Obie and Eminem Still Friends

Following the heavy circulation of Obie Trice's new single "The Giant" signalling the Detroit rapper's departure from his situation with Shady Records and it's parent company, Interscope, the brass at Shady issued a statement Monday (Jun 30) reaffirming its support of Trice's decision.

"Shady Records has agreed to allow Obie Trice to pursue his craft in a
different forum free from the constraints of the current major label
model," Eminem's long time partner and manager Paul Rosenberg told
AllHipHop.com.

Sources on the web have erroneously reported that the new explanatory
track released to the web on Sunday (Jun 29) included lyrics meant as a diss to his former label and Eminem, who added Trice to the label's
roster in 2000.

At issue was the song's opening verse, on which Trice raps "Guess it
was meant / for me to branch off from my caucasian friend" and "Nope,no more 2nd place to Eminem / question if i was 2nd is the question to many men."

"Eminem will continue to support and work with Obie on many levels of
his career," Rosenberg stated frankly. "He remains a close friend and
member of the Shady family."

During his time as a Shady/Interscope artist, Obie Trice's two albums
which were well received critically, established the artist as Eminem's heir apparent.

The first, 2003's Cheers, sold over 500,000 copies worldwide, while its follow-up Second Round's On Me found slightly less commercial support.

Via

Obie Trice no longer with Shady Records

Last week, a rumor surfaced on Hip Hop blog UrbanLookout.com that Shady/Interscope artist Obie Trice had been dropped from his label.

Allegedly, a friend of Aftermath artist Bishop Lamont discovered that Trice had been "dropped off of the label for unknown reasons."

Trice, who was scheduled to release his third solo album Bottoms Up this year, released a track addressing the situation. The song, titled "The Giant," addresses the situation:

"Well, no more Shady. Guess it was meant/For me to branch off from my Caucasian friend/Nope, no more 2nd place to Eminem/Question if i was 2nd is the question to many men/No disrespect to Em, he's first/Anything after, research the verses."

Though Obie's debut Cheers went platinum, his following album Second Round's On Me was hampered by controversy surrounding the "stop snitching music," preventing the emcee's lead single to receive air play.