| Second Round's on Me | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Obie Trice |
| Cover: | Second rounds on me.jpg |
| Recorded: | 2004–06 |
| Genre: | Hip hop |
| Prev Title: | Cheers |
| Prev Year: | 2003 |
| Next Title: | Special Reserve |
| Next Year: | 2009 |
Second Round's on Me is the second studio album by American rapper Obie Trice. It was released on July 28, 2006 via Shady/Interscope Records, making his second and final studio album for the label. Recording sessions took place at 54 Sound in Ferndale, Live Wire Studios in Sacramento, SickNotes Lab in Oak Park, Barmitzvah Hall Studios in Century City, The Hit Factory Criteria and Living Proof Studios. Production was handled by Eminem, J. R. Rotem, Akon, Emile, Swinga, Trell, Witt & Pep, with co-producer Riggs Morales and additional producer Luis Resto. It features guest appearances from Trey Songz, 50 Cent, Akon, Big Herk, Brick & Lace, Eminem, Nate Dogg and Trick Trick.
In the United States, the album peaked at number 8 on the Billboard 200 and number 5 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums charts with 74,000 copies sold in its first week.[1] As of January 2016, the album has sold 240,000 units.[2] Along with the singles, accompanying music videos were released for "Snitch", "Cry Now" and "Jamaican Girl".
Second Round's on Me was met with mixed or average reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 48 based on nine reviews.
Jeff Ryce of HipHopDX gave high praise to Trice for having more of a presence on his own record to display his improved lyricism, vocal delivery and choice in beats, writing: "these days everyone likes to think that every respectable artist has one "classic" in their catalogue. If that is the case, Second Round's On Me will likely go down as Obie's". Brendan Frederick of XXL praised Trice and Eminem for having "superb attention to visual details and calculated rhyme structure" and an "expanded production palate" throughout the album to deliver in telling "bleak oratories of Detroit's streets" but also highlighted Rotem's contributions on "Mama" and "Obie Story" for allowing Trice to show "historical context to his struggles", concluding with: "filled with unflinching street tales and dense lyrical couplets, Second Round should be sipped slowly for full potency. No shots to the head necessary". AllMusic's editor wrote: "Leaning heavily on a mid-paced, paranoid gangsta rap production style, evidenced on tracks like "They Wanna Kill Me" and "Snitch", Trice stakes his claim as a tough, swaggering performer whose self-awareness never undermines his hard, ghetto edge". Thomas Golianopoulos of Vibe praised Eminem for supplying Trice's "sinister outlook" with "equally gloomy production" on tracks like "Violent" and "The Ballad of Obie", but highlighted "Mama" for showcasing Trice with "a much sunnier disposition".
In mixed reviews, Gilbert Cruz of Entertainment Weekly called it "a more subdued affair" than Trice's debut because it lacked Timbaland and Dr. Dre's "jaunty beats" and with more "repetitive, simplistic production" from Eminem, concluding that "Second Round's on Me does have moments of cross-genre joy, but this round goes down like a cheap well drink".[3] Jason Richards of Now found "the Second Round isn't much different from the first". Peter Relic of Rolling Stone wrote: "full of creepy, minor-key themes and powered by homicidal mania, Second Round is wholly lacking in the playfulness that made his debut, Cheers, a varied delight".
In his negative review for PopMatters, Mike Joseph gave credit to Trice for having a "solid" flow, but criticised the "tired, predictable subject matter" throughout the track listing and Eminem's production feeling "agonisingly predictable" and "substandard" to distract listeners from the hate-filled material, concluding that: "Second Round's on Me just emphasises everything that's wrong with gangsta rap, which started out as admirable street reporting and has regressed into wanton violence which should be viewed as a cartoon, but a generation of urban youth has unfortunately come to accept as gospel".
Jessy Terrero directed a music video for the album's lead single, "Snitch" featuring and co-starring Akon. Both performers can be seen and heard on the CBS series in the episode "Poppin' Tags" performing the song. The song made it to number 37 in Sweden, number 39 in Australia, number 44 in Ireland and the UK and number 58 in France.
Justin Francis shot a music video for the second single off of the album, "Cry Now". The song was later remixed for 2006 featuring Kuniva, Bobby Creekwater, Ca$his and Stat Quo.
A music video for the third and final single, "Jamaican Girl" featuring and co-starring Nyanda and Nyla, was directed by Sanaa Hamri. The song was used in the HBO series Entourage in the episode "I Wanna Be Sedated" and in Christian Alvart's supernatural horror film Case 39.
The song "Wanna Know" was used for a Science Channel commercial, and appeared in episode 5 of Friday Night Lights, in the HBO series Entourage in the episode "The Sundance Kids" and in the video game Fight Night Round 3 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.