelling" tributes dedicated to Obie's mother.

Track listing

Notes * signifies an additional producer. * signifies a co-producer. ;Sample credits *"Got Some Teeth" contains resung elements from " Without Me" by Eminem *"Don't Come Down" samples from "When You Believe" by

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

and

Táta Vega Táta Vega (born Carmen Rosa Vega, October 7, 1951) is an American vocalist, whose career spans theater, film, and a variety of musical genres. Early life Vega was born in Jamaica Queens, New York and raised between New York, Chicago, Texas, P ...

*"Follow My Life" samples from "

Big Poppa "Big Poppa" is a song by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G. It was released as the second single from his first studio album ''Ready to Die''. It features a sample of the song, " Between the Sheets" written by The Isley Brothers. "Big Poppa" wa ...

" by

Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

*"Spread Yo Shit" samples from "Blow My Buzz" by

*"Outro" contains resung elements from "When the Music Stops" by D12

Personnel

Adapted from the ''Cheers'' liner notes. ;Instrumentation *

– guitar *Mike Dinkins – bass guitar *

– keyboards *

– guitar, keyboards *

Steve King Steven Arnold King (born May 28, 1949) is an American far-right politician and businessman who served as a U.S. representative from Iowa from 2003 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Iowa's 5th congressional district u ...

– guitar , bass guitar * Luis Resto – bass guitar , keyboards ;Technical *Mike Strange – engineering *Mauricio "Veto" Iragorri – engineering *Jimmy Douglas – engineering, mixing *Steve King – engineering , mixing *Rich Hunt – engineering , assistant engineer *Demacio Castellon – assistant engineer *Rouble Kapoor – assistant engineer *Dr. Dre – mixing *Eminem – mixing *Timbaland – mixing *

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

– mastering ;Imagery *Slang Inc. – art direction and design *

Jonathan Mannion Jonathan Mannion (born December 3, 1970) is a photographer and film director. Mannion has shot over 300 album covers working with hip hop and R&B performers including Jay Z, Dr. Dre, Aaliyah, Outkast, Nas, Nicki Minaj, Brandy Norwood and Kendri ...

– photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2003 debut albums Obie Trice albums Shady Records albums Albums produced by Dr. Dre Albums produced by Eminem Albums produced by Emile Haynie Albums produced by Fredwreck Albums produced by Timbaland Albums produced by Mr. Porter Albums produced by Mike Elizondo