OC from NC

One dedicated musician can change the world. OC from NC is one extremely talented artist, with the ability to make "CHANGE".-Fella

I feel honored to have taken one of those pictures!! Aye!!! #Salute and continue to rep and put NC on the map for real this time!! - John Adamian

Nikolus Prime
Humbling to know , That I always knew that you knew what this art was all about. And I was right the whole time.Big ups brother , I wanna see more.

Fred Binz · Field Service Engineer at Hewlett-Packard
Dope OC! Major congrats and continued success, blessings in your future endeavors. - JaeVcee

OC from NC & D.R.U.G.S. Beats: Crown Royal

★★★★½

[Self-released; Sep. 7]

Good rap music can be like soul food: made with hearty ingredients, not especially complicated in its preparation, but not easy to imitate. Without love and passion, it’ll never taste like your Auntie’s Sunday spread.

There’s just something magical that happens when bona fide pros with decades of tradition and love sweat it out in the kitchen. If you’re looking for a rap album that will warm your soul and feed your hunger for wholesome bars and beats, Crown Royal—by OC from NC and D.R.U.G.S. Beats—is your Sunday spread.

Based in Burlington, OC is a veteran in independent rap circles. Known for his effortless delivery of razor-sharp bars, he’s a man who doesn’t compromise his standards as an MC and makes the kind of music that he loves no matter what’s trending. On Crown Royal, he teamed up with Fayetteville’s D.R.U.G.S. Beats, one of the greatest sample-based producers to ever tap an MPC, who previously contributed to Dr. Dre’s Grammy-nominated album, Compton.

This union is something that North Carolina hip-hop heads have been dreaming about for years, and the duo does not disappoint. The two artists have amazing synergy. D.R.U.G.S.’s production, though exclusively boom-bap, doesn’t sound precedented. He has a talent for finding pockets within samples that glide together with his drum programming, even easing back on the drums sometimes to let a riff loop out for OC to spit on.

You hear this in “Anton Jackson,” where D.R.U.G.S. lays out some subtle drums for OC’s first verse, then takes them out completely to let a vocal sample of a quartet loop as OC flows like molasses with a drawly pitched-down effect. It’s like Memphis bumped into Brooklyn somewhere on I-40 in North Carolina.

Another high point is “Jameson,” which features a haunting, gritty sample of what sounds like a horror movie score, accompanied by heavily reverbed drums and a hyped vocal sample from Super Beagle. OC gets disrespectful on this one, with growling raps like, “‘Cause where I’m from you gotta up it, I ain’t even tough, it’s just here niggas ain’t really bluffin’.”

Crown Royal is a testament to the fact that impeccable raps and beats will always be relevant in hip-hop. This project put two veterans who love their craft in the same room, and the result is an album that sits as one of the best hip-hop releases of 2020—and that’s not just by local standards. - Indy Week

BANG! @southernvangard #radio presents the OC FROM NC interview session! When it comes to authentic hip-hop from the South - it’s hard to dispute what North Carolina has brought, and continues to bring, to the game - and they just might hold the crown, frankly. This Burlington-based MC is one of the reasons why, as he’s been steadily been building a rep and an outstanding catalog over the past decade, that reaches a new pinnacle next Monday, Sept 7th with the release of “CROWN ROYAL” - his latest solo endeavor that’s entirely produced our good friend D.R.U.G.S. BEATS. We get the scoop on how the album came to be, O’s beat selection process - you’d probably chop off a few fingers for the beats from D.R.U.G.S. that he passed on, there’s hundreds - and the attention to detail given to the project. We also hear about another LP he has in the tuck with fellow WATS crew member and homie B-SQUARED, why working in a call center is a NC hip-hop rite of passage and the one question he gets asked in every single interview he does (we were guilty of it, too). OC was also kind enough to insert a drinking game into his interview session - let’s see if you can pick out the word, we’ll give you a few rhyming hints…CHINA. DESIGNER. VAGI…ok, ok, that’s enough. Go ahead and press play, cop CROWN ROYAL on Labor Day and shout hip hip hooray ‘cause it’s that. - Southern Vangard

Ayo, it ain’t where you from unless you’re OC From NC. This lyricist is dope with the Barz and teamed up with D.R.U.G.S Beats on a collab banger called, “Crown Royal”. Get familiar with Carolina greatness. Proof. - WHUP Radio 104.7