Get all 16 Oddisee releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of And Yet Still, Odd Sketches Vol. 1, To What End, ODD CURE, Odd Renditions, A Year In, From The Top EP, Mr. Saint Louis EP, and 8 more.
1. |
The Start Of Something
03:42
|
|
||
|
Started off for the love of things/
But to remain your heart’ll charge by other means/
I abstained from the lure of fame, a weak hit/
The secret is love drug of dreams/
When you’re both the fire & the fuel that you heat with/
The brighter the flame the more you’ll tire enduring pain/
And that’s when you burn out, or learn of another source/
But of course, external motivation’s
A cheap trick/
What does it all matter if it’s less or more the same/
tally up a tour around the sun like a score to gain/
The idea of more within itself is sort of strange/
maybe there is, a finally summery of what we’ve come to be/
And sinners become winners absolved of blame/
War is the price of peace/
I fight to sleep, I could take a life with ease, Conscious rap/
I might just be polite, desensitized/
Traumatic childhood incentivized/
Had to get around gate hordes, improvised/
Gifted how I learned to break doors, enterprise/
A Shepard can’t be in the shadow of goats/
Your favorite rapper is just cattle I will snap at the throat/
At the end of Ramadan I slaughter lamb for my kin/
That’s not a threat just understand I’m not as western as hoped/
You from the ends I’m from the edge that’s why I’m balanced within/
I learned that challenge is a test I write my answers with pen/
Smeared pages in the book of my life span/
Weaponized emotion Pisces with trident/
Took a stab at making life better with mic stands/
Collection of my fathers old records some nice jams/
A Groove theory experimented at night and/
The truth came clearly only fact is I am/
Attributes are given by observer’s/
How I’m seen & how I’m heard is not the reason why I’m working/
Why perceive what I am worth by what you need is trying first/
To be accepted putting second my belief’s a lie that hurts/
I’ve done more than I thought about/
Tasted five star fruits of labor & ordered out/
Gained confidence in an industry swarmed in doubt/
Accomplishments made of experiences void of clout/
Only thing left is me living I’m calling out/
I’m going off, how to make a million without going soft/
Can’t appreciate the winnings never knowing loss/
I don’t have enemies just misunderstandings/
If you were ever a friend to me, you would understand it/
Those dishonest pretending to be
Were harmless and enraged by my empathy/
When discovered I wasn’t damaged/
The truth is seldom cemented, opinions loose, what happens/
The story traction, the proof’s slipping and people crashing/
That type of traffic I circumvented/
Never let attraction to a muse deter the mission/
I don’t even flirt with ideas, my words are action/
I’m not the one to listen to for a worthless caption/
Quote me when your backs against the wall and the worst could happen/
You might not beat the odds but you got to meet the odd/
It took time to accept that I’m worthy of admiration/
Was brought up in a family not caught up in celebration/
No clock within the house to remind me that time was racing/
The table staying vacant if baba late than we waiting/
Associated patience with bread in need of breaking/
With people that I love, when money came didn’t change it/
My children came and I place it/
The knowledge of ancestors to plan be better/
Never in need of saving/ to what end
|
||||
2. |
How Far
01:59
|
|||
|
Now or never I doubt it’s ever that dire/
only motivated when I get close to the fire/
Who knows why a me on the ropes is a noble fighter/
Associating hope with providing/
I come from a long line of barley trying and getting by/
You won’t be surprised if you apply and you get denied/
Children of compliance got defiant and this is why/
It’s hard to sympathize crackers dying from getting high/
When crack was in its prime drug abuse was a kin to crime/
America’s design on who do and don’t get to lie/
In front a grand jury or or a choir of people crying/
Somewhere in between a you and I and the you is silent Or obtuse/
How far how far how far will you go/
How far how far how far will you go/
How far how far how far will you go/
How far how far how far will you go/
not using an excuse just correct truth/
I was sent to upset you/
I got your children standing next to where you left ooh/
Move away from me but to the music you step to/
Black flight the only non white in front row/
Amir’s feared in light when’s it night they want O/
Show full good girls hype when I come close/
She said she use my vinyl surface to blunt roll/
Edison ain’t know it would be medicine/
Peddled in by the melanin to European’s fleeing their skeletons/
In need of a reconning we’ll I recon I’m selling them/
Addiction in a civil suited garment I settled in/
Live from colonies of cotton, tobacco, sugar and rotten planning/
