O.C.
Born: 1971
Location: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Genre: Hip Hop
Years Active: 1990 -
Real Name: Omar Credle
Way of Working: Raps over a producer's beats
Associated: D.I.T.C., Crooklyn Dodgers, Luv NY
Labels: Wild Pitch, Polygram, Nature Sounds, Mello,
Essential Releases
Word... Life (1994)
Debut solo album featuring storytelling tracks and impassioned calls for authenticity in hip hop.
Jewelz (1997)
Great, if less cohesive, record including stand-out tracks such as 'Hypocrite'.
Trophies (2012)
Entirely produced by Apollo Brown. Pounding, intelligent boom bap interwoven with street wisdom.
Emerging from the hip-hop crew Diggin' in the Crates (D.I.T.C.) in 'mid-'90s Brooklyn, O.C. wielded his pen like a sword to cut down bogus lyricists on his classic track 'Time's Up' (1994):
"Speaking in tongues, about what you did but you never done admit it 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 fantasize. I'm fed up with the bull."
Initially regarded as one of the group's lesser lights because of their stacked roster of well-respected underground rappers and producers, such as Big L, Lord Finesse, A.G., and Diamond D, O.C. surprised many with his ability to shine as a solo artist. The aforementioned incendiary single 'Time's Up' became a shorthand for legitimacy in the genre; the song bristles with a sense of righteous anger, targeting rappers who glorify fake thug lifestyles in exchange for money and fame while neglecting lyricism and skill on the mic."Of course, we gotta pay rent, so money connects, but I'd rather be broke and have a whole lot of respect. It's the principal of it, I get a rush when I bust some dope lines I wrote, that maybe somebody'll quote. That's what I consider real in this field of music. Instead of putting brain cells to work they abuse it"
The track found much support from underground artists and rap legends invested in keeping the culture pure. Samples from it appeared on efforts by Mos Def, Nas, KRS-One, 38 Spesh, Supernatural, and many more. To date, it has featured on almost a hundred songs, becoming a standard around which fans who were opposed to the creeping commercialisation of the genre could gather.To illustrate the high regard in which the track is held, over a decade after its release, the rapper Blu compared hearing it for the first time to the birth of his son on the Blu & Exile track 'No Greater Love' (2007):
"This is my son, this n*gga came from my nuts. Same feeling when you first heard Time's Up."
However, storytelling and raw lyricism are just as vital to O.C.'s output. For example, 'Born 2 Live' details the death of his childhood friend, Mike Boogie, who was hit by a car in Baltimore. The track is about a complex and serious subject: how children cope with grief, but is universal in its appeal because it explores the fragility of so-called 'normal' life. Other efforts, such as 'Let It Slide', show the rapper resolving conflicts with maturity by walking away:"I wonder why chumps want to pick on I? They be like setting it off and I be letting it slide."
Approaching hip hop with a level-head provided O.C. with a career lasting into his fifties. By choosing the role of the relatable everyman, he turned rapping into a long-term venture, releasing twelve solo albums over three decades to consistently pay the bills while others lyricists wasted their money on expensive jewellery and designer caskets.
