’90s Throwback: “Ocean of Funk”
“Get ready to get Screwed out and just swang and bang all night.”
This week we are taking it on over to the south. Allow me to introduce you to one of the albums that shaped history. “Ocean of Funk” is one of the best and most influential rap albums of ’90s southside, whether you are listening to the chopped and screwed version by the legend DJ Screw himself, or the original, “come and take a trip as we dive into that ocean of funk, and pass the skunk. Cause this be this underground funk for your trunk….‘Now who the f*** is that?’ It’s the E. S to the G.”
For those of you who are not familiar with the third coast, Screwed Up Click (S.U.C.) changed the entire game; that’s DJ Screw, E.S.G, UGK, Lil Keke, Fat Pat, Big Moe, and so many more. You’ll hear shout-outs to them on nearly any big rapper’s tracks. A$AP Rocky, and even Kanye West, mention them. Name any major artist and I can assure you that they were influenced in one way or another by the S.U.C. In fact, any music you hear that is slowed down, slopped and chopped, chopped and screwed, it’s all influenced by DJ Screw, E.S.G., and the rest of S.U.C.
Of the thousands of albums that came out in Houston, Texas in the ’90s, this is one that nearly everyone that is remotely into third coast rap will know, and I’m sure they bump it heavy. For those of you looking for a little something new, something you thought you’d never heard before, get ready to mix a little bit of funk, with some heavy, well done lyrics and beats that slap. E.S.G will have you “hotter than a crab with a coat in the summer.” This album came out in 1994 and was later released with a chopped and screwed version in 2001.
Let me tell you, it was way ahead of its time. This album is dripping with G-Funk vibes, and it’s the kind of music you can bump anywhere, anytime. With more emotional tracks like “Anticipation” and “Crooked Streets,” to light hearted songs like “Ocean of Funk,” “How Many Hoes” and Swangin and Bangin, there is a little somethin’ in here for everyone.
I can name numerous people just within my own life that have anecdotal evidence that this music has changed their lives, the way they create art, and the way they feel about rap as a whole. The sad thing is that not many people know about S.U.C. unless they’re from Texas, know too much about music (more specifically rap), or got in over their head in Southside rap. This album single-handedly has one of the best intros of all time, no bad songs in between, and ends with the smoothest vibes, with “Smoke On.” “So close your eyes, open your trunk, and sink into the ocean of this G funk. And if you’re down, I know you feel the flow, and if you ain’t a G you must have missed the boat in the ocean.”