Harvesting a promise t@wasn’t rooted when I was planting/
Equity not equality I’m demanding/
Your past or my future, who wants it more/
Panic/
How far how far how far will you go/
How far how far how far will you go/
How far how far how far will you go/
How far how far how far will you go/
|
||||
3. |
Many Hats
03:07
|
|||
|
To many people I’m many things/
But never me and that’s beginning to bare strain/
My mother‘s hands, my father shoulders, my friends ears/
I don’t complain I just pretend I’m in the clear/
I disappear when at my worst I hide in work/
Owe my career to turning hurt into ideas/
To persevere’s a double edge I run ahead/
Then double back cause what a fled still interferes/
Two stepping off the pivot been a traveler/
Before I was a passenger/
My baggage was just adding up/
Blowing up became a star but as it happened/
Feared of getting 86ed any second like the challenger/
I know enough how to hold a bluff when the goings tough/
Feel like collapsing but hold it up for show and such/
Wear many hats but no graduation to throw it up/
All I know is clutch/
All right baby, all right baby/
keep it moving, don’t stop/
keep it moving, don’t stop/
all right baby, all right baby/
keep it moving, don’t stop
keep it moving, don’t stop/
These are crazy times that we’re living in/
Adam probably said that after God created men/
We retell the same sagas of our great fathers/
Today ain’t harder you just bothered by the same events/
I feel my greatest attribute is why I’m lacking too/
Free of opinions so I never learned to pack truth/
Disagree with the consensus and they’re after you, what comes after you/
My experience and narrative a dissonance
Apparent if you listen there’s an error/
Try to skip it when I’m scared/
My depiction paint it fairer/
Can’t resist a quick repair/
Not a lie if you believe it/
Won’t admit when I’m embarrassed/
Never tried to be deceiving/
But my pride can be misleading/
When you hide that you’re depleted/
People line up a share/
When they take an arm and leg I wonder if they see me bleeding/
But they don’t and I repeat what got me sewing what I wear/
All right baby, all right baby/
keep it moving, don’t stop/
keep it moving, don’t stop/
all right baby, all right baby/
keep it moving, don’t stop
keep it moving, don’t stop/
|
||||
4. |
Already Knew
04:02
|
|
||
|
Let me recollect for a sec, back when I stressed for a check/
Didn’t know I was blessed/
Happy with a whole lot less, no way for me to know that yet/
Put me to test when the world tried to put me to rest/
But that’s like a joke I don’t get/
Over the heads, what’s there to prove to vets/
I’m old news to the flex/
The dude in flesh, ya’ll just move on net/
I cut that loose on a jet/
Trends what a set, left my ends on quest/
Came back, gems in chest, never the neck/
Learned that jewel from a deck/
Taught me young to inspect funds come with request/
No gets more than a yes/
No doors closed to the best I’m always next/
I’ma show prove I was never gonna lose/
Yeah I already knew/
I’ma show prove I was never gonna lose/
Yeah I already knew/
I’ma show prove I was never gonna lose/
Yeah I already knew/
This one goes to the ones who ain’t role/
When I said let’s get it that ain’t have the same goals/
Blame none, people get afraid when a vision only living in your brain and they like set stone/
Had to let lone I ain’t tripping off nobody long as they stay quiet when the mind state blow/
Don’t try pivot when you see the light hitting/
That’s the same idea but with time made so/
Seeing is believing I was dreaming bout achieving/
something I ain’t have a reason to for see that I would be in/
one day I was on defense by the next day leading Only resting when beat it & the title say O/
Renewed attitude it’s fresh, never let a view get set/
A rule gets met, nothings resistant to change/
Remain too long you forget/
I always knew/
I’ma show prove I was never gonna lose/
Yeah I already knew/
I’ma show prove I was never gonna lose/
Yeah I already knew/
I’ma show prove I was never gonna lose/
Yeah I already knew/
I’ma show prove I was never gonna lose/
Yeah I already knew/
I’ma show prove I was never gonna lose/
Yeah I already knew/
I’ma show prove I was never gonna lose/
Yeah I already knew/
I’ma show prove I was never gonna lose/
Yeah I already/
|
||||
5. |
|
|||
|
Right about now it’s about that time/
For me to say on record what I think off line/
I made a choice to be a man if you ain’t, that’s fine/
How you identify your biz I don’t make that mine/
first thing I ever planned was a pregnancy/
Before I had a child never I thought about destiny/
Cheffing up a beat it wasn’t off of no receipt/
When Labels came to peep it I would offer a specialty/
95 north I’m in an office who checking me/
Could have went south like New Orleans or Tennessee/
Nothing meant to be even a calling collect fee/
