for a west coast first ballot hall of fame beatmaker, Omid (aka OD) has managed to stay firmly under the radar. he galvanized and set the musical tone for the pre-Blowed underground with his swirling, dark, murky, sample heavy beats on the landmark Beneath the Surface compilation, showcasing a roster of emcees and turntablists that would effectively run the LA scene and filtering their style to the Bay and areas beyond. despite the wide range of rappers present, there's a feeling of cohesion throughout the album that comes from OD doing all the work behind the boards, sort of what Mumbles did with Book of Human Language.

luckily after 18 tracks he still had some beats left, so OD put together the first of what would turn out to be a sick run of instrumental albums that continues to this day. despite the indelibility of Beneath the Surface, Afterwords feels like a completely different record - without emcees cluttering up the songs, the beats have a bit more room to breathe, samples are more fully developed, etc. certainly a classic in its own right.

Beneath the Surface
Afterwords