Nice profile on NPR of rapper and producer Oddisee, whom we’ve featured a few times. He’s a member of Diamond District and in his solo songs sometimes rhymes about Prince George’s County, where he grew up. According to NPR’s Guy Raz, he’s “part of a new crop of artists who are returning to the early roots of hip-hop and emulating East Coast MC’s like Eric B. & Rakim, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest.”
Oddisee unpacks his sounds and the DMV’s, but the piece ends on this disappointing note:
Despite Oddisee’s ties to D.C. and the DMV sound, he’s decided to move on. He says that while it’s a great place to create music, there’s no industry. He plans to move to New York in the next few months.
Bummer, even though I can’t blame him. Still: If this city’s hip-hop is anything like its punk and indie rock, then he’ll be considered a D.C. artist ad infinitum, anyway.