Cause ain’t effecting me I’m involved in what’s stressing me/
Was brought up by enemies that were off in their energy/
It was often my guardians that would part on me misery/
Their heart was in place where jobs wouldn’t let them be/
I made a choice to never let the toxins get into me, eventually/
I keep hearing voice drowning out the sounds/
La, lala, lala
La, lala, lala, la la
I keep making choices trying not to drown/
ooh I need you now/
La, lala, lala, la la
I’m thinking back on my block/
Way before I knew if this rapping would happen or not/
I used to stand and just watch/
My OG’a say s*** like, if this don’t pan out, we going back to the pots/
Let’s exam in the plot/
and just imagine that you standing at a crossroads/
To overcome or overkill/
You could choose to politic it or choose to keep it real/
And still get your whole family shot like Olan mills/
All for the Benjamins tell me, what’s the benefit/
Wait too long and you choose wrong dog I will never hear the end of it /
Stress on my chest it’s a need I feed with weed and acetaminophen/
Just so I can roll with the punches and the upper cuts/
Under the pressure I feel it/
when choosing a life that is neither ideal nor Idyllic/
My friends in low places, keep me in high spirits/
So I’m out/
I keep hearing voice drowning out the sounds/
La, lala, lala
La, lala, lala, la la
I keep making choices trying not to drown/
ooh I need you now/
La, lala, lala, la la
Yeah, I’m proud, I ain’t ever quit/
I’d be lying if I said, I didn’t think it/
From a young child, God gave me a vision/
And ever since I’ve been about my business/
But when the road gets tough and life gets hard/
Hit you in the face not once but twice or more/
Don’t throw in the towel/
Oh baby don’t oh baby no/
Don’t worry Joys on the other side/
Cause when I hit the stage and I get blinded by the lights/
Crowd, singing my lyrics is a different kind of high/
Sold a bag of merch, floating on a cloud/
Take a few pics with the fans so wild/
Oh!
I’ma do it I’ma do it/
Aye!
In my DNA so fluid/
Oh!
Made a promise to myself just own it/
Aye!
And show the young Kay I’m still going/
Im still going/
I keep hearing voice drowning out the sounds/
La, lala, lala
La, lala, lala, la la
I keep making choices trying not to drown/
ooh I need you now/
La, lala, lala, la la
|
||||
6. |
Try Again
02:47
|
|||
|
all this time you spent/
all that love you gave/
please don’t walk away/
try again/
goes to those who wait
don’t break before your break/
It’s not to late/
To try again/
Couple wins couple L’s/
Took a hit but I prevailed/
Now I got the gist on how to flip it when I fail/
Different when you listen to yourself/
Not forgotten but forgiving/
How you’re living is the wisdom in itself/
Getting help/
My intention and my callous never been in Balance/
It’s a challenge when your talent comes equipped with damage/
Getting callus to what matters and you’ll miss a pattern/
How to manage a condition is the trick to catch it/
How to handle what you’re given is a different manor/
Skip the magic it don’t happen over night/
You don’t have to over write/
When’s it’s sounding how you didn’t plan it/
Understanding I ain’t got it when I gave it all I had/
Nothing missing in the math but division on the path/
I’m revisioning the past with a pen pad, I’ll be back/
I hope you try again/
all this time you spent/
all that love you gave/
please don’t walk away/
try again/
goes to those who wait
don’t break before your break/
It’s not to late/
To try again/
Underdog since when I use to run a blog/
I ain’t soft I could bend a hoop and run in clogs/
Under fog where I learned to view the sun as small/
No sweat when you getting use to jumping walls/
Back when I use to call instead of getting called/
I remember feeling lost bout to get a job/
Selling tree in the mall trying to chip a log/
had to ask if it cost ever getting caught/
Changed course, had to bang doors/
Now them same doors got a man that waits for us/
Hand shake still cause my manors ain’t lost/
I don’t floss when I kill cause I plan to stay raw/
Had to take deals that ain’t have a rate sealed/
Just to have a plate filled now I’d rather take off/
Remember when it feels like you gotta stay still/
If the lines ain’t crossed/
I hope you try again/
all this time you spent/
all that love you gave/
please don’t walk away/
try again/
goes to those who wait
don’t break before your break/
It’s not to late/
To try again/
all this time you spent/
all that love you gave/
please don’t walk away/
try again/
goes to those who wait
don’t break before your break/
It’s not to late/
To try again/
|
||||
7. |
||||
|
From the ghetto to the meadow
Gotta hustle, gotta hustle
Cause a thug ain't nothing special
When the love go out the window
It's a struggle not to let go
Til the trouble getting settled
Keep your head low in a tussle
Use your head though not muscle
Upper level not a shovel
in the mud or out depends though
