In 1994, O.C. released one of the best and most underrated albums of the year, Word…Life. I bought a copy of Word…Life, the same week it came out, and was thoroughly impressed by the Brooklyn emcee’s rhymes paired with a young Buckwild’s dusty soul and jazz breaks placed over rugged drums. It was a damn near flawless work that might have been held in the same breath as Illmatic with some trimming to the final track list. But great music doesn’t always translate to great record sales, as was the case with Word…Life. And despite its critical acclaim, it would be the only album O.C. would release on Wild Pitch Records before the two parties parted ways. O.C. would disappear from the music scene for nearly three years before resurfacing on Payday Records in 1997, where he’d release his sophomore effort, Jewelz.

For Word…Life, O.C. relied heavily on Buckwild for the production. On Jewelz, Buck gets a few production credits, but O spreads the production love around, bringing in DJ Premier, Da Beatminerz, Ogee, and a few more of his fellow DITC crew members, Showbiz and Lord Finesse. Similar to Word…Life, Jewelz received strong reviews and critical acclaim, but it didn’t perform well commercially. Like his one-and-done run with Wild Pitch, his run with Payday would end after Jewelz, sending him MIA for nearly four years. He’d return with a deal with JCOR and release Bon Appetit in 2001, but that’s a story for another day.

Today, we’ll focus on the subject at hand. Let’s travel back to 1997 and dissect Jewelz.

Intro – Jewelz begins with a thirty-second interlude that features a relaxed solo guitar loop placed over crisp drums. That’s all I got.

My World – Before O gets into the meat and potatoes of the matter, he shares a few words giving gratitude for life over a chill but vibrant musical bed. Then Premo unleashes the whistle and chimes, and our host picks up where he left off on “Times Up” (“Oscar Award Winning, your shit I’m bored with it, stop copycatting, son (Why?), cause your dawg did it, get your own lingo, make up your own jingle, ten years later you be bitin’ my single”). This is a tough record and a great way to kick off the album.

War Games – Crooklyn Dodger number two transforms into a “trained rap-killing machine” and is out to draw blood on all rival emcees. He invites his old pals, Organized Konfusion, to help him wage war as they provide an energized hook and a short bridge. It would have been nice to hear verses from Prince Po and Pharoahe Monch over Premo’s devious piano chords and hard drums, but O.C. still completes the mission with limited assistance.

Can’t Go Wrong – This is a fly love song. Ogee lays down a foggy, soulful backdrop that O uses to honor his high school sweetheart, turned common-law wife. O.C. mostly stays clear of the cliche love lines that rappers tend to use in these types of records, and the few times he does use one, his cool delivery makes them sound original.

The Chosen One – O.C. reunites with his main production cog from Word…Life, Buckwild, for the first time on Jewelz. After a short, nondescript instrumental plays, O.C. moves like the Black Fred Astaire on the mic (for you youngins who have no idea who Fred Astaire is, just reference Chris Brown) and verbally dances with smoothness all over Buckwild’s creamily delicious backdrop.

Dangerous – Our host teams up with his DITC bredrin, Big L, as the two go back to back, matching each other’s output line for line. Da Beatminerz back the duo with an average-at-best backdrop, but O and L’s lyricism makes it sound much better than it really is.

Win The G – When it comes to bully rappers, there are two guys I’m always excited to hear from: Sean Price (God bless the dead) and Freddie Foxxx, aka Bumpy Knuckles. The latter jumps on this track and punks the shit out of O.C. and Premo’s underwhelming beat. Give that man his G, dammit!

Far From Yours – This one begins with another short musical interlude. Then Buckwild loops up Brothers Johnson’s original rendition of “Tomorrow” for the buttery backdrop, Yvette Michele harmonizes on the hook, and O.C. articulately raps about his lyrical superiority, making a convincing statement for his claim.

Stronjay – During his ode to his common-law wife, “Can’t Go Wrong,” O.C. raps: “So much temptation, but I don’t pick up strays.” The thick, red-bone vixen, Stronjay, must be the one time he fell short. Da Beatminerz’ dark instrumental sounds much harder than I remembered it.

