“When you down they criticize ya,
when you up they wanna ride
I’m just tryna keep it moving,
been stuck so many times”
– “Love you Back,” Humble Beginnings
OMB Peezy moved from Mobile, Alabama, to Sacramento at the age of 12. At 20, he is already being dubbed by The FADER as “the future of rap.”
OMB Peezy (OMB stands for “only my brothers”) built a name for himself early in his young career as a masterful freestyler, attaining exposure to a large audience via YouTube. When Peezy posted his video for the track “Lay Down,” he drew the attention of Bay Area rapper Nef the Pharaoh.
Through Nef, he was able to grab the attention of veteran artist E-40, which led to Peezy signing to E-40’s label Sick Wid It in February. E-40 then connected Peezy with 300 Entertainment (home of Young Thug, Hopsin and Fetty Wap). On Oct. 11, 2017, OMB Peezy celebrated his first release, a six-track EP titled Humble Beginnings.
“Humble Beginnings, you know, basically starting my career,” said Peezy in an interview with Submerge. “I’m letting everybody know I was always hood in the beginning, because in the beginning you got to be humble.”
For the new album, Sick Wid It/300 enlisted producer extraordinaire Cardo Got Wings, who has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Wiz Khalifa, Kendrick Lamar and Drake. Though the two never worked together in person, Peezy loved the chemistry between his words and Cardo’s beats, and was more than happy with the end result.
“It was easy working with Cardo,” said Peezy. “It’s not that easy working with a lot of producers. And him, we was getting a lot of work done. It’s crazy, because me and Cardo never met personally in real life, if I’m not mistaken. But we came up with some raw ass work that’s about to go down in the history books … shout out Cardo Got Wings, that’s my dog.”
Peezy feels strongly that the message he was trying to craft was executed exactly as he intended, and he should be. [Humble Beginnings] represents the rapper’s style well, and does a good job conveying his message. In “Talk My Shit,” Peezy beams with pride on his recent accomplishments while reflecting on where he’s come from; in “Doin’ Bad” Peezy talks about recognizing that fame and money aren’t going to solve all his problems. As for the sound, from the first track to the last, there is a cohesive plan, and it’s well executed. For Peezy, getting things right on his first impression to the greater public was of the utmost importance.
“I was completely satisfied with how the tapes came out,” said Peezy. “You know, all of the things I expect to tell in my story, you know what I’m sayin’? And he gave me the perfect beat to tell my story. The tracks, as far as “[Doin’] Bad,” “[Block] Up,” “[Love You] Back,” “Go Down,” shit like that … I feel like he came with the perfect sound.”
While Peezy has been perfecting the art of writing and freestyling, one of the aspects of his newly propelling career is the area of live performance. While Peezy had performed often for friends, and even worked in the studio, it has only been a short time since he first stepped foot on stage, and the experience was eye opening.
“I actually started performing like 11 months ago,” said Peezy. “I started writing when I was like 8. Then I recorded my first song when I was 12. [My first live performance] I was nervous as fuck. Nef the Pharaoh had brought me out on his birthday in Sacramento, that was my first performance. I was nervous as a motherfucker. I wasn’t even rappin’ fully in the mic. I ain’t even know how to perform.”
In the past 11 months, Peezy is still nervous before a show on occasion, though the experience is definitely making the process more familiar, and that familiarity is breeding a certain level of self-confidence. “I be nervous, be gettin’ butterflies before the shows,” said Peezy, “but soon as I walk on stage and I hear them screamin’ for me … I can have the baddest stomach ache on earth, as soon as I walk on stage and they scream my name, all that shit just be in my past.”
A key factor in the young rapper’s rise to recognition has been some of the veterans Peezy has helping spread the word. It’s these same assets that will help Peezy make his recent rise sustainable, by passing on the valuable knowledge they’ve built through years in the industry. E-40 is a prime example of the heavy hitters Peezy has in his corner, and while E-40 hasn’t changed anything about the music Peezy puts out there, his influence is undeniable.
“E-40 hasn’t influenced me on my music style or nothing,” said Peezy, “but he motivated me and gave me good words of encouragement and life advice. He’s influenced my career. My style is myself.”
From the first time he stepped into the studio to the recording sessions that resulted in Humble Beginnings, much of life has changed for OMB Peezy. Besides getting signed, touring and dropping his debut EP, the studio experience has changed for Peezy as well, resulting in his recording sessions to be a lot more … relaxed.
“Shit has changed,” said Peezy. “My first time getting in the studio, my mom didn’t know I smoke weed. So I couldn’t smoke weed. Boom. But now, shit I be smokin’ weed in the studio, pipe kicking ‘round, me gettin’ my vibe right. Shit be going good. My vibe has changed a whole lot.”
While Peezy still reps Alabama, he has spent a good chunk of his formative years in California. However, before Peezy headed out to the West Coast, he was a bit skeptical about his new place of residence.