If you wanted out or in though
just remember that the jungle
Out for blood and it gets shed though
Inner city where it's sinful
Where a grudge can be the end though
Nothing budging is the mental
Coming from a history of violence
Filled with misery and triumph
Lack of vision leads to buying
And the buying leads to selling
And the selling leads to clients
And clients lead to telling
And the telling leads to iron
In a cell or to your melon
Ain't no telling if you dying
When you living by the weapon
If they stepping then you riding
I seen young'ins wet up like Poseidon just for smiling
That's aggression if you grew up where expression is a sign
That you ain't tough enough to see your deep depression as blessing
Cause if everybody stressing why you crying
That's method to survive the lack of resting when you're tired
Lack of breath when there's a pressure on your neck & you complied
All you're left with is the questions that don't ever get obliged
If you speak up it's a threat and
If you digress then you're compliant
The divide between your effort & your net worth
Decide which gone get hurt
Before you pick side place a bet first
From the ghetto to the meadow
Gotta hustle, gotta hustle
Cause a thug ain't nothing special
When the love go out the window
It's a struggle not to let go
Til the trouble getting settled
Keep your head low in a tussle
Use your head though not muscle
Upper level not a shovel
in the mud or out depends though
If you wanted out or in though
just remember that the jungle
Out for blood and it gets shed though
Inner city where it's sinful
Where a grudge can be the end though
Nothing budging is the mental
I made it from the ghetto to the meadow
I was young and I was theaving toting, Ninas and the ghetto
I grew up around some heathens, trying to be Robert De Niro
Toting that tech with the air hose or the 38 special
Run go and tell the law I did it
To this drama, I'm committed I'll come for your niece and nephew
Slide through, hit them off, then go eat a piece of pretzel
Ain't you happy that I switched this s*** to rap
I'm so lucky, I was on the ducky for the cuff me
Got a couple million in the tucky'
It's expensive just to book me
Been popping since a rookie people can't overlook me
Either jumping off the jet, or in the mansion seeking
refuge
Try me I'll set this b**** on fire like Lisa Lopez
Then pull off on a moped and go fast
My dear, my dear, my dear, you do not know me but they know me very well
Been providing them with street tales from the concrete to the cell
From the ghetto to the meadow
Gotta hustle, gotta hustle
Cause a thug ain't nothing special
When the love go out the window
It's a struggle not to let go
Til the trouble getting settled
Keep your head low in a tussle
Use your head though not muscle
Upper level not a shovel
in the mud or out depends though
If you wanted out or in though
just remember that the jungle
Out for blood and it gets shed though
Inner city where it's sinful
Where a grudge can be the end though
Nothing budging is the mental
|
||||
8. |
||||
|
Wrote this on a beach while my kids were sleep/
Never thought I’d be at peace when I was near defeat/
Just got used to sending beats to get something to eat/
Looked inside my fridge and me and ain’t seen nothing sweet/
Another person in the verses written years prior/
From space heaters to heated spaces I’m near fire/
Different versions of work in progress/
Collected wisdom from their wreckage
That fortified with more in mind/
Can’t reach perfection with a poor design/
Clear to me now I was the risk I had to steer shy of/
Foreshadowed by own shadow as lurking object/
Slid through the valley where the corpses lie now my fears appear minor/
What I’ve become is currently my finest/
But within time it takes its place as just a piece of mind/
Another address on the Ave I traded sleep for grind/
Lived many lives and the newest ones always the hardest/
I know I lived many lives/
Yeah, But I got so much more to go/
Yeah so much more go/
Yeah baby, said I know I lived many lives
Yeah, but I got so much more to go/
Tuh, so much more to go/
Oh my, heh/
My first life I was a dreamer born into illusions/
My second I became student working on improvement/
Third bcame a preacher to protest our institutions/
Fourth I became a teacher to progress the moment/
Fifth I became a leader to protect conclusions/
Sixth a cheater to finesse those still in destitution/
Seventh a healer to correct what I just abusing/
The eighth I’m currently completing as my stress reducing/
Maybe what’s left is losing count of all accounted for/
Forgetting my collection is a feat but a profound reward/
I found the lure of life exploring what I couldn’t cause/
Effected by the random less a sceptic when you’re met by newness/
I traveled far and wide before I ever charged to rhyme/
My open mind would visit what the artist me ain’t stop to find/
