I’m usually up on a lot of the upcoming boom bap hip hop guys but I completely missed the boat on Oddisee and the whole Low Budget Crew out of Washington, DC. I’m actually ashamed to admit it because their vibe is my cup of tea. Or should I say cup of coffee? I’m drinking a cup of coffee here as I write this before 7am on a Monday. I have an hour before I have to start my 9-5 but all I want to do is vibe out to beats like I do every morning. And during the day… And at night. FEED ME BEATS!
The first album I got into from Oddisee was his album The Good Fight that dropped in 2015. The album cover on that joint is a top 10 album cover hands down so I was off to a good start with this album. Then I pressed play on the first song and was blown away. The beat? The flow? Wow… Oddisee was so dope man. I’m always digging in the crates to find new artists and here Oddisee was with a catalog full of bangers for me to go back through. Props to both ThatGuyYams and Joe Mugger for putting me on. I still remember the both of your faces when I told you I had never heard anything from Oddisee.
That night I dove deep into the Oddisee catalog to see all that I had missed. I was saving so many songs and was overwhelmed with how much new music I had from him and from Kev Brown to listen to. And then I heard the song that inspired me. The album was called Rock Creek Park and it was a beat tape that dropped in 2011. The 2nd song on the album was a song called “Skipping Rocks” and that song is a thing of beauty. I listened to it over and over again that night. Since the streaming services arrived, it’s so easy for good songs to get lost in an the infinite amount of tracks that are stashed in our digital libraries. I knew I had to save this song to never lose it so I started a playlist called music to work to which you can find on Spotify. Oddisee’s beats are what I need in my headphones to be creative at work. “Skipping Rocks” inspired me man! Here’s the song below that you can bump to see if resonates with you like it did with me.
Fun fact: I was out in Brooklyn last summer with my wife on vacation. We were heading to the subway from our Airbnb and I almost dropped my coffee when I saw what looked to be Oddisee coming from afar. It was totally him and it was like I saw Michael Jordan. I didn’t have any words… Didn’t even give him a head nod… I just told my wife, “I think that was Oddisee.” Not like she knows any of the music I listen to but I had to share it with somebody. I came within steps of one of the most slept on dudes behind the boards.