Oddisee Returns With To What End On January 20
First LP Since 2017 Asks The Question: “How Far Are You Willing To Go?”
Listen to “Ghetto to Meadow” (feat. Freeway) + “Hard To Tell”
LP Features Bilal, Phonte, Freeway, C.S. Armstrong, Olivier St. Louis, Haile Supreme & Others
November 9, 2022 – Rapper/producer Oddisee will return with To What End(Outernote Label) on January 20, his first full length album since 2017’s The Iceberg. Long celebrated as a deep-thinking emcee that delivers a masterclass in lyricism over production often influenced with the Go-Go music of his Prince George’s County, MD roots, on To What End Oddisee explores human ambition, posing the question: “how far are you willing to go, and why?” The album was recorded over the past year - one of the most challenging he’s had to make - in marathon, all-night sessions in his Bed Stuy studio. Oddisee also just launched a 27-date North American full band tour that includes Webster Hall in New York City on December 15 and concludes in Washington, D.C. at the 9:30 Club. See below for the full itinerary.
Oddisee has shared two tracks from the album today:
“Ghetto to Meadow” (feat. Freeway): https://youtu.be/CrS6JyPjiwQ
“Hard To Tell”: https://youtu.be/JNZiLUrWWuE
To What End’s 16 tracks tackle everything that comes with a dive into human psychology, in particular incentive and motivation. “People Watching” analyzes how far people are willing to go to be accepted, oftentimes living beyond their means. “Ghetto to Meadow” explores what people from deprived communities are willing to do to escape poverty. The mounting pressure on Oddisee to complete this album, while navigating the challenges of touring and raising a family amongst other things, pushed him to do “the uncomfortable things,” he says, like addressing his own mental health issues which led him to see a therapist for the first time. The track “Many Hats” was directly inspired by his therapy experiences, and the realization that it’s ok to ask for, and get help. “To many people I’m many things / But never me, and that’s beginning to bear strain,” he raps.
Another “uncomfortable thing” that Oddisee confronted on this album was collaboration. Adhering to DIY principals throughout his career, which includes producing, mixing and engineering all of his albums, doing it all himself has always been his mentality. To What End welcomes the most guests and collaborators to the fold than ever before, including Bilal, Phonte, C.S. Armstrong, Noochie, Haile Supreme and Freeway.
Says Oddisee: "Music has always been a source of therapy for me. To What End is a musical journal of my life in recent years. It’s a record of my experiences and gradual shift in perspective. I hope this record finds the ears that need it most."
As part of the To What End album release, Oddisee is also visiting minority-owned small businesses around his Brooklyn neighborhood to interview the shop owners and share small vignettes featuring new music on his platforms. Viewing himself as not just an artist, but as a small business owner himself, he wants to use his album release opportunity to spotlight some of his favorite local enterprises.
While Oddisee hasn’t released a full-length album since 2017, he’s remained busy with international touring and in 2020 surprise-released the Odd Cure EP, which he wrote and created in the very first days of the pandemic while quarantining from his family. Interspersed with phone calls he recorded as he checked in with his loved ones, Stereogum described it as “gorgeous” and led to Oddisee’s second NPR Tiny Desk appearance. Pitchfork deemed 2017’s trenchant The Iceberg “a focused beam of live-band and hip-hop soul that rattles loudly in our present political moment.”
Born Amir Elkhalifa to a Sudanese father and African American mother in Washington, D.C., Oddisee bore witness to stark inequality early in life and became as political as the city he was raised in. Over the course of his catalog - which includes nearly 20 albums, instrumental tapes and EPs - he addresses the human condition with unwavering conviction and candor, and his work has been celebrated by NPR, Rolling Stone, Complex, Hypebeast, Vice Noisey and far beyond.
Pre-order To What End here: http://outernotelabel.com
https://shorefire.com/roster/oddisee
TRACK LIST:
01. The Start of Something
02. How Far
03. Many Hats
04. Already Knew
05. Choices Feat. Phonte, Bemy Fiasco & Kay Young
06. Try Again
07. Ghetto To Meadow Feat. Freeway
08. More To Go Feat. C.S. Armstrong
09. All I Need Feat. Olivier St. Louis
10. Bartenders Feat. Toine Jameson
11. Work To Do Feat. Bilal
12. People Watching
13. Hard To Tell
14. Bogarde Feat. Noochie
15. The Way Feat. Haile Supreme and Saint Ezekiel
16. Race
TOUR DATES:
09 Nov - Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall
10 Nov - Charlotte, NC @ The Underground
11 Nov - Atlanta, GA @ Hell at The Masquerade
14 Nov - Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
15 Nov - New Orleans, LA @ Toulouse Theatre
16 Nov - Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
17 Nov - Austin, TX @ The Mohawk-Austin
18 Nov - Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf
19 Nov - Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
22 Nov - San Diego, CA @ Music Box
23 Nov - Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre
26 Nov - Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s
27 Nov - San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
29 Nov - Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall
30 Nov - Seattle, WA @ Neumos
02 Dec - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
03 Dec - Boise, ID @ Neurolux Lounge
04 Dec - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Urban Lounge
06 Dec - Denver, CO @ Cervantes’ Other Side
07 Dec - Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
08 Dec - Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
09 Dec - Detroit, MI @ El Club
13 Dec - South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
14 Dec - Allston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
15 Dec - New York, NY @ Webster Hall
16 Dec - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
18 Dec - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club