Introducing Augusta, GA’s OP4.
A couple of days ago, I found myself wasting a bunch of time on reddit (instead of studying, of course) and stumbled upon this story on hiphopheads.
As much as I frequent that website, I usually tend to ignore these “new submissions” as some of them are either incredibly terrible or just straight up cringe-worthy — but not this time.
The post read “There’s a huge scandal over this music video at my school,” and of course my immediate thought was “clickbait.” Yet I took the bait, and to my surprise, the video instantly drew me in.
Apparently, the video has caused a bit of a scandal considering the artist, OP4 (which derives from “Experience Hip Hop’s OPosing 4orce”) reportedly shot it “without school permission on school property without prior approval.” And considering his father is a teacher Richmond County School System, it was a double whammy.
Plus, there’s a few sexual innuendos that might cause your Granny to look away.
According to video director Pierre “Liquid Smoke” Luke, they received permission from the principal. “We had full permission as far as I know,” says Luke, who continued “From the principal on down.” Luke also said that students under 18 were required to sign releases.
Regardless of all this, OP4’s video and song is pretty incredible and I can only see this kid blowing up in the very near future, granted he can continue to make quality music (and videos) such as the one we’re featuring here.
The beauty of the song? Sure, the first first two verses cover many of the clichés that run through 99% of rap music to this day (and that hook is mediocre at best), yet that third verse completely flips the script, with Luke properly explaining “Really the video is just a caricature of the modern hip hop landscape.”
I think it’s safe to say OP4 knew exactly what he was doing and that this was all created preemptively, knowing very well it would create controversy and help shed light on his actual talent — which we’ll hear more of on his upcoming West EGG project.
Check out the video below and keep scrolling for one of OP4’s previous projects, Black People Frolic to Stolen Beats.
