O C Word...Life CD

All songs written by O.C. Includes samples from "Hey Young World" (as performed by Slick Rick), "Searchin'" (as performed by Roy Ayers), "Fresh Is The Word" (as performed by Mantronix) and "Sound Of The Police" (as performed by KRS-One).

Wild Pitch recording artist O.C. was first seen as a guest on Organized Konfusion's "Fudge Pudge," but it wasn't until his own full-length debut, WORD...LIFE, that he proved to be one of rap's finest up-and-coming lyricists. In fact, his initial single, "Time's Up," answered the prayers of hip-hop fans who watched their music dominated by phony rappers who "pose lyrical but really ain't true."

WORD...LIFE gathers together some of hip-hop's top underground producers (Buckwild, Lord Finesse, Organized Konfusion), but it's more than just the phat tracks that make it stand out from the pack. With its hypnotizing, laid-back beat and Slick Rick sample, "Time's Up" commends those who practice what they preach ("That's what I consider real in this field of music") and scolds those who do not ("Instead of putting brain cells to work they abuse it/Non-conceptual, non-exceptional/Everybody's either crime-related or sexual"). The album's title track defines the themes O.C. explores throughout--Word signifying truthfulness, Life reflecting the urban environment within which the rapper exists. He clearly reflects his values on tracks like "Born 2 Live" and "Point O Viewz": no guns or violence, no weed-smoking, no vulgarities or over-exaggerated frontin'. And what better way to emphasize the album's positive feel, than by using his own mother's vocals on "Ma Dukes."

O.C.'s auspicious debut announced the arrival of one of modern rap's more gifted storytelling lyricists. The artist dropped his thesis on "Time's Up" a '90s rap benchmark track that served to separate rap's true school from its ever-expanding species of frauds. On that track, O.C. takes umbrage with money-grubbing fake MC's over a combined droning bass guitar and well-plucked sample from Slick Rick's "Hey Young World." The album is drenched in classic, hard-core East Coast B-boyism, but O.C. puts the boasts on the shelf to take up more existential subject matter. On "Born to Live" he spins wistful fables from his childhood in order to discuss life's bittersweet fragility: "born to live/a life to die/life's so damn short and I wonder why." The soulful composition lifts a tasteful snippet from Keni Burke's "Keep Rising to the Top." O.C.'s connections to Organized Konfusion shine through on his debut, showcasing a thought-provoking intellectual diversity rarely seen on rap albums. Organized's Pharaoh Monche sits in on the album, as do producers Buckwild and Lord Finesse. Word...Life saw little commercial success due, in part, to the drained coffers of the failed endeavor that was Wild Pitch Records, but one would be hard-pressed to find a hard-core hip-hop fan without this recording somewhere in their collection ~ M.F. DiBella

Recorded at Battery Studios, Unique Recording, Soundtracks and Power Play Studios, New York.

Personnel: Pharoahe Monch (vocals, background vocals); X-Treme (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Anton Pukshansky; Tony Smalios.

Recording information: Battery Studios; Power play Studios; Soundtracks NY; Unique Recording.

Photographer: Danny Clinch.

Personnel: O.C., Pharoahe Monch (rap vocals); Roc Rader (scratches, background vocals); Tommy, X-Treme, Kutz, Stone, Kev Geeda (background vocals).

Producers: Buckwild, Prestige, Organized Konfusion, D.J. Ogee, Lord Finesse.

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The Source (11/94, p.98) - 3.5 - Dope - "...favors a smoother soundscape that is generally solid but doesn't always match the excitement of O's wordplay and delivery...[but] eventually it's this lyrical expertise that redeems WORD...LIFE despite its initial letdowns..."