Album Review: O.C.- Jewelz

It's life's eternal question; how do you follow a classic? Don't ask Group Home. The guys who wrote Caddyshack don't know. Well the answer, of course, is make another one. While making one classic debut almost always leads to an inferior second album there are a few exceptions. A Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory is definitely better than People's Instinctive Travels. De La Soul is Dead's probably a better record than 3 Feet High and Rising. But these are the exceptions for every one of them there's fifteen Immobilarity's. Some people just use all of their creative juices and have written all of their best songs before they got on. Others are so addicted to one formula that every album after their first sounds like a rehashed version of their initial effort. This is not the case with Omar Credle BKA O.C.

I remember reading MC Serch talk about the process of making Word...Life. He said that O.C. literally had like thirty songs and the difficulty liked in selecting which songs would make the cut, so one could assume that O.C. could have definitely just made his second album out of material cut left over from the first. But he didn't. O.C.'s second album sounds nothing like the first, both lyrically and sonically. While a majority of Word...Life was handled by Buckwild, Jewelz the second album has a much more varied sound being overseen by not just Buckwild, but by DITC cohorts Showbiz and Lord Finesse, as well as New York's DJ Premier and Da Beatminerz. Occasionally, too many producers can lead to a disjointed sound, but that is not the case here. It appears that O.C. knows what he wants and these guys are able to give it to him. The album certainly has a more glossy and upbeat sound in comparison to his debut's dustier, more soulful sounds, but that's part of it's freshness. Jewelz certainly contains more radio-friendly songs such as "Far From Yours" and the Big L assisted "Dangerous", but neither sound like they were made to crossover, they're just simply more accessible. Similarly, O.C.'s two songs "for the ladies", "Can't Go Wrong" and "Stronjay", also impressively reach both hip hop purists as well as fans with a more "pop" ear. Nonetheless, a lyricist of O.C.'s caliber would be doing himself a disservice if he didn't flex his lyrical muscle. On the DJ Premier produced "My World", O.C. starts..

"Hazy like asthma bizarre disaster
Stress almost held me down from bein a master
The faster preacher poet a teacher
"It's been so long" like Monifah
Believe that I'm needed, in rappin, I breathe this
Some pick up a microphone and can't even achieve this
Oscar award winning your shit I'm bored with it
Stop copy-catting son (why?) cause your dog did it"

The words alone don't do how dope O.C. spits it justice. When you listen to O.C., you sometimes wonder if this guy knows how ahead of the game he is. He rejoins Organized Konfusion on the collabo "War Games" over menacing Premier piano stabs and couldn't sound crisper dropping quotable after quotable. There isn't a weak song on this album. Sure some are better than others, but with songs like "M.U.G." with Freddie Foxx or "Hypocrite", it could be difficult to keep up. In fact, the Lord Finesse produced title track "Jewelz"may even be O.C's dopest, most introspective song yet.

Detractors of this album would probably complain about the same thing I've praised it for throughout- it's accessibility. It's certainly doesn't have the grimy feel of "Time's Up" or the harrowing sounds of the "Born 2 Live" remix, but as I stated earlier, to make this project everything it could be, O.C. had to go in a different direction. So while the album is undeniably cleaner and crisper than it's predecessor, it's also walking a path that Word...Life couldn't.

O.C.- "My World"

O.C. comes back strong on the album's first track.

O.C.- "Hypocrite"

A dope track about people preaching a lifestyle that they're not living.

O.C.- "Jewelz"

My favorite O.C. song ever.

IF YOU LIKE THIS...
I'd recommend...


O.C.- Word...Life
Showbiz & A.G.- Goodfellas