Joell Ortiz - "OG"


If you're going to be a rapper who calls a song "OG," it better be as old school as possible. Joell Ortiz delivers that. "OG" is pure hip hop. There are no R&B choruses and no auto-tune. It's more early 90's hip hop than 80's, but that's just the slicker production that wasn't available in the 80's. Plus, it's a song that talks about how wild and crazy life once was, but now Ortiz is in the suburbs with high cholesterol and shopping in Home Depot for a gazebo, but very happy with that since he's one of the ones that is still alive. It's one of the great songs about hip hop gracefully entering and thriving in middle age.

In a press release, Joell Ortiz says of the new song:

I feel so lucky to be able to call myself an 'OG.'  Where I come from adulthood isn’t always a guarantee.  But here I am, alive, and well and still doing what I love to do.  Music.  As life changes, so does my story.  Just happy to still be able to share it with you all the best way I know how.  Over these beats! Yaowa”

You can listen to "OG" below. Autograph is due out November 12 on Mello Music Group. You can pre-order/pre-save a copy here. For more on Joell Ortiz, check out the artist's Twitter.

On Repeat...

Liam Kazar - "Shoes Too Tight"

Dutch ReBelle - "GOONIEZ"

The Freqs - "Witch"