Without a doubt I believe OC is a living hip-hop legend. After being introduced to his music in late 1995, post "Time's Up" was jamming the boombox. Ive grown steadily into being a huge fan of his music, Ive got to say that the first real song which blew me away was "Born To Live" off
'Word..Life'. The rhymes were vivid as they get, the realness and genereally what he was reaching on that song was the start to what I believe is a almost flawless career. From a rockin' the mic point of view.
Here are some parts from Born 2 Live, read them. Though you'd have to hear the song itself to feel it's true essence entirely.
Born 2 Live,
"... As kids, you're overlookin death
It didn't seem important or serious, it just seems curious
It was about, wakin to a bowl of cereal
Cartoons on Saturday's, karate flicks, and like
ridin your skateboard, or bicycle. .."
".. Now when somebody is gone,
that's when you realize how close you was
how close you are.. like a star
Real deep it takes time to heal
And still from time to time you wish you could find the way to forgive
and let him know you forgave
But they can't feel six feet deep inside the grave
What's left, but attend his wake, believin if it was you
he'd do it for old time's sake, damn. .."
".. One of my childhood pals hit the road
When you take, to the streets, then you die, by the code
But in this case, who knows what went down?
Bottom line is wishin that he still was around
Now he found a spot in my heart, or should I say lobotomy
Mike, know you're trapped inside of me. .."
and the chorus which is just awesome.
"We're born to live, a life to die
Life's so damn short and I wonder why".
Ofcourse one song cannot make you a legend in this game, even though some would claim it to do so. The 2nd track which I came across was "Point O-Viewz". I won't take rhymes incerptions from it but take my word that it's pure greatness. Hip-hop at its finest.
Here below is a full review on his debut
"Word.. Life". Read it at will. Link to it directly:
http://www.epinions.com/content_119055486596
Ironically when people think of under rated artists they end up thinking of people such as Ras Kass and Redman. The “Catch-22” of this situation is they forget the underrated! A perfect, shinning example would be an emcee by the name of O.C.. Brought up in Brooklyn at an early age and relocating to the infamous Queensbridge, Omar Credle first appeared on the brilliant Organized Konfusion track Fudge Pudge. Thanks to front man Pharoahe Monch, O.C. sparked up a deal with Wild Pitch records and released his poetic, smooth, silky debut Word…Life. This somewhat precarious debut is significantly hard to get hold of, but the split results of production from Buckwild, Lord Finesse, DJ Ogee and Organized Konfusion is maddening. Though not as good it has to be said anyone who likes Illmatic will not feel let down by the Rakim-esque emcee himself. As O.C. offers the immortal words of ’The effort I put into it, the harder I rock’ you know that this is no half-hearted lyricist.
Track Listing & Rating
1)Creative Control 5 Stars
2)Word...Life 5 Stars
3)O-Zone 5 Stars
4)Born 2 Live 5 Stars
5)Time's Up 5 Stars
6)Point O Viewz 5 Stars
7)Constables 5 Stars
8)Ga Head 5 Stars
9)No Main Topic 4.5 Stars
10)Let It Slide 5 Stars
11)Ma Dukes 5 Stars
12)Story 5 Stars
13)Outro (Sabotage) 5 Stars
14)Born 2 Live (Remix) 5 Stars
15)Time’s Up (Remix) 5 Stars
16)Word…Life (Remix) 5 Stars
Creative Control simply is nothing less than jazz with a saxophone looping through tinkering keys and a driving, thumping drum loop. A xylophone handles lightly in the background as O.C. introduces the listener to the teacher of Cormega’s emceeing style; ’The slept on phenomenon, the mic be in my palm and on, many wanna hold me back, cause I'm coming on strong’.