To busy watching thrones I nearly didn’t guard the shrine/
Within my many lives I’m surprised that I’m a rolling stone/
I know I lived many lives/
Yeah, But I got so much more to go/
Yeah so much more go/
Yeah baby, said I know I lived many lives
Yeah, but I got so much more to go/
Yeah so much more to go/
Yeah, yeah yeah/
Said I know, I lived many lives/
Maybe 10 to be exact/
Haters they be like how the hell you did that/
Hmm, gotta take it way back/
When I got my first 91 Deville Cadillac/
Hmm, took that shit off to New York City/
Now I’m in my own lane ain’t nobody fucking with me/
HOV, hell yeah/
Hmm, now I’m in my own lane ain’t nobody fucking with me
Said I know I lived many lives/
Oh my huh, but I got so much more to go/
Tuh so much more go/
Oh my huh, said I know I lived many lives
but I got so much more to go/
Oh my/
|
||||
9. |
||||
|
I got things that I need & done things that I want to a lesser degree/
See it today but I’ll get it tomorrow it’s all about checking my greed/
People and comments are fake and it’s honestly making it harder to be/
Yourself in space where your health is a stake if you want every product you see/
Opinions always cost/
I don’t care that’s for free/
Baby, you can take it how you want/
I got all I want baby/
I got all I need/
I got all I want, baby yeah/
Don’t try to convince me that I need it when I got it/
Don’t try to convince me I ain’t got it/
If I’m breathing than I got it/
I’ve been good this long without it/
I ain’t buying what you selling fact you yelling make me doubt it/
Think I don’t notice you follow when you need a favor your effort is hollow/
Today ain’t the day I was born it’s the day that you wake up and get a new model/
I been okay though with saying tomato/
And y’all hit me up with tomato/
A different label the product the same though It’s B.S. in popular bottles/
I’m not complacent I/
Stopped at amazing while perusing greatness/
Not late on payments I shoot on location/
All from the music produced on vacation/
I’m in my own space that I codify/
The rules of engagement are mine in the making/
There’s room for improvement but not the foundation/
The root of my strength is on top of the Apex/
I doubt that I’m changing/
Opinions always cost/
I don’t care that’s for free/
Baby, you can take it how you want/
I got all I want baby/
I got all I need/
I got all I want, baby yeah/
|
||||
10. |
||||
|
Envisioning to hear and after/
Listening to Van Hunt/
On a pursuit for truth, like it’s a manhunt/
On all occasions yo my jam thump/
They talking what man they can’t front/
Even in a slump I rhyme better/
Define pleasure for chumps/
When I grunt n**** my s*** bump like the second trimester/
Don’t nobody want the smoke or the flame/
I was on my Solange. I tried to drink it away/
Now I’m back with the wraps in the mirror like I’m Issa Rae/
Trying to plan for tomorrow when I need today/
Time to tighten up n***** all around me like, you need to lighten up/
Sammy Sosa s***/
I’m like, if I write enough, the s*** will seem sweeter/
Pendulum indeed, my inspiration teeter
Back-and-forth like an AI cross/
Trying to do it by myself that’s how a I lost/
Ain’t no kennel for this underdog/
Out of my lane & im all in ya’lls/
Been long distance like a calling cards/
Before money was in banks it was my girl’s bra’s/
A to C my degree set to never thaw/
Clever Odd never soft yet never hard/
Middle man A to C bet I B involved/
Never lost rocked a W on top the skull/
Out park, from creek is was found in Shaw/
Bound to ball like it life this is never cos/
I don’t play unless my daughter got a weekday off/
Even then she in my arms and the mic is on/
ro-wave, roe wade yeah ya life is gone/
Pro choice I always ask if you want the smoke/
Serious I’ll turn your dreams to the brunt of jokes/
The I in team if Mayweather was writing quote/
Toine and Odd, PG county we the sons of hope/
The ME of the MD was mine in volts/
I know stylish shooters that will pull it out the totes/
Bars, gold like what made Levi’s stitch denim/
When y’all get rhythm, AliExpress/
These is Desiigner flow’s/
In my city we pull heaters out the liners/
I pull heaters off the vinyl check the sleeve for the liner notes/
Calling it quits not conceivable til my time to go/
Bars like a row full soft drinks line of coke/
In other words, look, man, you’re kind of dope/
We spice the track like we cooking some kind of roast/
The thing about the old days them the old days/
And I take y’all words with a grain of old bay/
Two giants who ain’t never learn obey/
Rule breaker since the ruler feature on part tre/
Optimistic even when the plan Shar Pei/
Getting a tan the only time I see dark day/
Fitting to bounce, like Spaulding on Parque/
RIP, Bill Russell/
Me and oa go back the long way/
Shout out to all my friends/
We keep it moving on from now to what end/
Yeah, from now to what end/
We keep it moving on from now to what end/
From now to what end/
