Cheers

Cheers Review

Being "down" with hip hop’s unholy trinity (50 Cent , Eminem, Dr. Dre) can act as either an absolute blessing or a tremendous burden. Boasting production from the latter two, in addition to knob twiddler extraordinaire Timbaland, one would think that all he’d have to do is phone in his verses and start collecting them big royalty checks. Well, this argument is as thorny as actress Vivica Fox's decision to date 50 Cent. Firstly, Trice’s all-star cast of homies so clearly outshine him; Eminem’s verse dominates the misogynist "Lady," Dr. Dre’s terrific keyboard loops and anti-Ja Rule rhymes stand out on "S*** Hits The Fan;" and 50 Cent and G-Unit fam Lloyd Banks tear up the nihilistic "We All Die One Day," that you start thinking that maybe he should have limited his VIP guest list. On the catchy synthesized club banger "Got Some Teeth" and the loosely autobiographical "Follow My Life," the focus group named Shady Records give Trice some room to demo his unique sense of humor, in particular on the former track where he hopes that his bar-hopping booty calls are not repulsive in the morning when the booze wears off. As expected, the two Nate Dogg collabos ("The Set Up," "Look In My Eyes") are two of the more enjoyable radio-friendly tunes, but they also reveal just how slightly-above average an emcee Trice is. More D12 than 50 Cent in terms of quality, Cheers should have been way more than simply the sum of its notable parts. --Dalton Higgins