(Gritt/Shogun)

If you only began listening to hip hop after 1999 then odds are OC will be the best MC you’ve never heard of. One listen to Starchild and you will be off to ebay tracking down what else he has to offer.

In the mid 90s the west coast was riding high. Death Row was “the” label, Ice Cube was at his best, and a slew of artists representing Oakland were all over the charts – including the late Tupac Shakur who moved 11 million units. Hip hop’s spiritual home, New York, was in trouble.

Enter a new breed of gifted MCs like Biggie, Nas, The Shaolin warriors that were the Wu-Tang clan and a couple of grimey cats known as Mobb Deep. Right at the forefront of this movement was a crew known as D.I.T.C, and arguably its most talented MC was OC.

With his 1994 debut ‘Word…Life’ the hype was exceeded, the album was a classic – as was the follow up ‘Jewelz’, and people were mentioning OC alongside Nas as the future of hip hop.

Sadly with the death of Big L the crew slowly disbanded and OC fell out of peoples minds. He released a third album aimed at the charts, and it failed to achieve its objective, alienating his loyal legion of underground fans. Thankfully on Starchild he has stripped it back to basics, returning to what made him a star in the first place.

Starchild is the type of album so many MCs fail to delivery – still relevant, still brilliant, still a must have ten years on from OC’s debut. Perhaps it’s an indication of how far off the radar OC had fallen, as this album was originally released in Japan and features none of today’s big name producers or MCs – one of the reasons why the album works.

In a day and age where every album needs a Kanye West or Just Blaze beat and a Lil Jon club joint, OC has enlisted Locsmif (previously worked with Cee Lo) and newcomer Vanguard for brilliant results. The beats are classic mid 90s New York sounds, the type of funk driven layered bass, soul samples, scratches and keys that make you think DJ Premier is behind the boards all the more impressive for two (relative) newcomers.

There are limited vocal samples but when they are used they are crafted brilliantly around OC’s unique storytelling ability. Rather than becoming the focus of the track they pull it all together for the complete package. The best example of this is on Memory Lane, but really every beat here is a standout.

Lyrically OC sounds fresh, and he’s always been a brilliant storyteller – mixing the right amount of arrogance on Evaridae and Who Run It with his unique ability to let us into his past on tracks like Story to Tell, What Am I Supposed to Do? and Memory Lane.

Of late we have had a proliferation of socially and politically conscious MCs wanting to comment on the political climate mixed with the commercial “pop” style of artist who want to talk about their cash and Bentleys. A truly skilled lyricist like OC breaths fresh air into both styles, whilst harking back to what was a golden time for hip hop – the mid 90s.

This is easily the best US release I have put my hands on in the three months so far this year, and it’s a testament to the quality that my only gripe is its relatively short length. Weighing in at 13 tracks including an intro, outro and remix it could have been longer but its shortness does guarantee each track is hot.

Hopefully Starchild will introduce OC to a whole new generation of fans, as an artist producing brilliant work ten years after his initial success he has few peers. Grab yourselves a copy of Starchild, you will not be disappointed, and like me you’ll probably find it included it in your yearly top ten come December.