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If I asked you what you’re good fight is about, you’d probably list dichotomies that speak at the very essence of what it means to be human – freedom vs imprisonment, truth vs lies, love vs hate, or ‘me against the world’. To be free in this world comes with consequences when the infrastructure around you may not support it. Even if it’s freedom of the mind, there are consequences.
Such dichotomies and the desire to stay true to an unconventional path provides the oscillating grand narrative found in the new album The Good Fight by Washington D.C raised and now Brooklyn based rapper, Oddisee.
The Good Fight is a sonically diverse hip hop album that illustrates Oddisee’s existing eclectic production skills weaving in and out of hip hop, soul, and latin influences. However, it’s in the vein of jazz that Oddisee remains loyal demonstrating the genre throughout the album. Oddisee fleshes out sound in a way one peels the layers of an onion. He seasons this album with the values of love, acceptance and the desire to live his truth and walk his truth no matter the societal framework around him. He is happy to walk against the grain – despite the disapprovals and pressures. His lyrical maturity is evidently honed from traveling the world and learning the lessons of humanity through the eyes of a self professed odd guy found in the lyrics ‘Belong To The World’.
Released through one of my favourite labels on the frontline of quality hip hop music, Mellow Music Group would have escalated their profile this year with this album alone. There seems to have been a shift in his mindset from his dark 2013 Tangible Dream album to The Good Fight. Tangible Dream musically sat in heavy hip hop production with darker and rounder kicks and snares with lyrical content that questioned his place in the industry as exampled in ‘Yeah Nah’. There is a combative lyrical aggression in Tangible Dreams that you won’t find in The Good Fight.
The entire album deserves an 8/10 for overall lyrical content and adventurous production, collaborating with incredible blues musician Gary Clarke Jnr, vocalist Maimouna Youseff, Nick Hakim, and Tranquil. Yet the stand out track that is a perfect summation of what we should be reminded of on the daily is ‘That’s Love.’
“When you told me the truth, even if it really hurt, Cos you knew a lie was worse (That’s Love)’.
When you let me borrow money, that you didn’t really have
Cos you knew what I was worth (That’s’ Love).
When you were giving me advice, that I seldom ever took,
But your head never shook (That’s Love).”
It’s the one on one connection, the simple things, believing in a cause and love – the things worth fighting for that fuels The Good Fight.