We keep it moving on from now to what end/
|
||||
11. |
Work To Do (feat. Bilal)
03:00
|
|
||
|
Young boy, always knew you’re worth/
We made fun when you was young we was always doing dirt/
What’s your telephone, same as before/
How you doing, though, better than before/
Now he’s carrying on making sure the story long/
Not to cut you off, I better not miss this plane/
Now it’s taking off/
Back and forth exchange. Oh, you changed/
No I ain’t. I’m just trying to get my paper you in the way/
Can I catch up with you another day/
Fuck what a man say/
I’m not trying to run away, but ain’t nobody got time to play/
and I like dancing as much as the next man/
And getting my feet wet, the same old two step/
But I got work to do/
I got a job baby and I got goals baby/
And I got bills to pay/
And I like dancing as much as the next man/
And getting my feet wet, the same old two step/
But I got work to do/
People expect you to be where they left you/
If they came to check you’d know You moved on/
The first to admit it, Don’t think that I’m special
Don’t say that I’m different, but rather evolved/
I seen some things, that staying the same’s as good a sentence to lay in the morgue/
Ok with change, if it’s for the better/
But playing it safe’s a trick to conform/
Don’t get conditioned to thinking you’re wrong when opinions is stronger than fiction with non/
Be realistic some people are twisted/
And their sole intention is just to perform/
The mobile the same the flight number isn’t/
I might come to visit, but can’t stay & kick it /
My life is just different, I get down to business/
And then go to hang but never too long/
and I like dancing as much as the next man/
And getting my feet wet, the same old two step/
But I got work to do/
I got a job baby and I got goals baby/
And I got bills to pay/
And I like dancing as much as the next man/
And getting my feet wet, the same old two step/
But I got work to do/
Think I’m doing wrong/
Tell you where I’ve been/
Where are you at all alone/
Sitting by the phone/
Tell her don’t go/
Baby wait, I want to sing a love song/
Baby listen/
You say it’s the same old song/
Damn baby where’d it all go wrong/
You know I’m crazy/
I’m not trying to run away, but ain’t nobody got time to play
|
||||
12. |
People Watching
03:14
|
|||
|
Fresh up out depression got me feeling mello hype/
I be sealing feelings like my deals, hella tight/
I don’t like nobody but in public I’m polite/
When the money match the motive, I’ma show you what I’m like/
Larry David honesty ain’t curbing my replies/
Killing those with kindness my deserving of demise/
You ever been in company of people you despise/
I feel like that every time I take a walk outside/
Weekdays run my errands so that I don’t run into you/
Asking what I do for work ,I don’t care what you do/
You moved to the city for the scene and that you erase/
I moved to New York cause flight is cheap from JFK/
I was cool in DC out in PG round the way/
Your coolness smell of newness yeah the receipt say today/
Old you or the new you keep both you out my space/
Glad to see you blossom, do I look like I’m a vase/
[chorus]
apologies for the way I come across/
I hate everything for no reason just because/
An introvert at heart, I appreciate the love/
Please don’t feel the need to show it, knowing it is good enough/
Became an entertainer as to hide in plain sight/
It’s the one in ones that I circum to stage fright/
My rhymes are without filter In real life I keep it hush/
I feel I’ve said enough time to step up on the mic/
I’m not baby setting for adults who live in fear/
Of rejection or can’t deal with being wrong/
Or Think that going in directions not preferred is something weird/
Cause your acceptance to conform is so that you don’t get compared/
God forbid, if you’re different you’re a threat because you dared/
Well if thats how you feel when I’m my presence say you scared/
Please don’t come around me flexing with the energy of feds/
acting like I got wire way you watching what I wear/
What’s left that’s unique, we all subscribe to prepared/
I use to have a story til it leaked and got re-shared/
I know it’s not as lonely when you think someone cares/
Exactly why’s a reason that is still up in the air/
I’ve people watched from steps at Union station to the square/
I can’t help but notice what’s distinct’s becoming scares/
We gladly trade our freedom for convenience cause it’s comfort over quality a burden to think logically/
[chorus]
apologies for the way I come across/
I hate everything for no reason just because/
An introvert at heart, I appreciate the love/
Please don’t feel the need to show it, knowing it is good enough/
Became an entertainer as to hide in plain sight/
It’s the one in ones that I circum to stage fright/
My rhymes are without filter In real life I keep it hush/
I feel I’ve said enough let me get back on the mic/
|
||||
13. |
Hard To Tell
