Author Topic: Another Texas Rapper Dead (Read 256 times)

K.Dub · « **on:** January 10, 2008, 04:07:32 PM »

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/5429677.html

Quote

Woods, Houston rap pioneer dies at 37
Artist known as O.G. Style had recently fallen ill

By ANDREW DANSBY
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Eric Woods, a Houston rap pioneer who recorded as O.G. Style, died Thursday night. According to friends, Woods, 37, felt ill Wednesday night and was taken to St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. He suffered from a brain hemorrhage and slipped into a coma Thursday morning.

Woods is best known for Catch 'Em Slippin' (I Know How to Play 'Em), a song that was popular in the region in 1991, though it didn't chart nationally. Still, one of O.G. Style's contemporaries, K-Rino (aka Eric Kaiser), calls the song "a true hood anthem, one that you still hear to this day. Every rapper in this town knows the lyrics to it."

Said rapper Smurk, aka Dwight Allen, a friend and frequent collaborator: "A lot of people talk about the pioneers of Houston rap, the people who made an early impact. If they don't mention O.G. Style, they don't know what they're talking about."

Prior to adopting the name O.G. Style, Woods performed around the city as Prince Ezzy-E starting in the mid-'80s.

When rapper Eazy-E began to draw attention with N.W.A around the same time, Woods tweaked his moniker to Original E. With the late DJ Boss he started a group called O.G. Style, which signed to Rap-A-Lot records and released its only album in 1991. DJ Boss soon formed another group, and Woods adopted the name O.G. Style as his own.

Woods grew up in the Fourth Ward, a neighborhood west of downtown Houston and a frequent backdrop for his music over two decades. "Fourth Ward," said Smurk, "he owned that. He represented that."

In 2006, he shot his Gangsta video there. As with his music more than 15 years earlier, O.G. Style chose an alternative to glorified gangster rap. The song is a reaction to 50 Cent's rise. "Watch how many gangsta rappers start coming out," he raps. "Sticking out their chests like they're hard. ... Walking with a gangster limp, talking like you is a pimp."

Regional ripples
I Know How To Play Em', the album Woods and DJ Boss recorded as O.G. Style, is out of print today. It's also a tough find: Used copies on Amazon.com are on sale for more than $40. That album included the popular Catch 'Em Slippin', which Woods (as Original E), DJ Boss and local producer/engineer Carlos Garza created based on an old sample of a song by New Orleans singer King Floyd.

Garza said he and Woods listened to hundreds of records at Garza's duplex to find the right sample. They assembled "a skeleton" for the song with just turntables and a drum machine.

"Plain and simple, we were just trying to find something that sounded like a hit single," Garza said.

Woods and DJ Boss built the song up from the demo into the version that appeared on the O.G. Style album. Another song from that album made regional ripples. Free World, with its "sitting in the Harris County jail" hook, was the flip side to a 12-inch of Slippin'.

Peers and fans say Woods' style stood out on these songs.

"He was a real lyrical rapper," said K-Rino. "A real skillful artist, real clever with wordplay. He had a hell of a voice and his delivery was as good as anybody's. He was one of the best Houston ever produced. It's a shame he was in a category of forgotten rappers.

"There's a new generation coming up that don't even know who these people are who built the foundation for what happens today. The new guys don't mention guys like O.G. Style on BET and MTV. And then they get written out of history."

K-Rino and UGK rapper Bun B appear on O.G. Style's single Steppin' on Toes and addresses that issue.

"It was about representing the South and how weak the game had gotten in Houston," K-Rino said. "He wanted to get three originals, OGs, together and really rep that. That song was really tight. And it never got heard."

'He was independent'
A lack of national exposure didn't keep O.G. Style from recording. He remained active up until the week of his death.

"We were always friends, but he kind of did his own thing," said Garza, who last produced O.G. Style in 2000. "He would move from producer to producer to get a recording done. He had to, he was independent. He couldn't wait. When he was ready to do something, he did it. He was go-getter, and he was focused, and he never gave up."

O.G. Style and Smurk were about to begin work on a new album, combining some new material with re-recorded tracks from Return of Da Game, the final album he made before his death.

"It was still going to sound like new material because a lot of people hadn't heard that last album," said Smurk, who appeared on Return of Da Game and a mixtape called Mixed Drinks, Blunts & Exstacy with O.G. Style. "He had another new album he was working on. This was just untimely, man."

He doesn't plan to abandon the project entirely, though. One of Woods' sons, also named Eric, is a teenage rapper.

"When I went to see him at the hospital last night, his son told me, 'We're still gonna get it done.' I told him I was gonna hold him to that," Smurk said.

O.G. Style included commentary about a lot of his work on his Web site. With Return of Da Game, he wrote, "I've learned how to do songs and not just be a rapper. This is a grown folks' rap album."

It ended up being his last. But the Internet has made his music easier to find and allows an early voice of Houston rap to be heard.

"You have to give credit to him," said K-Rino, "He got love everywhere in this city. He was always concerned with the present state of rap in Houston — the direction, the subject matter. Him being from that first era, he was just trying to bring it back to the true essence of what it was."

Smurk said his first impression of his friend was one that endured until his death. "O.G. Style was the bomb," he said. "If that term sounds old school, well, I said it intentionally."

Woods is survived by his wife, Shelley, their five children, his father and three siblings.

http://www.hiphopgame.com/news.php3?deb=20

Quote

Houston hip-hop pioneer O.G Style dies

O.G Style aka Eric Woods, 37, a pioneer of the Houston hip-hop scene, died Thursday night at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. Style had felt sick Wednesday night and slipped into a coma Thursday morning after suffering a brain hemorrhage, according to the Houtson Chronicle.

Best known for "Catch 'Em Slippin' (I Know How to Play 'Em)", a popular song regionally in 1991, Style may have never garnered the national spotlight, bit was highly respected in his hometown. Houston rapper K-Rino called Style's best known song, "A true hood anthem, one that you still hear to this day. Every rapper in this town knows the lyrics to it."

Houston rapper Smurk added:
"A lot of people talk about the pioneers of Houston rap, the people who made an early impact. If they don't mention O.G. Style, they don't know what they're talking about."

O.G Style leaves behind his wife, Shelley, their five children, his father and three siblings.

Even though I've never heard of him, there are too many rappers dyin' these days.
REST IN PEACE $:-\$