O.C. on People Saying “Jewelz” Was A Sellout Record & Half of “Word…Life” is From Demos (Full Interview)

[Awesome Wells]

Hov tried to get M.O.P. Signed as well but they were loyal to Relativity. M.O.P. & O.C. on the Roc woulda been slick.

Truth!

They ended up signing with G-Unit, lol. Jay and Dame couldn't get their sh*t together, so they missed out on some dope signings at the time.

 

[Art Barr]

Nobody is going to argue that Word…Life is by far a more impactful album that rocked the streets when it dropped. That album will forever be revered by true Hip-Hop fans worldwide. But for you to call Jewelz wack is just not true on any level you wanna paint. I’ve never been a person who ever changes the reality of the past. I don’t have the energy. Go ahead and replay the Intro, My World & War Games back to back to back to start off the album and explain to me how in the hell did O.C. sell out. That’s bullshyt! That shyt was knocking so hard in 97! Definitely one of the better albums of the whole year. I don’t know about you but I didn’t want to hear Funcrusher Plus for what it’s worth.

Stop.

Review the record.

Not this bullshyt my first playsckool toy tape review.


No wonder young nikkaz do not listen to y'all and y'all struggle.

Y'all do not keep it real for young people to listen you.

Not to mention.

For you to say 97 rocked is a lie.

As it was the following year. The second year year to be exact. Of the full starting decline of quality in rap as a genre systemically.

so stop the cap.




Art Barr

 

[Surreal]

It’s just like illmatic and it was written to me

Those dudes were young and treated pretty unfairly

 

[Heavy_Handz]

Stop.

Review the record.

Not this bullshyt my first playsckool toy tape review.


No wonder young nikkaz do not listen to y'all and y'all struggle.

Y'all do not keep it real for young people to listen you.



Art Barr

The real problem is when dudes like you were expecting Word…Life 2 almost 3 years later. Stuck in the past. Wanting to preserve the sound of a year that was bygone. By 1997 the world shifted, the music scene shifted, the experiences & the life of MC’s like O.C.’s changed dramatically. Traveling abroad, experiencing life on such a different scale. No longer confined to his block. See, life is so much more larger scale than some music scene that you hoped to preserve for your selfish sheltered in lifestyle. When you continue to move forward in life and not life stuck in your past you will undoubtedly change. Your expectations fukked you up and tainted any review you may have given from your boxed in perspective. I’m not a music reviewer. Neither are you. Peace.

 

[Zero]

I love Jewelz

People who weren’t around back then don’t realize how divided rap was between the mainstream and independent/underground wheter it was between fans or rappers

If you had one rnb hook on your album in the 90’s you were considered a sellout

Yep

 

[Heavy_Handz]

Yep

Dudes had to be dusty and corny to say this was selling out. Classic record with crazy ill vibes

 

[NV-ME]

Dudes had to be dusty and corny to say this was selling out. Classic record with crazy ill vibes

its absurd looking back, but that "keep it real" subculture was incredibly protective over what they deemed "real hiphop."

and i agree with the sentiment in this thread, but if their energy was in fear of what could come to pass...

 

[Heavy_Handz]

its absurd looking back, but that "keep it real" subculture was incredibly protective over what they deemed "real hiphop."

and i agree with the sentiment in this thread, but if their energy was in fear of what could come to pass...

You right It was two sides of the coin

 

[DANJ!]

Dudes had to be dusty and corny to say this was selling out. Classic record with crazy ill vibes

Funny thing is... they acted like this was the first time they ever heard someone singing on a Tribe record...

It was a lot of hypocrisy going on back then, and even though I understood some of the criticisms, it also seemed hypocritical and also hyper-critical from people who just wanted hip-hop to stay the way they liked it in one very particular timeframe.

 

[Heavy_Handz]

Funny thing is... they acted like this was the first time they ever heard someone singing on a Tribe record...

It was a lot of hypocrisy going on back then, and even though I understood some of the criticisms, it also seemed hypocritical and also hyper-critical from people who just wanted hip-hop to stay the way they liked it in one very particular timeframe.

Very shallow minded. It was a fine line between artistic expansion & straight up selling out. If you couldn’t make out the difference you probably were stuck in a time warp.

