Oddisee and Live Instrumentation in Contemporary Hip-Hop

Sudanese American rapper, producer, and photographer Oddisee has been creating hip-hop music since around 1999. He began as strictly a rapper rapping in a style he coined as observational rather than angry about the living situations in Prince George's County Maryland or PG County. PG county is known for being one of the wealthiest counties in the area, but is surrounded by some of the roughest areas in the tri state area. As Oddisee began making a buzz with his unique style of MCing, he decided to start producing beats as well. In a short number of years he became recognized for his soulful beats mixed with his conscious intellectual lyrics and harsh word play. However, recently Oddisee decided to take his music a different direction than most hip hop artists do.

In 2010 Oddisee released an instrumental record titled "Rock Creek Park" trying to encapsulate the many feelings and experiences he has had in the famous park. But this instrumental hip hop record was different. Oddisee produced all the beats using samples from various eras and genres and adding additional sounds with his synthesizer. But when Oddisee stepped into the studio he decided he wanted to hire a band of musicians to re create his beats using all live instrumentation. When the record was finished Oddisee had created something that I consider to be unlike any hip hop before minus acts such as the Roots. Oddisee's record sounded so fresh, clear and full bodied. Hearing all of the beat breaks he chopped played smoothly by a talented group of about 10 musicians. Rock Creek Park was released and caused about as much buzz as any instrumental hip hop record did.

But that was not enough for Oddisee. He had now grown fond of the sound of these live instruments, so when he sat down to release his first fully self produced rap record he decided to do the same thing. But this time was not limited to a concept record. Oddisee's "People Only Hear What They See" was released in June 2012 to mass critical acclaim. His throbbing soulful production seemed to have gained an entire new dimension to it and that paired with his now perfected style of writing proved to be a deadly combo.

With the release of the record, Oddisee then decided he would tour with this live band throughout the Americas and Europe. I never got to see his show regrettably, but I have watched quite a bit of video footage and it looked unreal.

My questions for this post are relatively simple and opinionated. But I am curious nonetheless.

What role do you think live instrumentation will play in contemporary hip hop, if any?

Although The Roots have been doing similar things to what Oddisee is doing in the past, do you think other artists will begin to make these live instrumentation bands a trend?

How do you feel about the sound of the below Oddisee songs that include live instrumentation?










And here's an acoustic version of a song off of People Hear What They See and interesting take on his already very defined style. Tell me what you think!