OverDoz - The Roxy - 11/22/11

Rebecca Haithcoat

Kent and Creamie of OverDoz

​See also: Meet OverDoz: L.A.'s Freakiest, Cheekiest Collective

OverDoz
The Roxy
11/22/11

A beat before the curtain dropped on their show last night, OverDoz's de facto leader, Kent, addressed the audience soberly, "We did this shit all by ourselves."

He could have been referring to any number of things: building the group and its reputation from the ground up; creating a playful concept complete with costume changes for their set that night; packing The Roxy with not just friends but also folks in those tell-tale A&R suits; having more girls than guys crushed against the lip of the stage. Most likely it was all of the above.

Rebecca Haithcoat

​While the country has been focused on the other Los Angeles young rap crew, the boys of Inglewood's OverDoz -- rapper/singers Kent, Sleezy, Joon, Creamie, a couple of producers and a photographer/director -- have been steadily polishing their raw & bangin' act, dropping a string of videos that look more like very slick shorts. It's all getting so good that Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes was heavily courting them this summer.

Live For, Die For, their latest album, was released early this year, and covered pretty much two topics -- smoking out and stroking girls down. Perhaps it was due to this being OverDoz's first major headlining show in L.A. and their pouring themselves into both the planning and the performance, but the songs sounded even better live than recorded. Rare.

Comedy is a big part of what the group does. Creamie could fall back on a career in stand-up if the rap thing doesn't work out. And just go listen to "You're Blowin' It." So instead of entering from the wings, the guys emerged from a large dumpster in the middle of the stage (check the cartoon depiction). Dressed to resemble a pimp-like bum, one of their crewmates slumped against it with a bottle of Hennessey that singer/producer Iman Omari slugged from occasionally. The core four hopped in and out of the dumpster for shirt changes, and hands waved intermittently from its depths.