After the quick Miles Davis driven introduction, O.C. wastes no valuable recording time delving into the first ’Classic’ on the album is the self titled Word…Life. Here a patient light symbol snaps in the background as a Lifes A Bi-ch type trumpet calls seducingly over the flicked symbol. A harsh baseline waste’s no time taking the limelight and pushing forward a pulsating nodding-head dip. Falling keys lay behind all these instruments as O.C. brings unbelievable braggadocio lyricism. This lyricism is full frontal gloating quite frankly but his delivery is sharp and his lyrics are worldly creative. The mirror of Cormega pops into my head as he delivers street-smart lyricism over the calling trumpets, ’Then I, flip the money to astound this your business, this year beat, you see, I already quizzed it. I gave it a test for the rhyme linguistics, honey wanna kiss, gotta remove the lipstick’. As you can see his lyricism is wonderfully creative in it’s word patterns but at the same time retrospective. Ones not to forget this is only the first track!
O-Zone takes on a more deeper, less jazzy production style. Buckwild (one of the most looked over producers in history) incorporates deep scratching, electric deep keys and a thudding snare; nothing is left to the imagination. Here O.C. takes deeper lyrical insights rapping multi-complex syllables a words into a role of dialect. The production booms behind him as his delivery is enhanced deeply by his manifested battle suggestions. Here the Nasty Nas we so fondly see on Illmatic is ripped out of him, compiling with venomous, self conscious words of war. Even the choral cut and scratch of Mobb Deep’s ’Your first time'll be your last earth memories’ can’t over take O.C's brilliance.
Born 2 Live sees LL Cool J snatching O.C.’s production scheme for the fortuitous song Paradise. Here O.C. gives the jingling keys and heavy slamming snare justice with O.C.’s word play being retrospective on memories and real life situations. Over the keys and clicking maracas, O.C. spicily tells tales of his “innocent” adolescent, all the games they used to play and he reminiscences in the third person as how he writes this some of them still feels alive. With passion and emotion the song moves onto death and how it tears people (especially little kids) apart. He tells the classic truth of how you appreciate someone so much more when they die; the realization of the song is shocking. ’When you take, to the streets, then you die, by the code, but in this case, who knows what went down? Bottom line is wishin that he still was around. Now he found a spot in my heart, or should I say lobotomy, Mike, know you're trapped inside of me’. This is another shining moment to O.C.’s street poetic skills and reference as an emcee as a whole.
The undeniable ’Classic’, Time’s Up hits the album like a earthquake, exploding with creative juices and production miracles. Over a hugely deep snare, scaling keys and a light guitar lick, O.C. realizes the kind of battle rap that is only released every ten years or so. Striking opponents off the list sentence by sentence, O.C. confronts the commercial side of hip hop taking no prisoners. The simplistic, dark, fallen production cuts like a serrated knife over his delivery and metaphorical paragraphs. This is the sort of song that no matter how hard you try not to like it, you just can’t. The sort of song that you end up playing at least once a week though it was made nearly ten years ago. The production is minimalist and the lyrics are complex and brilliant what more could you want?? ’Speakin in tongues, about what you did but you never done it, admit you bit it cause the next man gained platinum behind it. I find it ironic, so I researched and analyzed, most write about stuff they fantasized’. Ga Head sees O.C. taking on relationship issues over another, deep, simple, keyed and ruffed drum looped production. Much like Born 2 Live the song reeks of pain as O.C. exposes his deepest emotions, telling the tale of how his partner cheated on him. Though he uses some misogynist lyrics once or twice, the production and the rest of the song are so undeniably brilliant that I don’t really notice those few hiccups. The Queens sound tears through the speakers and his words send a tingle down your spine. If only all emcees could connect to the listener like this…
O.C. decides to let the jazz come flooding back to the album with Let It Slide. Over saxophone loops, glittering electric keys and a buzzing, falling triple drum loop O.C. talks of the people his met, or are around his area that try to act tough and disrespect him not knowing what their taking on. The appreciation for jazz instrumentals is perfectly blended with O.C's harsh, but laid back lyrical style. The instruments glaze over his joyful storytelling and light, ’Old Skool’ braggadocio. He basically ends up the bigger man saying that he knew he was better than those men anyway so he let ‘it slide’. This is another splash of O.C's active and bubbling imagination.
