Mike Ock - Day in the Life - 1994

 

12" - 1994 - Ghost Town Records  

Big thanks to S4BZ for reminding me of this 12" which was included in his latest Rough Mix !! This is the first and only 12" released by Mike Ock on Ghost Town Records in 1994 and no doubt it's something to own in his record collection.  

The wax is composed of 4 songs entitled "Who Got It $50 Grand", "Caught Up In The Game Of Life", "Street Life " and ""The Theme" Price For Head" all pressed on the A-side, and all the instrumentals pressed on the flip side. The productions were fully handled by Maalik7 (RIP), with cuts by DJ Rocks. For the info, it isn't mentioned on Discogs but a cassette tape version was also released at the time.

Mike Ock was an MC from Dyckman Houses, Washington Heights NYC. He became an emcee around '88, his freshman year in high school. In a recent Interview I did, Mike Ock declared that everything started for him when one of his friend wrote a rhyme and his competitive nature kicked in. He took it as a challenge and went home to write his own rhyme so they could battle. From there he was instantly hooked…Mike and a few friends began to battle regularly, trying to impress each other. But they loved the craft and the ability to captivate the audience.

Mike Ock (Bottom) & his Partner K.D. Ice (Top) - Photo courtesy of Mike Ock

Mike Ock wasn't affiliated with a crew at that time but a year later he and two friends created a group called the Young Hooligans...They wrote a bunch of rhymes but never laid any vocals down in a studio unfortunately. Then they got approached by Maalik7 and his people around 1991. 

From Left to Right : K.D. Ice, Mike Ock, Will & B - Photo courtesy of Mike Ock

Maalik7 managed Ghost Town Records with a kat called Cheaba Lee Heath III. Maalik7 was one of the OG's Mike looked up to. They grew up in the same projects and Mike knew him since the early 80’s. He signed a contract with GT Records and shortly after began to record in a studio... but it was still all about the love, he enjoyed creating and left the business aspects to Maalik7 and his people.

The tracks from this EP are the only material officially released by Ghost Town Records. Mike Ock was pretty much the only artist at the time they worked with. They went on to record a bunch of songs that never got released. Some ended up on local mixtapes and the rest never made it off the DAT they were recorded on.... Sadly Maalik7 passed away in 2011 (Rest In Peace), so I'm not sure that all those unreleased tracks will see the light of day unfortunately...

Mad Props to Mike Ock.