“My impression of California was like—I ain’t gonna lie, I was young-minded—I didn’t think there was no black people or none of that type of shit out here,” said Peezy. “I thought it was all white people, all palm trees, everybody was friendly and shit. I didn’t think there was no hood, I didn’t think there was no projects. And it was different.”
Still, whether Peezy identifies as Alabamian or Californian, he has much love for the state and city he calls home.
“I love Sacramento,” said Peezy. “Sacramento showin’ me pride and love. I love California. I love all of it.”
See OMB Peezy live at The Boardwalk (9426 Greenback Lane, Orangevale) on Jan. 5, 2018 at 8 p.m. This is an all-ages show, and tickets are $20 in advance. For more info, go to Boardwalkrocks.com.
**This article first appeared in print on pages 18 – 19 of issue #256 (Jan. 1 – 15, 2018)**
Let’s talk rap music, specifically how pumped we are that two of our favorite MCs T.I. and E-40 are headlining KSFM’s 102.5 Live concert on Saturday, May 18, 2013 at Discovery Park in Sacramento. This is an all-day ordeal, people, so eat your Wheaties because doors open at 10 a.m. Also on the bill are Far East Movement, Baby Bash, Drop City Yacht Club and Royalty. Tickets are just $19 (plus fees, of course, there are always fees) but that is still a steal for this lineup. Check out Facebook.com/KSFM1025 or Ksfm.cbslocal.com for more information and to purchase tickets as well as learn about giveaways, meet and greats and more.
I’m not a trained journalist so all the rules of being unbiased are out the window over here. Pound for pound, album to album there isn’t an MC who can match E-40. For a musician of any genre to stay relevant through 11 albums is an accomplishment on its own, but to remain creative and continue to innovate for that many moons is (and to quote the man) as “rare as white running backs.” He’ll even tell you he’s years beyond the rap pack, and the crazy part is he’s slowed down the flow with hopes that everyone else will catch up.
Off Warner Brothers after two albums, 40 is back to work and enjoying the freedom of not having to be forced into a square FM hole, vowing to return as the mobbed out slang spitter for a whole album with Revenue Retrieving this November. Yes, you read that correctly: new album coming in a few months, don’t forget where you read it first! In the meantime, 40 is staying on the road, sliding through Orangevale on Aug. 15, 2009 for a show at the Boardwalk. Getting him on the phone is nearly impossible, but as he does with his live performances he puts it all out on the table when he does surface. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more well-rounded rapper”¦and his interviews are hotter.
Alright, I want to talk about your latest album, The Ball Street Journal. Do you feel the album got a fair chance?
Nah, it didn’t. I was with Warner Brothers”¦ They did a good job a couple years before that when Lil Jon was in the loop, but what happened was they got to this point”¦ You gotta understand, I’ve had some radio play, but not always. In my earlier days, even when I signed with Jive in 1994, I had gotten a little radio play but not as much as I could have because of lot of my songs were so soil radio was scared of it. I’ve always been an underdog, and all the odds have been against me for years. With Warner though, I think they meant well, but they were looking for a big blowout hit. That is something that’s rare. It’s not that easy to come up with a hit. The song that you think might be that one, everybody might not think it’s the one. Then the one you think ain’t the one, ends up being the one for everybody else. It’s a catch 22. You roll the dice in the studio. But nah, I didn’t think the album got a fair chance, because Warner Brothers wasn’t in synch. It just didn’t work. They were trying to get me to do nothing but radio songs. I had to argue for the hood songs that I had on there! That’s the past, though. I’m on Revenue Retrieving right now. But The Ball Street Journal was a slappin’ album, and it still is!
I’m saying. I talk to folks and they didn’t even give it a chance, but if you listen to the album as a whole it’s classic 40.
It really is. A lot of shit like “Tell It Like It Is,” I tell it like it is. That’s one of the realest songs in like the past 10 years. It’s not toward nobody—if the shoe fits wear it—but a lot of people are feeling the way I feel. But you know, people don’t want to hear real songs. They don’t want to hear stuff that goes right to the point and tells the real. There is so much game involved in every line that I say that each line can be a title. I promise. Go back and listen to it, there is so much game and punchlines. It’s gonna end up being one of those songs in the future people will be like this dude was way ahead of his time. They’ll be like whoever this was rapping was retarded, you smell me? In a good way [laughs]!
Yeah, I mean “Tell It Like It Is” for all the game, but the one that bugs me out on a creative level with the wordplay and whole concept is “40 Water.” People don’t make songs and flip shit lyrically like that anymore.