Story ends the album wonderfully with an infectious production besotted with dark keys and menacing drum loop. Here to add even more prestige to O.C. as a lyricist, he deals his hand a one person story telling talking of how a boy gets himself in trouble and how it relates to his family. O.C. uses hellish images to match the production and boys circumstance and really creates the most wonderful story with the keys scaling in the background. Unable to help himself O.C. takes the outro and crafts a miniature song, rapping over the zealous production of a wailing backboard, keys and a light snapped guitar pluck. Here O.C. covers the issues of life and death, friendship, hope and pride. His lyricism never once falters covering his life story and contemplation for the future. This near flawless album could not end on better pretences than one this (as I said before) miniature art form.
No matter if anyone says better this album is maybe the most overlooked masterpiece ever created. Though I tend to prefer Illmatic more I gave this album and the aforementioned album the same rating and this has more songs. Yes that’s right, I gave one song of here 4.5 Stars, just like I did with Halftime on Illmatic. Though many people (including the artists themselves) don’t realise this, basically all street wise rappers like Cormega and Mobb Deep were paved by O.C.’s unbelievable lyricism. Lets go through the list. Battle raps-amazing at them. Street poetry-may as well be the teacher. Story telling-just as good as Nas. See I think you get the picture. It’s almost as if O.C. has had the perfect lesson from Rakim on how to be a non commercial, young, Hungary genius. Yes on this album O.C. is no less than a genius. Jay-Z got it wrong with The Blueprint as with the immortal words of O.C. ’Fu-k who did I offend’, this is the architect you’ll never look back on.
Overall Rating
5 Stars…CLASSIC!
Great Music To Play While: Understanding Greatness.
Recommended
Yes
..
After swallowing "Word.. Life", I to came to the conclusion that it was a classic. A lost classic, which people seem to forget. It could due that it dropped in the infamous year of 1994. Infamous because all the major records that year just so happened to be mind blowing. Illmatic to Ready To Die, Southernplayalisticaddilacmuzik to Dare Iz A Darkside, Stress: Extinction Level to Tical.. and so forth.
So my next OC journey took me to the debatable great/disappointing "Jewels". Personally I love it, I thought the beats were better. The flows he used were better, the rhymes were better and perhaps the only lacking substance was the substance itself. Not to say it was bad, it just wasn't as personally deep or introspective as "Word.. Life". At the same time, saying that he lyrically stepped up. To put it short, had say Nas followed up Illmatic with a similar record to "Jewelz" i'd say he'd be a fulltime g.o.a.t. contender on most peoples lists. Thats just my opinion however.
The one track which made me go "holy goddamn this is amazing" from his second Lp was without a doubt "Can't Go Wrong". The beat and the feeling made me play it some 20 times in a row for some 4 straight days. The Big L featured "Dangerous" was also correct. The Organized Konfusion featured "War Games" was nice, I felt they moulded beautifully for what was another collaboration between the three. Then there's the song "Burn Me Slow" which uses the same sample Nas' "These Are Our Hero's". That's also up there with my favorites from the record. Below is another review, this time of "Jewelz". Link:
http://www.audiorevolution.com/music/revs/oc.html
After "Word . . . Life" most of the rap world has been wondering one thing about OC. Was it a fluke? submitted for your approval, is "Jewelz," and it's submitted without a trace of a sophomore jinx. Bred in the lyrical stylings of Rakim, OC dismisses any critics he might have had with this gem and serves notice that he simply might just be the best single MC out there today.
Featuring production by DJ Premier, Buckwild, Da Beatminerz, and Lord Finesse this is an OC showcase. Even when paired with Organized Konfusion and Freddie Foxx it is OC's show and he runs it with the skills of an old pro. If you even marginally liked his last album turn off your computer right now and go pick up "Jewelz."
