The Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards (OEAAs) are an annual awards ceremony celebrating and recognizing the best of Omaha’s music, visual arts, and performance arts. Say Hey There is honored to present profiles on each of the 2015 Best Hip Hop/Rap nominees. Each artist or group spokesperson was asked the same series of questions in order to portray an honest profile of the music, the person or people behind the music, and what sets each apart from their peers. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on February 15, 2015 at the Downtown Omaha DoubleTree. Learn More »

Who

Marcey Yates / Op2mus / Emcee, Producer

Nominations

Best Hip Hop/Rap
Local Album of the Year

Behind the Scenes

Yates: Omaha native. American-born. Also known as “Op2mus.” I’m beginning to pave the way for a lot of positive music and change the face of the hip hop scene from what it was known to be the past ten, fifteen years. I was the first to do a few things. I was the first hip hop act to appear on the The Morning Blend. I haven’t seen any other hip hop artist write-ups in Omaha Magazine. But what I think I’ve had a part in doing is shaping the image of hip hop.

My biggest influence right now is this little dude over here sitting on the couch, man (points to son). I have him, his little brother and his little sister. Just the spirit I have in me to want to uplift people and change the way people think about themselves or feel about possibilities, and not thinking that they don’t have any opportunities to do anything; that motivates me a lot. My motivations just in music and where I get my hip hop from is Slum Village and Common, dudes like that. Kweli, Mos Def and Pete Rock. Those dudes are my hip hop fathers. I don’t desire a huge spotlight, but I think those are the clothes you wear, so I’m all for it.

Sounds Like

Yates: Vinyl hip hop.

What Makes Him Different

Yates: What makes me different is that I see myself more times than I have to or want to. The avenues that I hit and my strategy of doing it. A lot of people don’t have a plan, they just do it and hope to make it, but you actually gotta plan for this shit, there’s a logorithm for it. It’s forever changing, so every day you have to tweak your strategy.

Deserves it Because

Yates: I really am the hardest working, the most productive, best-sounding (laughs). No, but really, I’ve done the most in this given time. Those two records – nobody’s dropped a double record in one day this year or in the time frame that I did it. That’s 18 tracks, and I produced everything except two of those beats, and they’re all good. I really feel like it was good. I’m up against some good competition. I’m also up for Album of the Year and there’s no other hip hop in that category.