 

[MurderToCassette]

Word Life is one of my favorite albums of all time, shyt is a front to back classic. Outside of My World, The Crow, The Chosen One, M.U.G., and the title track, Jewelz was a disappointment to me. The beat for War Games sounds demo-ish (and I'm a Premo stan), and Organized Konfusion doesn't even rhyme on it. Also was never a big fan of the 7th Wonder flip on Dangerous. The beat selection is all over the place.

Thematically Word Life touches on deeper and broader range of topics. The darker sound through most of the record really ties it together and that it was mostly done by one producer really helps it sound more focused IMO.

 

[Awesome Wells]

That was the problem. O never stood out from the crowd. He was never wack, but didn't have that charisma that stars have. So he was in the lyrical miracle lane ever since Organized Konfusion. Anyway, girls heard the single and liked it, danced along and all but there was nothing else there for them. Besides, Mase was ruling that lane at the time.

This is true.

O is a dope MC, but he's always had trouble with having an identify. He's tried a lot of different lanes and vibes, and ran with a lot of different camps in Hip Hop, but he doesn't have anything that really made him stand out. And in Hip Hop, for you to be successful, people have to have something they know they can come to you for, that you probably do better than every other MC. He never had that thing.

Word...Life is mad classic, but most people didn't pick it up when itdropped because he was on Hip Hop's worst label ever in Wild Pitch and had no promotion or marketing behind it. So it hasn't been easy for dude.

 

[Awesome Wells]

Word Life is one of my favorite albums of all time, shyt is a front to back classic. Outside of My World, The Crow, The Chosen One, M.U.G., and the title track, Jewelz was a disappointment to me. The beat for War Games sounds demo-ish (and I'm a Premo stan), and Organized Konfusion doesn't even rhyme on it. Also was never a big fan of the 7th Wonder flip on Dangerous. The beat selection is all over the place.

Thematically Word Life touches on deeper and broader range of topics. The darker sound through most of the record really ties it together and that it was mostly done by one producer really helps it sound more focused IMO.

I actually loved "War Games", lol.

But this whole post is on point. "M.U.G." is probably my favorite joint on the album, away from the singles and 'The Chosen One". But as you said, the production was all over the place. The album wasn't as cohesive as I expected it to be. Word...Life was put together so well, I thought the follow-up with a bigger budget would've picked right up where he left off with Buckwild and Finesse. I always had higher expectations for a record with Big L. I can't even listen to "Dangerous". Always felt that using that sample was corny. Especially for a DITC affiliate. That felt like a cheap reach for a Puff vibe.

'97-'98 had a lot of underground MC's not knowing what kinda music they wanted to make. People seemed like they were having a hard time with the climate of the culture changing and a lot of the dudes back then lost their way because of it. There were some that just stuck to what they did well, but mad MC's tried really hard to hop in lanes that they didn't belong in, and that sh*t resulted in albums that felt off or just all over the place.

 

[Grand_Verbalizer]

It's weird to me that "You And Yours" hasn't been mentioned at all here, one of the better tracks.

But @Art Barr is right, Pandering should be called out and most of the times it hurts the artist in the long run if not immediately.

 

[Awesome Wells]

Funny thing is... they acted like this was the first time they ever heard someone singing on a Tribe record...

It was a lot of hypocrisy going on back then, and even though I understood some of the criticisms, it also seemed hypocritical and also hyper-critical from people who just wanted hip-hop to stay the way they liked it in one very particular timeframe.

I remember it being an issue for people because they felt "1nce Again" was just weak, back then. And Tribe is my favorite group of all-time, but the whole chemistry was shot by the 4th album. I never heard anyone having an issue with the singing. Tammy was singing on everybody's sh*t back then, and in the early 90's. People loved when she was on Heavy D's records. And Hev would always have mad chicks singing on his joints and that was always seen as real Hip Hop, but also his lane.

Dudes would catch heat when they tried to switch up and do it, either to get more airplay or sales. That's when you would hear people complaining. It became almost like a parody to see people who claimed they didn't like that vibe, switch up and start trying to do it. People forget, but there were a lot of MC's during that era that used to say R&B was wack and all that, but then a couple years later, get a R&B singer to knock out hooks for them, lol.