Obie Trice [ tickets ]'s gangsta game sounds downright tired on the follow-up to his platinum-certified 2003 debut, "Cheers."

Some might expect that, given that the entire gangsta-rap genre is on life support these days. With that noted, however, it's still surprising to hear such a lackluster set coming from Trice. Why? Because the guy had tons of material--i.e., real life experience--that should have helped make this a very memorable record.

First and foremost, the Detroit rapper was shot in the head while driving his Range Rover this past New Year's Eve. The gunman was never found and the bullet, due to medical complications, was left in Trice's head. Secondly, back in April, Trice's close friend and Shady Records' labelmate Proof was shot and killed in an after-hours bar.

In other words, one would think that Trice had more than enough ammo to create some very moving commentary about real issues. Yet, lyrically speaking, he gets about as deep as a shot glass on ho-hum tunes like "Wake Up" and "Wanna Know." He certainly addresses his near-death experience, but he fails to really put the listener in the driver's seat of that Range Rover on New Year's Eve.

Plus, Trice displays a pretty pitiful flow throughout the disc. Flow and rapping real fast are two different things. Busta Rhymes raps real fast. Tupac had flow. Trice's rhymes are often very clunky and awkward--leaving listeners almost counting down the seconds until the hook comes in to try and save the songs.

In all, the music sounds very dated and tired. That's a shame. Trice had a chance to really take us inside of the struggle with this record. Instead, he just delivered an album that's a struggle to listen to.