US rapper Obie Trice has left Eminem's Shady Records, and will seemingly release his third album, tentatively titled 'Bottoms Up', on his own indie label.
The official line is that the departure from Marshall Mather's Universal Music imprint is entirely amicable, though some bloggers have been speculating that the rapper had become frustrated with Interscope, the Universal division which operates Shady Records on a day to day basis. Said speculation seems to be based on some lyrics from a new Trice track called 'The Giant', in which he raps: "I murdered everything when I wore the Shady logo / O is a mogul / Low on the totem pole 'cause Interscope's loco / Now I'm gettin' mo' dough".
However, Trice's manager Terry Wilson told AllHipHop.com yesterday: "Obie and Shady were moving in different directions but he still has a great relationship with Shady Records. He has some big plans for his World Wide Hustle label".
Meanwhile, Eminem's manager Paul Rosenberg was also keen to stress there were no tensions between Trice and Eminem or the latter's imprint label. He told AllHipHop.com: "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 will continue to support and work with Obie on many levels of his career. He remains a close friend and member of the Shady family".
So, there you have it. Stop speculating, OK?