Review: "Occupational Hazard" Album by Mozzy
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There’s no doubt about it, “Occupational Hazard” is one of the hardest Mozzy albums out there, and it’s intentional. In a press release, he mentioned that this was his favorite project because it was a return to the old Mozzy (aka, Hellgang Mozzy) - a shoutout to the streets as opposed to the mainstream, which he said “Beyond Bulletproof” was intended more for. Instead, “Occupational Hazard” isn’t all rainbows and Daisys - it’s a realistic discussions of topics only those that live a specific lifestyle will be familiar with.
The California rapper mentions that the message of this album is that you won’t always get a happy ending or a sunny ride if you decide to live this lifestyle. “When you choose to make your money a certain way, there can be consequences that come with that but own it, embrace it.” While it’s a warning to fully understand what you signed up for, it’s still a celebration of gang culture, which many people have mixed feelings about, given the nature of Nipsey Hussle’s death.
His smoky voice is a pleasant departure from the younger sounding rappers speaking on similar topics. In ‘Same 40” he spits, “watch what you troll on Instagram cause you could die today”, speaking to the effects that petty social media posts have on gang and gun culture. and the ease which which he could hire a hitman “i can get you cooked for less than what I got this rolley for”.
In “Heartbroken” Mozzy recruits Quando Rondo for a slowed down piano track that talks about how OGs need to numb their pain and heartbreak from all the friends lost to violence, and the paranoia you’re left with when you’re one of the few left standing “And the way I sip that purple potion, I'ma need some rehab/Roll up that dojo for the fallen soldiers/everytime I look over my shoulder, it's whole 'nother death”.
Quando raps about the perks of living the highlife, but in the back of his mind, he knows that his decadent and drippy lifestyle could be gone in an instant due to the path he chose: “Two double cups, I love to pour up, I'm switchin' lanes in the Lamb/This shit so crazy but I know right 'round the corner be death”.
“Never Lackin” is a tribute to his late grandmother “Damn I miss my granny, she the only one believed in me/Never pictured you leavin' me, wherever you are/I hope it's frequent that you think of me, forever you are/The only one it's hard to live without, eternally scarred.”
Still, he pushes through to make sure “momma rent is paid.” The chorus explains the title of the album, listing the range of well known occupational hazards that come with living the high-roller life, as he reminds listeners “I'm a gangster first and then a rapper.”
The slick lyrics and chorus rhyme patterns hit hard in “Hazardous” a fearless claim to street bravado and all the stories swirling around his notoriety, from “never feared another man, that n*gga bleed the same/I bought some balls and told the dealer he can keep the change” to “I hit my dawg inside his mouth and he don't speak the same/I keep it flame, he bowed his head when he seen the flames”.
“Occupational Hazard” seems like a clear message to the haters, and a reminder to his musical fans that he wouldn’t be making songs without the inspiration of his lifestyle and even so, he’ll always have an undefinable grit that makes him more than just another famous rapper.