M.U.G. – O.C. and Bumpy Knuckles come back together to give us one more lyrical dosage, and thankfully, Premo’s jazzy boom-bap sounds light years better than what he gave us on “Win The G.”

The Crow – O.C. spins a two-verse tale about an apocalyptic, out-of-body experience brought on by a crow. It may sound silly on paper, but our host works his magic, brilliantly keeping the listener on the edge of their seat as he builds up the tension and mystery in his storyline. As phenomenal as the verses were, the hook was way too complex for anyone’s good, and it sounds like it was accidentally placed in the wrong song. Showbiz soundtracks O’s movie with a doomish melody paired with a faint and eerie kids’ choir refrain that gives O’s grave bars more muscle. This is not your typical Showbiz production, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and the record.

You And Yours – Ogee brings frigid, jazzy piano notes to tingle the listener’s earlobes. O.C. technically sounds good, but it feels like he doesn’t really have anything to say on this record.

Hypocrite – O uses one long verse to spit about a street hustler and the consequences he faces for living the lifestyle. We find out during the very last line of the song that the dude preached righteousness all along while selling death to his own people, hence the song title. The solemn soul loop that Buckwild builds the instrumental around was cool, but I didn’t find O.C.’s storyline a slight bit interesting.

It’s Only Right – Our host slides back into mic technician mode and surgically dissects Da Beatminerz’ murky bass line and vigorous drums while a KRS-One vocal snippet plays his hypeman between the verses. This was hard.

Jewelz – Interestingly, O.C. ends the album with the title track. It begins with a tragic-sounding piano loop and an accompanying moaning voice (side note: the album is riddled with these short prelude instrumentals, and while none of them suck, none of them were necessary). Lord Finesse gets his sole production credit of the evening as he sets O.C. up with a beautiful backdrop. It’s the perfect instrumental to reflect over or get introspective on, and O.C.’s more than capable of doing both. But what does he do with it? He pretty much wastes it rapping about his wish list: vacations in Tahiti and the Bahamas, lounging on a yacht, sipping exotic juices at fly resorts, and taking champagne bubble baths. He occasionally slips in tidbits about stress and walking a righteous path. It was mega disappointing to hear O.C. fumble such an incredible opportunity to make magic happen on this closing track.

A few years ago, a friend and I were debating over which O.C. album was better: Word…Life or Jewelz? He picked Jewelz, while I went with the former. As I mentioned during the intro, I took my time with Word…Life when it came out, completely absorbing O.C.’s rhymes and Buckwild’s beats into the pores of my hip-hop body. When Jewelz hit the streets, I was inside, deep inside my Bible, not giving a single iota about secular hip-hop. When I eventually got back to listening to unsanctified music, I gave Jewelz a few spins and thought it was solid, but nowhere near as great as his debut. After spending the last three weeks with Jewelz, I still stand by my earlier pick, but not with as much conviction.

When the production team for your project is composed of DJ Premier, Da Beatminerz, Buckwild, Showbiz, and Lord Finesse, you’re pretty much guaranteed a batch of banging backdrops. Except for one track (see “Win The G”), Jewelz’ team of producers (which also includes Ogee) delivers on that guarantee with a fantastic showing, pretty much giving O.C. an easy alley-oop to slam dunk. He completes the dunk, but he doesn’t put it down with the force and flash that he’s capable of. On Word…Life, O.C. showed and proved that he was a talented rapper with the ability to craft boastful bars as well as get introspective, drop jewels, and give lessons through stories. Jewelz O.C. isn’t nearly as versatile. No meaty storylines or soul-searching stanzas, just a heaping helping of braggadocious bars for much of the album’s fifteen tracks. He sounds good doing it, but I prefer my O.C. with a balance of substance and swagger.

On “Dangerous,” O.C. refers to the rap game as his bitch that he lusts after. That line best sums up the difference between Word…Life and Jewelz. Word…Life features O.C. as a young, hungry emcee with a lot to say and a love for the craft that shines through. Jewelz O.C. sounds thirsty to impress, lusting to prove he’s one of the best and spewing vast amounts of vanity in the process. Jewelz is a dope project, but love will always trump lust.

-Deedub
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