Some of you may remember Oddisee's work on DJ Jazzy Jeff's "The Magnificent," arguably one of the best albums of 2002.  Without a doubt, having crafted his skills with the Touch of Jazz studios , the  guys been busy. We spoke to Oddisee on the  Live & Direct radio show (Every Friday www.whrwfm.org 10pm-1am EST. with DS, DJ PhenomeJohn and Big Drew ) about his new ventures with Halftooth Records, his work with Dj Jazzy Jeff, cooking, digging for records and more.

DS: So tell us about the new compilation you worked on with Halftooth Records.

O: Yeah,no doubt, its been out in stores for like three weeks now.  It's doing real good you know what I mean?  It's opened up a lot of doors.  It was a real good experience to work on that album, it gave me a chance to produce on a different level.  Besides making beats, theres so much more to production.  Theres arrangement and composing , you know what I'm saying?  Who you put on what track and all that , they gave me complete control to do so.

DS: So you produced the whole album ?

O: Nah, I'd say about eighty percent of it. I'd say theres four joints that I didn't produce. The majority of it I produced.  Yeah, It was a blessing.  I know it sounds cliche, but Halftooth is really a label for their artists.

DS: So what else have you worked on? I know you worked on "The Magnificent..."

O: Yeah, actually that was the first commercial release I was on.  I started making beats in '99 or 2000.  We did that track in 2001 and it came out in 2002.  Me and my man Kenn Starr produced a joint for "No Edge Ups in South Africa," the Sevenheads [ label] compilation.  Y'all were playing the Soulstice joint earlier. The  Low Budget mixtape is out. I'm doing stuff on Words' new album.Possibly working with Bahamadia, I just laced a track for Aaries, a singing group out of DC by way of Philly.  Lots of things, The New Critically Acclaimed 12" which is in stores today I believe. Its called "Road Trip" with Phonte [of Little Brother].

DS:Yeah we got the record.

O:I can't even name anything else really right now. Oh, I gotta plug the LB Grooves album. Its an instrumental album produced by myself, Kev Brown,Kenwood and DJ Roddy Rod of Maspyke. Its kind of a laid back , party type atmosphere type of album we did. Its going to be out in July I believe.  Thats going to be the jump-off for the summer right there.

DS: Now you make beats, but youre an emcee also ...

O: Yes Sir , I am .

DS: Anything else we should know about, are you a good cook or anything ? do you write graf?

O: Oh yeah, real good cook, You guys come down to Maryland , we'll throw a barbecue. I draw,I went to school for graphic design, but it didnt work out. The Hiphop thing was too powerful.

DS: When you make beats, you're digging alot for samples ? What are you looking for now ? Jazz records? disco records?

O: I'm on the look real hard for records around the area of '78 -'82.  Around that time they started experimenting with synthesizers real hard, but they still had a live instrumentation element.  It was like a mixture.  So, I'm looking for those analog synthesized noises, So I'm always on the lookout for that right now.  To be honest with you, I'm real ignorant with my digging, I look for [album cover art] black people with afros between 1969 and 1979.  Yeah and white boys with curly perms too.

DS: As far as equipment , what are you using ?

O: All i use is an ASR-X . Thats it.

DS: Productions sounding hot regardless. I want to thank you for calling us tonight man.

O: thank you for having me.

DS: Any last plugs or shouts.

O: Halftooth.com and look out for everything Low Budget is putting out. We're bringing out quality music thats what its all about, quality music.

DS: OK, last question, how much do you charge per beat?

ALL : (Laughter)

O: (laughing) YO, just get at me,call me up ,  Email me.

 

By -Dan Shores aka DS  ( The Live and Direct Radio Show can be heard Fridays 10pm-1am Eastern Standard Time on www.whrwfm.org with DS,DJ Phenomejohn, and Big Drew)