nickels in the oven

O.C. - Smoke & Mirrors
Released Nov. 1, 2005
on Hiero Imperium

Maybe one day “O.C.” will be widely associated with more than a popular Fox television show, and Omar Credle can finally get the attention he deserves.

I doubt that this will be the record that does it. Veteran rapper O.C.’s fourth proper album fell short of my expectations.

When I saw that it was being released on the Hieroglyphics label, my hopes blossomed. The Brooklyn-born emcee finally found a worthy label, run by a like-minded collective.

But this is not the O.C. album I’ve been waiting for. Another post-Jewelz disappointment. It remains far from essential.

Smoke & Mirrors suffers from trivial production, handled almost exclusively by Mike Lowe. The generic beats are a collection of nondescript loops built from uninteresting synthesizers and cliché soul samples. Okayplayer calls it great. If the album was produced by someone else, I might be singing its praises. No luck.

The lyrical content ranges from defensive braggadocio to introspective confessions as O.C. proves that while he may be in his mid-30s, his timeless flow remains intact.

Maybe the next O.C. release will be the one that pulls everything together for one of the most slept-on emcees of the past 10 years. Hopefully then he can step out of the shadows of his ´94 classic track “Time’s Up” and prove that his clock hasn’t stopped.