Reviewed by
Jason Karsh
Then there's
"Bon Appetit" and the mighty stumble and fall. I congradulate him on trying something different, but that juggy shit shouldve been left for '97-'99 circa Jay-Z whom makes an appereance on ths album. The track "Bonified". Like Rakim with The Master, Kool G Rap with The Giacana Story and Kane with that chocolate album. Another veteran stumbles with what seems a rushed and perhaps slightly less effort-put-in record.
Truthfully it isn't as bad as Im making it to be, compared to say another record of the past 5 years minus the standouts ofcourse it's superior in every was expect perhaps some beats. But OC tried to cater for a new generation of fans, which inevitably left his hardcore underground fans starving. He shows glimpses of his ver best, far from thought but the glimpses are there on ""Doin Dirt" and "Respect The Drop". Here's a review of it, link:
http://www.mvremix.com/urban/reviews/2002/bonap.shtml
The year was 1994; one of the biggest year's hip-hop has ever witnessed. It was the year of "Illmatic", "Southerplayalistic", and "Ready to Die". However, in the mix of these classic albums, one album was quietly overlooked: O.C.'s "Word….Life". O.C.'s classic debut album quickly started a stir in the underground scene that would catapult the Brooklyn native emcee into hip-hop's elite. O.C.'s smooth flow combined with his witty and hard-core lyrics made him an instant underground favorite. In 1997 O.C. dropped his sophomore release "Jewelz", and like his previous effort it was a certified underground classic. This highly acclaimed album was highlighted by joints such as the successful lead single "Far From Yours" and the DJ Premier laced "My World". Even though O.C.'s first two albums were critically acclaimed, they both failed to go close to gold status. After departing with his record label, O.C. has returned from a 4-year hiatus with his third album "Bon Appetit".
With O.C.'s third release we would expect more from the same on "Bon Appetit". However, that is not the case. On "Bon Appetit" we are introduced to a different O.C. than we are accustomed to. Surprisingly O.C. goes in an unfamiliar direction, a more commercial and jiggy feel. With most of the production handled by fellow D.I.T.C. member Bucwild the beats on "Bon Appetit" are disappointing to say the least. Along with unusually sloppy lyrics from O.C. , the album is almost a completely different look from his previous works.
Tracks such as "Back to Cali", "Bon Appetit" and "Week & Drinks" are perfect examples of rushed lyrics and uninspired production. Lazy lyrics are something we would not expect from veteran emcee. " As a young lad I used to eat my mush, now I'm older baby pa, so they call me mush. Come stepping In my face and get straight up mushed". Even when Bucwild hook's O.C. up with a good beat; the lyrics don't seem to match the tracks intensity. "They say tigers never change their strips, whoever said it was right?". Unfortunately it does get worse for O.C. The dirty south-inspired "Bounce Mission" is almost to the point of unbearable. Along with "Paradise", where we witness O.C. spitting about cars, women and jewelz.
However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. We do get traces of O.C.'s old self with tracks such as the storytelling "Doin Dirt" and "Respect The Drop". These two tracks show vintage O.C. as his best, depicting the streets and its harsh reality. On the album's bonus track "Bonified" with Jay-z we are treated to a lyrical feast by O.C., while his fellow Brooklyn Emcee Jay-z spits the hook. "Bonified" is a prime example that O.C. is still capable of making street enthused tracks with lyrical fire. The standout track on "Bon Appetit" is the Big L dedication "Psalm 23". Even though O.C. only drops one verse its is definitely a memorable one. " I recall getting real hot the night you died, the 2nd month in the year, the 15th day, the night the earth cried".
While the change in direction on "Bon Appetit" may turn many O.C. fans away, O.C. still remains one of New York's finest underground emcees. If you can get past Bon Appetit's initial disappointment and its jiggy feel the album becomes more enjoyable with every listen. The hype for this album was so big maybe there was never a chance for it to be like its predecessors. Still there are questions to be asked such as why was the DJ Premier laced "Half Good, Half Sinner" left off the album. Nevertheless after two underground classic albums that barely went gold combined, can you blame O.C. for trying something new?
