Discover the Real Early 2000's Underground Orange County Hip Hop

Описание: This is the debut album from underground, Orange County, California Hip Hop group, OC Uprise featuring the following members:

Andre Ramone aka Lyrical aka Lyrical Spiderman
Marvel aka Truth aka Mr Freeze aka D-Kraft
M1 aka Alias aka Alias Allen aka Nameless Brown aka Jamel
Eddie Chavez

All tracks are produced by Andre Ramone except, "I Spend Days" which was produced by Eddie Chavez and "The Bittens" produced by Unknown

Let’s rewind to the early 2000s when Hip Hop wasn’t just beats and rhymes for me—it was life.

I had this burning desire to craft music that spoke to my soul. Back then, I was diving deep into the world of Hip Hop, finding my footing as a solo artist and producer. But I craved something more. I wanted to vibe with my friends, Jamel (aka M1), and Dorian (aka Truth), while still pursuing my passion.

In 1999, fresh out of high school and full of dreams, fate took a turn when my boy Dorian, along with some other friends, encountered Sainted 1 from Poorhouse Records at a music store called The Warehouse. He was working there at the time. They were picking up the instrumental version of Dr. Dre’s “2001” album, which piqued Sainted 1’s interest. He asked if they rapped. They explained they were more into freestyling, "But our mutual friend Dre was the real rapper among us."

Following this encounter, they introduced me to Sainted 1, who happened to be handy with a PC. He showed me the ropes of music production via the computer, which was entirely new territory for me. Equipped with this newfound knowledge, I started creating beats, sharing them during impromptu freestyle sessions that sparked our creativity.
Soon, those beats evolved into demos—raw, unpolished, but bursting with passion. We burned those tracks onto CDs, passing them around to friends and family. From talent shows to showcases, we hustled our way onto stages at venues like Galaxy Theater, The Tiki Bar, UCLA, and several other spots.

Enter Eddie Chavez, an R&B singer and producer who added depth and layers to our sound that we hadn’t explored before. Our synergy was electric, to say the least.

OC Uprise became our baby, and from 2000 to 2003, we poured our hearts into it. The stage became our playground, and the studio (well, my mom’s dining room) was our sanctuary. But as life often unfolds, paths diverged. While Dorian (aka Truth) and I continued crafting music with the homies, Skratch Lyriks out of Anaheim, the original fire of our group slowly faded away.

I was the music zealot, hungry for success, but my friends didn't share the same fervor. Despite my wishes, OC Uprise eventually disbanded. It marked a bittersweet end to a chapter that taught us more than music—it taught us about friendship, passion, and the unpredictable nature of chasing dreams.

Even after the group dissolved, my love for music endured. I ventured into music production, chasing the high of creating something out of nothing, although the results were mixed. OC Uprise might have been short-lived, but it remains etched in the pantheon of OC Hip Hop—a time when we were an underground West Coast rap group, learning as we went along, crafting raw yet compelling material.

And that's the tale of OC Uprise—a journey brimming with passion, camaraderie, and the sheer thrill of creating dope music, which almost always seemed to be about calling out the whack emcees.

Here, I've compiled a collection of songs that would have made up our debut, self-titled album, but there’s still more to come.

00:00 Greatest - Andre Ramone, Truth
01:18 OC Forever - M1, Truth, Andre Ramone
04:27 No Respect - M1, Truth
09:05 Hip Hop (Interlude) - Truth, Little Mikey
09:22 OC Anthem - M1, Eddie Chavez, Truth, Andre Ramone
14:24 Voicemail (Skit) - M1
15:08 BNK & Fabulistic (Parody) - Andre Ramone, Truth
17:11 Whack Emcees - Truth, Andre Ramone
21:34 Lord Help (Freestyle), Truth, Andre Ramone
23:55 I Spend Days - Eddie Chavez
27:06 Confessions - Truth, Andre Ramone
30:52 Unbreakable - Andre Ramone, M1, Truth
37:07 Uprise - Andre Ramone
42:45 Fix it Up Chappie (The Bittens) - M1, Truth