Washington born and raised rapper Amir Mohamed el Khalifa aka Oddisee is clearly an articulate, intelligent and thought-provoking human being whose life mission is to be a witness and messenger. If you listen closely to his lyrical content, he speaks with fervent statements, questions truth(s) and accepts your own without judgement. An observer of art, life and consequence, Oddisee is a rapper that oscillates between the golden era of hip hop, edging on experimental funk and dipping in the golden glaze of jazz and soul music. With his critically acclaimed album \u2018The Good Fight\u2019 released back in May, Oddisee returns to Australia in November for his highly anticipated \u2018The Good Fight\u2019 national tour.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Krystel from Behind The Front talks with Oddisee about his truths, delving deep into the topics of growing up in Prince George\u2019s County (Washington DC), how his environment impacted on his perception of life and music, the escalating violent racial intolerance in America, the current state of hip hop and more.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s so much to cover \u2013 first off, let\u2019s talk about your childhood growing up in Prince George\u2019s County. What was that like growing up and how did that influence your view on music?<\/strong>
\nGrowing up in PG County was a heavy influence on my music. It\u2019s an interesting place because it\u2019s home to so much wealth and prosperity, but it\u2019s also home to a lot of adversity, trials and tribulations.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the wealthiest concentration of blacks in the United States of America but it is also home to the largest economic gap between the rich and the poor. So imagine those two statistics coming head to head in our neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

In PG County? So the disparity is hugely acute.<\/strong>
\nYes, the wealthiest concentration of African Americans in the United States and the poor. It\u2019s pretty segregated. The northern Prince George\u2019s County is a bit more wealthier \u2013 middle class and upper class, and southern Prince George\u2019s Country is bit more working class, lower class and below the poverty line.<\/p>\n

And sprinkled throughout all of them, we have a system in The United States called Section 8 Housing which gives people who can\u2019t afford a home – a subsidized home in a random neighbourhood anywhere, where the rest of the people living in your neighbourhood are paying full price for their home, but your rent is subsidized.<\/p>\n

You get to basically give your children an advantage of living in a nice neighbourhood and going to a better school. All of those things combined. You had situations where I went to high school in Largo High school, where some of the children came from two parent homes with two parent incomes.<\/p>\n

Where as Forestville High School, which was a bit of a rougher neighbourhood, their school was over populated. And Prince George\u2019s County had some of the worst public school systems in the state of Marylands even though it has the wealthiest people. So people in Forestville [High School] were bused to my school because their school was overpopulated.<\/p>\n

So imagine people from the poorest parts of the county going to school with some of the children from the wealthiest parts of the county. What do you think would happen if those two kids went to school together?<\/p>\n

How did that particular environment influence your view on life?<\/strong>
\nIt made me understand the differences between the \u2018haves\u2019 and the \u2018have-nots\u2019. It made me understand that the ghetto is a mentality more-so than fate. It made me understand that you can be ghetto and have the world. It can be in your mind.<\/p>\n