And then like a phoenix rising from the ashes, OC returns. The year is late 2004/early 2005. Unreleased in the US, released everywhere else. (IMPORT IT, fellow US hiphop heads.)
"Starchild" is a celebration of beautifull crafted music in a new era with new emcee's reigning the charts.
"Ya Don't Stop" is OC at his best on this standout cut, on this record. On this album he sounds hungry, he sounds slightly angry and his skills are on. Like a light switch, he switches his shit on as simple as that. Quite amazing considering not many emcee's could rebound from one lackluster effort to making one of the best this year. I guess his fans must of been nagging and bugging him to return to that original essence. Here is a review, from allhiphop link:
http://www.allhiphop.com/reviews/index.asp?ID=521
Starchild
Artist: O.C.
Title: Starchild
Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewed by: Paine
1994 is the fitted year of reverie in Hip-hop. That year, three New York MC’s arrived with potent solos that served as a triadic keystone to what was to come. Notorious B.I.G., O.C., and Nas. There’s a good chance that you hold two of those names much higher than the third. But Puffy thought O.C.’s Word…Life was worthy enough to remix as Bad Boy’s third release. Just as MC Serch guided Nas into his Columbia deal, he sent O.C. to Wild Pitch. The connections go much further. But as Biggie made two highbrow albums and Nas carried the torch in his wake, O.C. wandered off into the mist after ‘95’s Jewelz with one of the most disappointing cases of shiny suit Rap, Bon Appetit; O.C.’s departure cry. Five years later, out of the ashes, disconnected from his 90’s momentum, O.C. returns with an album that burns with the resonance of a honey-dip, and challenges his best work yet. Without doubt, O.C. is a Starchild (Grit Records/Import).
Rather than prove himself with sour verses that reek of bitterness, O.C. uses his veteran eye to reflect on what others can’t. “Memory Lane” is an updated chapter to “Born 2 Live.” Here, O.C. returns to his childhood in deep search of purity, overstepping his regrets and painful missteps in life. Strong images of snow angels and carefree walks in the rain are accessible to any audience. This is revelation so good that it hurts. No matter how tough you are, you can relate. But O.C. offers his distinctly street accounts with “Story To Tell.” Amidst all the intimacy, it would be foul for O.C. to not come hard, at least once. “The Professional” does just that. With a faster paced, more percussive beat, O.C. reminds Hip-op why he isn’t a pawn in the game. Crescendos at the end of the verses, powerful language, and aggressive scratch-choruses courtesy of DJ Revolution bring it home. Starchild shuns the guest-list that Jewelz relied on. Pharoahe Monch makes a lone appearance, which aids recreating the complete Word…Life atmosphere. In short, this album succeeds in just that – bringing O.C. back to the place he was once at.
As connected to the lyrical intricacies of his former self as O.C. is, he’s starting from scratch with production. The Buckwild, Premier, and Lord Finesse production that O.C. arose on is absent. Instead, Inebriated Beats’ Vanguard and Soul Supreme fill those big shoes nicely. Just as the Heatmakerz make a new bid for soul sampling aficionado, Soul Supreme proves that he can extract more passion from a vocal than arguably even Just Blaze. Vanguard, on the other hand brings the harder drums to the table in his thick collages. All together, this album has much to be proud of. “Getaway” and “Memory Lane” are the standout beats. But there’s not a weak, or cheapened melody on here. Everything sounds specially crafted.
For anybody who has enjoyed digging for records, please know that this is an import. However, if ever there was worth acquiring an import, this might be it. Online retailers and mom n’ pop stores shouldn’t be a problem. In any case, O.C. has quietly announced his arrival. It is on our shoulders, as purveyors and lovers of Hip-Hop to welcome his return - O.C. the Starchild.
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O.C., is he an elite emcee? One of the best? Top 20? 15? 10? I think so. But don't take my word, just go cop his albums and judge yourself.
peace.
