OCC Taee
Meet Indianapolis’ Top Rapper
OCC Taee, a talented hip-hop artist hailing from Indianapolis, has been recently making waves in the rap game. His style, from authentic lyrics to his catchy flow, has made him one of the youngest stars and most influential artists in hip-hop. Accumulating over 1 million views on YouTube and hundreds of thousands of streaming fans worldwide, OCC Taee lets his music do the talking.
Occ Taee has recently dropped his newest mixtape called “Just Listen,” which comprises 9 tracks that display the artist’s growth and evolution as a rapper. Each track on the mixtape highlights Occ Taee’s unique sound and style, as he has become Indianapolis’ top rap artist to come from the city. As with his previous releases, “Just Listen” is expected to continue to solidify Occ Taee’s position as one of the brightest young stars in today’s hip-hop.
Meet and Get To Know OCC Taee
Kulture Vulturez: Let’s get started. Being from Indianapolis, break down what it was like for you growing up there?
Occ Taee: I had a really normal childhood. I didn’t really have a two parent household. For me, it was with my mom, but my pops was in the hood, Haughville, so that’s really where I was at. That’s really where I’m from still, or where I mostly be at. So, it was cool. It wasn’t nothing too rough, too hard. Nothing that I couldn’t make it out of.
Kulture Vulturez: How could you explain growing up or living in the city of Indianapolis for those who never been?
Occ Taee: It’s somewhat cool. Everybody that I met outside of the city, they think it’s just cornfields and shit. I have met a lot of people in a lot of places, and every time I say Indiana, they think of cornfields and shit like, that’s really what they think it is here. But motherf***ers be outside [like in any other city], you just have to be cautious. You can move as you please, but if you look at a motherf***er wrong, you are going to have to be on go.
OCC TAEE – “Spin Again” (Official Music Video)
Kulture Vulturez: As far as rapping, has there ever been a rap scene in the city, or any major rappers locally and nationally?
Occ Taee: As far as Indianapolis, we have had no big artists. But we do have Mike Epps here, though. I mean, he is an actor in the city, and he is global. As far as the city though, that’s really it. But we got a couple motherf***ers down here doing their thing out here. But ain’t nobody really made it, as far as hip hop.
Kulture Vulturez: Do you feel something needs to be done? Or what can be done for the city to grow in hip-hop?
Occ Taee: I have just seen in a message that I had shared, when one of my managers had shared my album with somebody, they said it needs to be a sound that’s made for Indianapolis. A sound that does not sound like anybody else. Down here, they jocking somebody else’s wave, like some Detroit shit. [Rappers here] do not have their own Nap (Indianapolis) sound, like how you can hear somebody from Louisiana and know that’s where they come from.
Kulture Vulturez: Can you recall your intro to hip hop or growing up what was your first memory of music in general?
Occ Taee: My pops and his people is really what made me start rapping. My family was in music, so I was in the studio, like as early as seven years old. I got songs from when I was a kid. I really need to get them and listen to them, I ain’t going to lie (LOL). So, I’ve been hip to everything. I’ve been knowing what was going on. That’s why I say I really grew up too fast, even as a kid, I was trying to be grown and shit.
OCC TAEE – “SMILIN” (Official Music Video)
Kulture Vulturez: Is that what got you started rapping? Growing up, being in the studio at a young age?
Occ Taee: Yeah. I feel that’s what made me really want to do it full time. Because I really used to do it for fun, but now it’s just like having a job that you like to do.
Kulture Vulturez: When did you realize that your music was starting to make some waves and starting to take off?
Occ Taee: I was at the fair in 2019, that is when I was a SoundCloud rapper, and somebody walked up to me and just started rapping to me like I was going to sign him or some shit. I was f*** up, I couldn’t even buy myself a funnel cake (LOL). I ain’t know what to do. But when I seen that shit, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s over.’ Then I’m walking around the fair and I have a bunch of people trying to take pictures. That shit was just crazy. So, since then, it turn me up. Seeing my music is really touching motherf***ers like that.
Kulture Vulturez: Do you feel being in Indianapolis that it makes it harder to grow as an artist compared to Atlanta or LA?
Occ Taee: Yeah, for sure. So, it definitely makes it harder because we don’t really have any big media outlet that we can run to. Everywhere big has their own shit going on. They got record labels and shit like that, we don’t have shit here. Even the A&Rs that I talked to, half of them don’t even know what Indianapolis is.
They think I’m from Chicago. A lot of them told me that. I don’t know is it because of my appearance or what, but that’s what I always get. Everybody think I’m from Chicago. I don’t know why, but I’m like, nah, I’m from Indianapolis. That chicken shit that went viral on the internet out east (East Side) with the chicken on the floor and shit, they know that.
Kulture Vulturez: You just released your latest project, before we touch on that, you have at least two other projects before that?
Occ Taee: Yeah. Welcome to Choppa City and then Only Cha$e Currency.
OCC TAEE – “Bed Time” (Official Music Video)
Kulture Vulturez: Can you break those two projects down?
OCC Taee: Welcome to Choppa City. That was when I was like 15 going on 16 years old. Choppa City, that’s my big brother, he passed back in 2016, so I really just did some shit dedicated to him for the first project. Then Only Chase Currency, you know, that’s what OCC stands for, but also the Old Choppa City too. That’s why I made those.
That was really the point of those titles and shit, because that’s what the meaning of the OCC is. But the second one, I recorded half that tape in Los Angeles. I was out there with APG Atlantic. That shit was turnt too. So it was cool making them. That was really just me getting started, getting the feel of how this shit works and how everything in the business works. Now it’s dangerous.
Kulture Vulturez: Do you feel you are in a place where you know where want to go and starting to understand everything?
OCC Taee: Yeah, for sure. That’s why I haven’t really signed anything yet. I have not been quick to sign some paperwork because I could have been did that shit years ago. I am just taking my time for me really on an independent route right now. Just waiting to hear the right shit.
Kulture Vulturez: Can you talk about your latest project, Just Listen?
OCC Taee: Every song is just really a different feel of a chapter in my life. I’m closing in on 18, which is a big year. A lot of shit happened. Really just got to just listen. That’s why named it that for real. It’s a new era, it’s a new me. It’s really just some shit people ain’t heard yet.
That’s really an era that’s past me that I just closed out for myself. That’s why I had to get that out the way. Because this new shit that’s about to come out, it’s really dangerous right now. I’m not gonna lie.
Kulture Vulturez: After this, you have some new releases coming out. What can people expect from you in the future that you are able to tell?
OCC Taee: They can expect some big feature shit. I know they are looking for that. Be expecting some more singles, some hot shit dropping soon, some shit not even expecting to hear. I got a lot of shit coming right now. It’s really turnt up.