Yup, they don’t, man. That’s what I’m saying. All that stuff, they don’t get like that anymore. It’s gotta be all dance. They want it to be all dance. It’s a trip. What it is though, like, who wouldn’t want to put Akon on their album? Especially at that time. And you know, I’ve been at this for 20 years, so OK, let me roll the dice and try some different stuff. The “Wake It Up” record was a good record, but my fanbase”¦ Fanbases can be stubborn. They don’t want me to do a song like that. They would accept it from anybody else, but they didn’t want me to expand and go beyond what I’ve been doing, and that’s keeping it all the way mobbed out. And even my fanbase turned its back on mob music, which is the heavy basslines and the certain sound we were rolling with in the ’90s. My fanbase, being the Bay Area, started buying up Southern music. They turned their back on the sound that we were doing, so I had to readjust and do whatever I had to do as far as music and adjust, but not go too far out of my jurisdiction. Do just enough to get by and for my fanbase to accept me. Basically, it’s a tricky a game. It’s either turn with the times, or the times will turn on you. A lot of times, the way hip-hop is, and I’m not griping, but I just feel like I’m way way way ahead of my time. I know people think I’m wack. Like a lot of cats on the East Coast think I’m wack, and the reason is because you can’t comprehend what you don’t know. And if you don’t know, how can you comprehend it? You know what I mean? It goes over their heads like a flying saucer. Then, a lot of cats don’t have the patience to look at creative rappers. They want you to rap a certain way, because that’s the only way they know it. They want you to rap like all the other rappers, and I’m not going to do that. I want to be in a class by myself. It’s fucked up that I have to readjust or downplay my skills to adjust to today’s listeners. You smell me? It ain’t cool. On this upcoming album, though, I’m free. I can do what I want. I can just be me and if a motherfucker don’t like it, they don’t gotta buy it. I’m gonna be the E-40 from the beginning. Mr. Flamboyant.
To switch things up you come from the era where MCing was about being unique and going out there to be the best rapper. Is there a point you reach where you kinda give up trying to prove that you are the best?
I feel like there isn’t a best rapper in the world. Everyone has their own category, and styles, and way they spit it. You’ve got backpackers, cats that just spit gangsta rap, cats that spit straight dope game shit, cats that have mastered radio. As far as being the best game spitter of all time, me personally, and I’m sure there are a lot that do agree some might not, but I have to give that title to E-40. As far as being one of the most unique rappers, I’m definitely one of the most if not the most. And I’ve got one of the most distinctive voices in rap. But I don’t care who the best is. When I was younger I did, because that’s all you want to be, the best, but there are different opinions out there. The people who they say are the best, I can’t agree with them. I have my top 5, but I know it ain’t the ones they’re saying. People roll with what the majority says.
You mentioned the ’90s stuff. I’ve been going back and revisiting albums like The Element of Surprise and Charlie Hustle, and stylistically you were on a whole other level with those two albums. Where were you at mentally and artistically at the time when you were recording those albums?
Music was changing at that time. People didn’t want to hear that. The industry was on some other shit. They were leaning toward the South, and the West Coast wasn’t hot. And even when we were, we had a few people that were selfish saying Los Angeles is the West Coast and that’s all it’s gonna be. They left the bologna for the Bay Area, so we were out here going through it. I just held on like a hubcap in the fast lane and said I’m gonna do what I do.
I don’t know, on those two albums you seemed to be in another place style-wise. And then after that in like 2000 with Loyalty and Betrayal you kinda went back to a more controlled flow.
I had to. Now you see where I’m at with it. The game is goofy. The goofy ears”¦ music changed. Music started getting watered down and dumbed down, and now they want that shit back. I figured if I would have kept doing it, shit, I probably still wouldn’t be on right now. I had to hold on like that hubcap. It’s like, if I didn’t do it, adjust to the ears and slow down my flow, I probably wouldn’t still be able to eat right now. I wouldn’t have had a Gold album two years ago at 39 years old. I wouldn’t have sold a million ringtones. It’s a trip ain’t it?
I do believe that things come around. And like you said, you’re getting back to it so I think it’s that time.
It is that time. I see exactly where you’re at with it. Trust me. I look at all angles.
Last question, I know you’re a big Rossi drinker to this day, especially the Burgundy. Why the Burgundy over any of the other kinds?
I’ll put it this way, when I was a little young moustache—and I’m not going to say what age—I would sneak into my mom’s little Rossi wine sitting on the counter. I’m not telling kids to do this, please don’t do this, but you know, that just became my drink of choice later in life. I drank 40s, though; they were in when I was a youngster. That’s how I got my name, E-40, because I would drink like 8 or 9 of those things throughout the whole day. You know how everytime you’d see a cat he’d have a 40 in his hand? That’s how we used to roll. Everytime I’m in the traffic in my Cougar, I got a 40 in my hand. DUIs weren’t that serious back then. You didn’t even have to wear seat belts then. But yeah, with the Rossi, the Burgundy has anti-oxidants in it, and it goes down smooth. And it gets you right! You can drink throughout the day with it. I love Landy, I love cognac, but I don’t drink cognac all day. When I drink, I like to drink to get drunk. I don’t like to drink to drink. When I drink, I maintain. I’m a social drinker—not an alcoholic, though.
I know this isn’t an issue for you, but I was telling my boy the other day as far as bang for your buck, the Burgundy Rossi is the best you can get.
$5.99 for a big ass bottle of Rossi wine/It’s right on time [laughs].
