Thoughts on “Final Exit” by OG Cuicide in 2023 by Edwin Chu (@entrovertmusic)

Around July 2023, I was following Surf Club’s media run following Big Hit’s prison release when I stumbled upon OG Cuicide’s interview with Hit-Boy and Big Hit.[1]

I was inspired to reach out to OG after watching the aforementioned interview, and after introducing myself, he suggested that I check out his interview with NLE Choppa.[2]

After watching the two interviews, it felt like OG put me on to an indispensable mentality for the road ahead.

I connected the dots more clearly after marinading on the concepts of patience and gratitude, and dug further into OG Cuicide’s history. After a Google search, I found a copy of “Final Exit” on YouTube to play out.

For context, “Final Exit” was released in 1995 when OG was 25 years old, and is not available on Apple Music nor Spotify as of this writing. Nevertheless, I was moved by the album, and took a chance on Discogs.com to have someone in Japan ship me the CD.

The more I dug into the album’s lyrical content, the more I recognized familiar behavioral patterns and the broader themes explored in the music.

2. Meeting OG Cuicide

On October 28, 2023, 28 years after the release of “Final Exit”, I got a chance to meet the man himself at the Budder store in North Hollywood. Driving over from East Los Angeles was not to be a pleasant experience, so I brought the CD to keep me on my toes while I wove through afternoon traffic.

Readers might wonder why I bought the CD when it was already on Youtube. My take is that, in an era where music has been devalued to fractions of a penny per listen, tangible mediums like CDs, T-shirts and accessories are taking back power in organic marketing and revenue. I also wanted to show that I got the message literally and physically.

I am still amazed that OG taught himself how to read and write, and let him know I appreciated the NLE Choppa interview as he signed the inner sleeve of my album.

3. Regarding “Final Exit” (“That’s my best work ever at 25 years old!”)

OG Cuicide’s flow and delivery on “Final Exit” reminded me of Dr. Dre’s vocals on “The Chronic”, but I related to the former’s mental and emotional health journey more than swinging down on sweet chariots.

OG mentioned he was homeless at the time of writing the album. While I cannot relate to being completely homeless, I can say that staying occupied while outdoors at night without a permanent residence is physically and mentally demanding, even without the street life juxtaposition.

Despite debilitating circumstances, OG was able to shop his demo to Leon Haywood, who liked it enough to help flesh it out with grooves and melodies. The name Leon Haywood may have been from beyond my time personally, but the spoiler alert is that “I Wanna Do Something Freaky To You” found new life in “Nuthin But A G Thang” by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. The rest as they say, is history.[3][4]

I could not help but feel a bit unprepared for this conversation as it went on. I met OG as a curious fan but it felt like I should have approached the situation as a media pundit. In lieu of an audio recording of our conversation, I listened as openly as possible while asking some questions about the making of the album.

For one, I was curious how OG found collaborators and session musicians to sing “Aw shit another mental case!” and co-sign lines like “I can’t cope with a fucked up mind”. It turned out OG introduced his homies and the neighborhood to studio time during the album creation process.

I took a moment to appreciate the altruistic nature of OG – a suicide survivor willing to put on people and keep building and moving, even after the incident.

It is heart-breaking that even today the concept of minority community tends to get overshadowed by guns, violence, and biased media coverage of gang and prison culture. For a society that is increasingly aware of mental health issues, it got harder to find music that addressed the negatives of street life at the level of “Final Exit”.

4. Regarding Personal History and Family (“This shit is real!”)

While I understood there was a separation between No Jumper and OG Cuicide In The Building, an interview between Adam22 and OG gave me necessary context to make connections to my conversation with OG.[5]

The content was brutally heavy, and I related emotionally to OG’s struggles and journey with self-identity. I spaced the interview over a few days and took breaks as needed as I reflected on OG’s experiences in Compton.

I was personally born and raised in Los Angeles, but moved to South Pasadena and then to San Diego to attend the University of California, San Diego. Initially, I was more than happy to escape my parents’ authoritarian grip on my life as they stayed back, but the more I subscribed to mental and emotional escapism, the more unhappy and restless I became.

After a landlord’s untimely divorce forced my hand, I took the opportunity to move back to Los Angeles to apply some advice from Hit-Boy and Surf Club while reconciling with my family and relatives.

While I feel I have made considerable progress in re-parenting my parents and explaining my situation to confidants, it was anything but easy. For one, the more I worked on re-constructing my personal history, the more my anti-depressants started to affect me negatively. I was taking Lexapro for 3 years before I decided to quit cold turkey because it became increasingly difficult to trust my intuition.

OG was gracious enough to discuss his experiences with anti-depressants and different side-effects. Ultimately we both agreed that at some point it was a confusing medication to continue taking.

For all of my experiences, I was grateful that I was able to weave my personal history into the context of an OG Cuicide album.

To further educate myself on my environment on top of “Final Exit”, I have since been looking into other local creatives including but not limited to Glasses Malone, L.A. Giantz, LaRussell, and Surf Club affiliates like Spank Nitti James.

5. “Final Exit” in 2024 and beyond (“I just don’t understand what’s wrong with society, people wanna be who they know they can’t be”)

To me the work described in “Final Exit” sounds far from complete.

OG has evolved his style to speak less from the perspective of the streets and more from a place of mental and emotional well-being. Back in October, he even greeted me as “loved one”, which is not a label I am personally used to but I feel the city needs to hear more.

Listening to OG speak on the idea of “extra credit” was an important takeaway. The silver lining exists in having the opportunity to honor and move from the past instead of being tormented by it.

My take is that an album such as “Final Exit” should have widespread visibility and accessibility for those struggling with the self and evolution. But I understand that the album is precious to OG, and he responds with “eventually” when I ask if it will be available on Digital Service Providers.

OG continues to speak on his life story and inspire others, including artists like Dre Hill, Lil Cide, and ln1800_.

6. Bibliography

[1]

Cuicide, OG. “OG Cuicide In The Building with Hit-Boy & Big Hit.” Youtube, YouTube, 14 July 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYLGElZt7Ps.

[2]

Cuicide, OG. “OG Cuicide In The Building with NLE CHOPPA.” Youtube, YouTube, 14 Apr. 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpyTpGkLLTE.

[3]

Cuicide, OG. “Biography.” OG Cuicide, http://ogcuicide.com/site/og-cuicide-biography/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2024.

[4]

Haven. “DubCNN Interview: OG Cuicide (2017).” DubCNN.Com, DubCNN.com // West Coast Hip-Hop : Daily For Over A Decade, 24 Feb. 2017, https://www.dubcnn.com/2017/02/24/dubcnn-interview-og-cuicide-2017/.

[5]

Jumper, No. “The OG Cuicide Interview: Surviving a S****** Attempt, Being Abandoned as a Child & More.” YouTube, YouTube, 17 Mar. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WQESaqoyOc.

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