Hip Hop - Oddisee
(click this url to watch a video . . .)
Oddisee's music was new to me as well as some of the big hip hop performers we've mentioned in this blog. If it wasn't for soundcloud, I'd be lost . . .but more important . .how I bumped into Oddisse was interesting.
I was searching through my DAW . . .looking for a synth module to assemble newer creations to the mix. My tracks were mainly a neo-soul type of keyboard thing with electric piano covering the harmonies. So, I found a synth that was electronica and wondered if any other rappers were using techno smooth electronica to complete their tracks. Jaemo usually has info on every great and new artist popping up on our soundcloud (the media) and explained a guy named Oddisee made excellent tracks using alternative electronica and smooth techno samples.
Immediately, I began listening to Oddisee's tracks and realized I had found a new artist to invest in. I would have paid MP3 money or I-Tune money for his clips . .but soundcloud gave me a glimpse of what his tracks were like . .and what his I-Tunes might sound like. Then I checked out a few videos and I was hooked . . . .
Oddisee, also known as Amir Mohamed el Khalifa, was raised in Washington, DC and PG County. He's associated with Halftooth Records, the Mellow Music Group, Oddisee Music, and All City Records. He had attended an art institute in Philadelphia and started his career in 2002 with the song Musik Lounge on Dj Jazzy Jeff's Magnificent album. After that production, he joined a group called the Low Budget Crew which included local artists Keen Starr, Cy Young and Kev Brown.
My interest n Oddisee has to do with his signing with the Mellow Music Group in 2008. At soundcloud you can hear his Tangible Dream album or project and understand the electronica/ smooth techno I was thinking about producing.
The first song, Tangible Dream, starts off with a real militaristic beat and a smooth bass line. Instead of techno . .you hear a "Godly" chorus of female singers - which to me is his trade mark. This chorus of female singers permeates throughout each song - especially this one. There's a painting on a youtube video of his where Michael Angelo depicts a man touching God's finger. This painting can also be found in a book for music scales . .to help musicians cover majors, minors and dominants while soloing . . .but for Oddissee . . .it meant a cool female chorus sample that is heard in each song.
Yeezus Was a Mortal Man is the second cut. We hear an electronic keyboard and a new chorus . . .it's not exactly electonica . .but it's different . . . different from R&B keyboard parts. Possibly a new way of looking at keyboard arrangements.
My most favorite was Killing Time. There's a guitar note sample with lyrics about Washington, D.C. In the song Oddisee says he wished he had gone to Howard University while a dreamy keyboard riff flows in. Howard University is probably ground zero for finding top musicians and executives for African American media . . but Oddissee seems to be doing real well for himself. His connection to the Mellow Music Group, a DIY record company, placed him on the map.
Own Appeal starts off with a guitar riff sample and a classical violin chorus. The samples seem strange when writing about them, but they fit into his music just like a sampled R&B bass or keyboard.
The last track on his Tangible Dream album is The Goings On . . . We hear electric piano on this one with a 1960's bass and drum sample. . .although the drum sample sounds like a real drum track recorded in a studio.
After checking out Oddisee's soundcloud, I, immediately, looked for youtubes and found an interesting video called Caprice Down. Him and a few friends are out in California eating a normal breakfast and . . .one of the members of the group starts oiling up his skateboard. The other members join in and we hear this smooth and mello guitar riff with a nice keyboard bass sample. They bump into a few city people and end up skating around palm tress and clean, concrete sewer conduits. They must have found distribution in Calfornia because Washington, D.C. is where the Mellow Music Group is located. People hardly skateboard in D.C., but the Mellow Music Label stated Oddisee divides his time between Brooklyn, New York, Washington, DC, and London. Now, I don't have a lot of info regarding Oddisee music tracks recorded in London . .but I'll start looking. What he was doing out in California is also a mystery, but I'm sure we'll find tracks out there , too.
Basically, Jaemo was right. His music is a sort of alternative version of electronica and techno . .but it fits fine in the underground hip hop category. I, immediately, located the DAW synth for electronica and began producing . . .
