A creative maniac comes to the Galvanik on Saturday

Hip-hop fused with funk, soul and jazz: US rapper Oddisee has been in the business for a long time –but he has never been interested in fame and big money.

While some would classify a collection of eight songs as an album, Oddisee's latest release, ‘To What End’, has 16 tracks. And with ‘Odd Sketches, Vol. 1’, he has made a terrific mixtape. ‘I produce tons of material every year, most of which is never released,’ explained the rapper from Washington D.C. Releasing music that he considers incomplete or not album-worthy is an exercise in “relieving the pressure I put on myself as a creative artist”.

Amir Mohamed el Khalifa, alias Oddisee, grew up in the Sudanese community of Maryland, in the USA, under the care of his father. His mother was an African-American, but his parents had separated when he was three years old. From their trips to New York, his cousins brought the most popular hip-hop albums home to the Washington D.C. area, where go-go, a subgenre of funk, was the predominant style of music. ‘Midnight Marauders’ by A Tribe Called Quest was the first record he bought for himself, as the 39-year-old recalled in an interview in May of this year. These early influences still resonate in his music, and they had one thing in common: A Tribe Called Quest and The Roots, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, none of them are very rich or famous. ‘Fame was never my blueprint,’ says Oddisee, fame was never his goal. For him, hip-hop is ‘the greatest form of American poetry and modern literature’. He comes from middle-class Washington D.C., and creates conscious rap, not gangsta rap.

The Sudanese-African-American hip-hop musician Oddisee            Photo: zvg

His hip-hop actually includes a band
The EP ‘And Yet Still’ was released at the end of May, with six songs - almost an album for some. And just two months ago there was the single ‘Life in a Wind’, together with the young jazz saxophonist Léon Phal and singer Wolfgang Valburn. The various releases bear witness to Oddisee's diversity. He is a musician, rapper, songwriter and producer. His productions are rooted in hip-hop, but are strongly influenced by jazz, funk, (neo-)soul and even gospel. The musician is his own master and has never jeopardised his creative independence. It's only logical that Oddisee usually has a band (watch, for example, the ‘Tiny Desk Concert’ on YouTube). It's just a shame that he doesn't have Good Compny with him at his appearance at the Galvanik in Zug.

Oddisee can also be heard in Parisian clubs
He moved to Brooklyn, New York, In 2010, where he has a family and makes a living from music. The current album ‘To What End’ is about why he does what he does. Ultimately about why anyone does what he does. So why? He had to reassure himself. During the pandemic, he had self-doubt for the first time. Before that, he produced an album within three months, went on tour and then returned home. It went on like that for over ten years. A maniac!

Even though the big, or rather respectable successes were a while ago, Oddisee has lost none of his creative power. And yet he sometimes does things that are simply good for his career. Why not give a good guy a listen, even if you personally don't like the song? Oddisee is referring to his collaboration with the French electronic musician 20syl. The club track ‘Ongoing Thing’  has been streamed over 30 million times on Spotify. ‘You have to get out of your comfort zone sometimes’, he says.

Tip:
Oddisee is appearing at the Galvanik in Zug from 9:00 pm on Saturday, 14 September.
More information can be found on www.galvanik-zug.ch.

How cool is that? Watch the video of the ‘Tiny Desk Concert’ by Oddisee and band. 
https://youtu.be/HJgyQ47qABI