Oh No

Rapper and producer Oh No was born Michael Jackson in Oxnard, California, in 1978. The brother of DJ phenom Madlib, son of soul singer Otis Jackson, Sr., and nephew of jazz trumpeter Jon Faddis, Jackson decided to also try his hand in the music world. Nicknamed Oh No the Mischievous Rebel by Lootpack MC Wildchild, Jackson soon shortened his name to simply “Oh No.” Hooked on DJ’ing and rapping since age 11, Oh No would practice making beats during breaks at work. The effort paid off when Oh No recorded his first singles with Stones Throw and Groove Attack and started producing for Medaphoar, Aloe Blacc, and Murs. His solo album The Disrupt, which Oh No both produced and MC’ed, was released in 2004, and two years later, Exodus Into Unheard Rhymes, which took its beats from the Galt MacDermot (composer of Hair) catalog, came out. In 2007, after exploring the psychedelic sounds of Turkey, Greece, Lebanon, and Italy, Oh No issued the beat record Dr. No's Oxperiment. Ethiopian funk, jazz, soul, and rock were sampled for his 2009 release Dr. No's Ethiopium, while 2010 found him partnering with producer the Alchemist for Gutter Water, an album released under the project name Gangrene. In 2012, a second, more ’70s-themed Gangrene album dubbed Vodka & Ayahuasca arrived, along with two Oh No solo releases, the beat album Dr. No's Tornado Funk, and Ohnomite, an effort built out of samples from Rudy Ray Moore’s Dolemite soundtracks. In 2015 he worked with producer the Alchemist on two projects, a third Gangrene effort dubbed You Disgust Me, and Welcome to Los Santos, an album based on music the duo created for the video game Grand Theft Auto V. In 2014, Jackson issued Animal Serum with Organized Konfusion rapper Prince Po. Three years later, he released a collaboration with TriState, 3 Dimensional Prescriptions, which featured guest rappers like Hus KingPin, Lyric Jones, Xiomara, Brotha J, Evidence, and more. ~ Marisa Brown