02:47
|
|
||
|
I'm scrolling through messages while being negligent
To something relevant it's pretty evident
It don't take precedence if it questioning life
Relieving the pressure of people impatient
If it was rotating I'd probably be waiting
And my expectations are deeply related to pride
My loyalty strong and my honor's adjacent it's not about paper the form of the payment
I use is the labor of love hasn't a price
Depreciated by those who have taken what can't be
replaced
Is the needle that's breaking the back of the camel we see irritating its eye
Oh I don't feel a way about nothing
We made it hard to tell
Oh I don't feel a way about nothing
We make it hard to tell
I'm done being nice, to people who thieve in the night
You be in my light teeming with spite from seeing me bright
If we only tight cause I make all the effort you getting severed, it's only right
That I connect in the flesh with my brethren not with a like
It is what it is, the way that I was not fit for the biz
Now nothing gets under my skin and I can not get cut cause I'm needed to win
Even a brother can become a memory time will eventually lead to drift
Making an enemy out of somebody what was the reason we seem to forget
I needed to split not only from people
But also an ego
I started to trip into an abyss the ultimate evil
That's when you're quick to think everybody is trying to defeat you
I learned to let slip doesn't assist and now I live peaceful
Oh I don't feel a way about nothing
We made it hard to tell
Oh I don't feel a way about nothing
We make it hard to tell
|
||||
14. |
Bogarde (feat. Noochie)
02:41
|
|||
|
I’m from the east side of the east/
That’s suburbs of the D side/
PG side, throw a peace sign for the love birds on the V side/
We in a peace time for the mean time/
If it decline better hit a b-line/
Bama’s like Dunkirk, you a rich kid you, you dont want work shorty be quite/
I done seen things that made me wanna do right/
But them same things dragged my brothers to the life/
Made it out the game & we both see that light/
Some of us got obtained cause they couldn’t flee the sight/
Thuggin’, think it was a choice we’ll it wasn’t/
I advise you come and visit just to witness how we hustling/
A Sec Busting, this is how we get it, the percussion is the only thing bouncing we isn’t, run it/
What time you be getting up, early/
What day you be getting fund, Ery/
Time flys better get it done, Hurry
Tell a how far have you come, very/
How hard is it where you from, scary/
Beef get cooked til it’s what, buried/
Talk slick you is getting what, carried/
Ya’ll see us better what, worry/
crank, crank, crank, crank
Yeah Go go hard it’s all that I know/
Go go Hard it’s all in my soul/
Ya’ll ain’t hard that’s all for show/
We Bogarde til ya’ll go home/
Police man kill a Nigga on accident/
Try to stay high so I don’t get mad at it/
I’m just bad at it, another tragedy/
Happen every day, guess that’s average/
Black man first instinct to lavish shit/
Then he handle shit/
Never been a quarterback hi ain’t scrambling/
Ever fall down bet your ass I’m back again/
I’m so adamant/
Understand me never had plan B/
Mind can’t reach what the mind can’t see/
Mind ain’t fed then the mind don’t eat/
And the mind don’t eat then it’s back to the streets/
But actually, they’d rather the streets/
Cause the acts in the streets, put the fans in the seats/
But the man on the streets on the run or deceased/
Nooch report live from the belly of the beast/
What time you be getting up, early/
What day you be getting fund, Ery/
Time flys better get it done, Hurry
Tell a how far have you come, very/
How hard is it where you from, scary/
Beef get cooked til it’s what, buried/
Talk slick you is getting what, carried/
Ya’ll see us better what, worry/
crank, crank, crank, crank
Yeah Go go hard it’s all that I know/
Go go Hard it’s all in my soul/
Ya’ll ain’t hard that’s all for show/
We Bogarde til ya’ll go home/
|
||||
15. |
||||
|
Check baby, check baby one two two/
Check baby check one one two/
Check Check baby, check baby one two two
Check baby check one one two/
Paris in the fall I met a flowered wall/
Not thirsty for attention but devoured all/
Mine included she intruded in a space that reserved for later dates/
As fate would have it I would take the call/
Eyes locking in a room with plenty options/
Pretty girls are merely prospects/
But I promise you crowned them all/
Her curly like it never knew a pressing iron/
Dressed in something simple but complex of you respect design/
Others watching how her body groove/
Her color blocking popping like a shotty do/
I’m loving how she rocking new with vintage
Like she found the two in bins she was scrounging through/
And packed it all together with no effort like she bound to move/
Over coffee met the mind behind the beauty/
She remind me of my music and with time we reproducing/
