For Oddisee, Rock Creek Park is significant for a few reasons. On a personal level, the MC and producer says, it represents the road less traveled, an alternate route removed from the hustle of city life. The Upper Marlboro native rode his bike there as a kid.
Musically, the park represents another notch in his creative [...]
DJ J-Scrilla is no stranger to the mixtape concept, whether he's releasing his own compilations or promoting those from his peers. From the late '90s to the early aughts, Scrilla's tapes paired veteran MCs with lesser-known talent. "I want my tapes to be more like 'digs' for the listener, rather than a rack of joints they [...]
As I type this post, I'm on my sixth straight playback of "Too Hip-Hop," Pro'Verb's autobiographical new single featuring yU of the Diamond District.
Maybe it's the beat—a meditative head-nodder of chopped piano samples and dynamic drums, held together by the persistent hum of gentle strings. You can thank Soulful! for that.
Or maybe it's the confident yet [...]
As 2010 comes to a close, members and observers of the D.C. hip-hop scene are debating who's the hottest MC, and whether or not we have a great one. The year also saw a seemingly endless stream of mixtapes—from D.C. Don Juan and UCB, to Kingpen Slim and Raheem DeVaughn. In 2011, listeners should expect [...]
An occasional feature in which esteemed D.C. rapper Head-Roc shares what’s on his mind.
OK, so I'm looking at the front cover of this past week’s Washington City Paper “2010 Music in Review” edition. Wait, or is it “2010 in Music Review?” I honestly don’t know. It’s a little confusing to me. Still, I get that [...]
Last Friday morning, D.C. music veteran Kokayi seemed elated to break the news: "yo @oddisee @yuthe78er @uptownxo did y'all know your album is on the Grammy pre-nom list? for Best album..congrats!" he typed on Twitter. By that night, Oddisee, yU, and X.O.—collectively known as The Diamond District—all reacted differently on their respective accounts.
Oddisee, the group's [...]
Far Out vs. Hot Dang sees into the immediate future, and it senses that you will have a rather eventful weekend. But for now, let us dwell temporarily on what has already happened. Because that's what we do, and we're awesome at it.
"I love going into a random music store nowadays and seeing my gawky, [...]
Head-Roc used it conspicuously last week. Tabi Bonney promises that he'll ask Lady Gaga why she is doing it so hard. YU and Oddisee titled a track with it. It is "lunchin' " or "lunching," and it is old in the DMV. But it is eminently useful and still quite awesome, in the way that [...]
I don't pretend to understand anything algorithmic, so I can't really vouch for Next Big Sound, whose M.O. is "Music Meets Math." According to its breakdown of South by Southwest, the fourth most buzzed-about artist during the festival was Oddisee, the D.C. beatmaker and member of hip-hop trio Diamond District.
Oddisee's not bragging yet: His blog's [...]
After a very promising (and very free) test release of the clean version several months ago, Diamond District's In Da Ruff is officially available in stores today, with cuss words restored and bonus tracks. Though it isn't getting the national acclaim that Wale is, the trio of emcees XO, yU and rapper/producer Oddisee have cut [...]
