You Down With OCC? Outstanding Citizens Collective hip-hop crew nears 15 years with roots that stretch back even further BY ALEX DE VORE a l e x @ s f r e p o r t e r. c o m
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t all comes back to Benito Martinez III—aka Benzo. In June, the Santa Fe musician died, sending shockwaves through the local hip-hop community and beyond. He’d been a diverse and singular style-setter, experimenter and connector. And though his friends and collaborators continue to grieve and contend with Martinez’s untimely death at age 32, the seeds he planted nearly two decades ago in a trailer home on the Southside continue to flourish. Indeed, as local hip-hop crew Outstanding Citizens Collective, which Martinez helped found, continues its multi-tiered approach to writing, performance, design, business and more, he would surely be cheering them on and basking in the glow of their mid- and post-pandemic plans. In a town like Santa Fe, where the refrain seems to be something like “We just don’t have hip-hop,” MCs and DJs like Wolfman Jack, Fluid, Cap, OG Willikers, Rill, Prismatic Soul, Anthonius Monk and Shatter might have a little something to say about that. And though there will likely be nothing that ever fills that Benzo void, the legacy he spawned continues strong, both through the core OCC members contained herein and those who’ve come and gone over the years. As the crew returns to live shows and its members consistently release albums—including a new, previously unreleased track from Benzo, Wolfman Jack, Prismatic Soul and Anthonius Monk dubbed “Art of Oz” and released Nov. 3 for what would have Martinez’s birthday—the question remains: You down with OCC? VOCAB SLICK AND DJ TRUE JUSTICE WITH RMLLW2LLZ, BANDIT LORDZ, STONEDAGE AND OCC 7 pm Sunday, Nov. 14. $10 Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery, 2791 Agua Gría St., (505)393-5135
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NOVEMBER 10-16, 10-16, 2021 2021 •• SFREPORTER.COM SFREPORTER.COM