Ever lasting something truly I’m just glad that she would choose me/
I love it when a cutie’s into fashion/
I like the way you comb your hair/
Uh/
I like the stylish clothes you wear/
Uh/
It’s just a little things you do/
Uh/
That makes me want to get with you
Uh/
I like the way you comb your hair/
Uh/
I like the stylish clothes you wear/
Uh/
It’s just a little things you do/
Uh/
That makes me want to get with you
Uh/
Ti o ba ri mi, to o ba ri mi - ko ma be ori/
Ti o ba ri mi, to o ba ri mi - eh/
Ti o ba ri mi, to o ba ri mi - ko ma be ori/
Ti o ba ri mi, to o ba ri mi - eh/
Pardon my reach when I’m crossing your mind/
Was fearful to speak, but I lost it with time/
Something about your aura/
Oh, it’s got a hold on me/
Something about your aura/
It’s got a hold on me/
Hey and it won’t let up, it won’t let up/
I like the way you comb your hair/
Uh/
I like the stylish clothes you wear/
Uh/
It’s just a little things you do/
Uh/
That makes me want to get with you
Uh/
I like the way you comb your hair/
Uh/
I like the stylish clothes you wear/
Uh/
It’s just a little things you do/
Uh/
That makes me want to get with you
Uh/
Ti o ba ri mi, to o ba ri mi - ko ma be ori/
Ti o ba ri mi, to o ba ri mi - eh/
Ti o ba ri mi, to o ba ri mi - ko ma be ori/
Ti o ba ri mi, to o ba ri mi - eh/
I heard some things about you babe/
All around town/
Everybody’s talking about you and your crown/
Oh hi wanna see what it’s like/
To get up close and personal, personal
|
||||
16. |
Race
03:29
|
|||
|
Head up, hands tied made magic/
Hand cuffs disappeared, tan lines where the bands cut/
It’ll heal, sit on hills I had to climb/
Damn if I, ever fall off I’m a different build/
Dandelion in a field of land mines/
Fit with shields thick as steel/
quick to kill bad vibes had enough/
Cups filled added lime to rough deals/
Agave, some mint leaves a mock-tail/
Oxtail tail, add the but, just when I thought that I would get to chill/
And what, hard days interfere/
Black luck, fit the heel/
My shoes, jog pace a long race/
In a wheel pause take in the fact that I get to feel/
Small things bigger deals/
entered my golden phase/
While we’re afraid to age even harder to hold the page/
I learned to grow with grace, gotta let go to gain/
Now I know they way is not to think that I’m owed a thing/
[chorus]
Sitting in my car, in the driveway/
I’ve been home a while, but my minds late/
It’s the only time that I day dream/
Getting really hard to find a quite space/
Open up the door and world screams/
Getting overwhelmed by the high pace/
Something’s on my mind I deserve peace/
Until the door swings, race/
So what’s next, I don’t know, I just know I won’t rest/
unless, success comes first I won’t get/
Home yet, an idea an address, IP/
I dream of things I don’t own yet/
Likely, I never will, might be is enough to entice me to get it still/
Bet I get rich or in loan debt/
Both yes, credit skills better build/
Pricey when everything’s placed on pedestal/
At a height far too late to let ever spill/
Tipping point, missed the point if you believe I ever chill/
Wish I could, don’t know how tried couple times but I find/
If I slow it down, it feels like a read a will/
Dramatic’s understatement, I go off on nothing major/
Imagine when it is, If all emotions my one is anger/
I favor the toughest wagers, Alive when I’m brushing danger/
Fear in place of drive no surprise I ain’t stuck yet/
Sitting in my car, in the driveway/
I’ve been home a while, but my minds late/
It’s the only time that I day dream/
Getting really hard to find a quite space/
Open up the door and world screams/
Getting overwhelmed by the high pace/
Something’s on my mind I deserve peace/
Until the door swings, race/
|
||||
If you like Oddisee, you may also like:
supported by 179 fans who also own “To What End”
As soon as I heard the song Like Really I just had to buy the album. Then I finished listening to all the songs, and knew I made a good choice. Oddisee is one of the best hip hop artists on bandcamp.
go to album
supported by 157 fans who also own “To What End”
All time favorite from one of the truly mad talented artists out there.
go to album
supported by 136 fans who also own “To What End”
Went to college at UMD-College Park and Oddisee and the rest of the MMG had a hold on those of us looking for great music. Nostalgia and the beats still hold up. Salaam.
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Jan 21, 2014
go to album
Hotcakes
by Dylan Montayne & Shane Doe
featured on Bandcamp Radio Nov 2, 2023
go to album
The Sweetest of It All
by MaLLy & Last Word
featured on Bandcamp Radio Sep 20, 2024
go to album
Glorious Game
by El Michels Affair & Black Thought
supported by 115 fans who also own “To What End”
I stumbled across El Michels Affair popping into a random bookstore on a recent trip. I was already intrigued and then I saw they have a collaboration with Black Thought. This whole album is fire!
go to album
