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The multi-talented emcee and pro­ducer Oddisee is back to the boom-bap with his "Kansas Bay (South Central Remix)". After find­ing suc­cess with the cel­e­brated Diamond District crew, Oddisee has stepped back out on his own with a new 24-track instru­men­tal album, Traveling Man. Inspired and informed by his jour­neys to Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, Oddisee has cap­tured the sounds of hip-hop the world over on Traveling Man, out now dig­i­tally and avail­able as a lim­ited edi­tion vinyl press­ing on February 23rd. The sonic voy­age con­tin­ues with the "Kansas Bay (South Central Remix)" fea­tur­ing Kansas City native, Stik Figa. The Midwest meets the West Coast in this re-imagining, which finds Stik Figa rid­ing the wave of a beat steeped in G-funk and drip­ping with bass best suited for a low rider. As Oddisee explains, "Bay Area hip-hop has been pop­u­lar in Kansas for years, and Stik Figa uses a Too $hort-esque flow to tell the comedic story of an out-of-towner's unfor­tu­nate luck on 'Kansas Bay'." Prepare your­self for your sonic trav­els, and let Oddisee guide you on this aural adven­ture from the heart­land to the left coast and back again.

Oddisee's Traveling Man is avail­able dig­i­tally, on cd, & vinyl via Mello Music Group.

Tags: Diamond District, Mello Music Group, Oddisse, Stik figa, Too Short, Traveling Man

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As a musi­cian, life is often lived on the road. Each city leaves its imprint on the artist as they develop their craft. For Oddisee, the pro­ducer and MC brain­child behind 2009's crit­i­cally acclaimed Diamond District, the life and trav­els of the artist is no mys­tery. Touring, record­ing, and keep­ing up with friends and fam­ily took Oddisee beyond his home­town of Washington DC to Australia, Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. Rather than keep these expe­ri­ences to him­self, Oddisee is instead releas­ing a new 24-track instru­men­tal album, shar­ing his worldly expe­ri­ences – through music, directly with his fans; a 24 city sonic tour of the world. With this new release, Oddisee is the Traveling Man.

Being released dig­i­tally today and as a lim­ited edi­tion vinyl press­ing on February 23rd, Traveling Man is an instru­men­tal album truly influ­enced by the producer's sur­round­ings. Each track was pro­duced while Oddisee stayed in the city it was titled after. With these first three, take a visit to the fes­tive "San Fran" as you travel with the woman who so smoothly sings, "Do every­thing you wanted to do, you're on your own, that's how it goes". Or take a ride to "Chicago" where you can let your swag­ger loose on the windy streets as a soft voice is con­jured up to ser­e­nade you over the beat's gui­tar plucks, horns, and dense instru­men­ta­tion. Not con­fined to U.S. bor­ders, Oddisee next takes you over­seas, as the hyp­notic "Khartoum" in Sudan beck­ons you to visit its streets. No need for a pass­port because Oddisee sees the world, so that you can hear it. Listen up.

Oddisee's Traveling Man is avail­able dig­i­tally today via Mello Music Group.

Links To Purchase Vinyl + CD + MP3

Vinyl

CD

iTunes

Amazon

Tags: Chicago, Khartoum, Mello Music Group, Oddisee, San Francisco, Traveling Man

Oddisee is back with another exclu­sive for fans with the third install­ment in his season-themed series Odd Winter. The gifted emcee is ener­gized at the prospect of show­cas­ing his lyri­cal dex­ter­ity on the upcom­ing project. "This series has forced me to look at the sea­son and time in a dif­fer­ent way," says Oddisee. "They're like theme music." Not slow­ing down after a year that saw the release of the crit­i­cally acclaimed Diamond District album In The Ruff, Oddisee is also prepar­ing to drop a new instru­men­tal album, Traveling Man on inde­pen­dent hip-hop pow­er­house Mello Music Group. The album will be hit­ting dig­i­tal retail­ers on January 26th and will be fol­lowed by vinyl and lim­ited edi­tion slim­line releases, avail­able exclu­sively at UndergroundHipHop.com, on February 23rd. Be sure to visit Oddisee's new band­camp page to down­load Odd Winter for free, and let the man with the mic be your guide through the sounds of the seasons.

Odd Winter Track List

01 Ci'iy Life Feat. Tranqill
02 Frostbit
03 Winds From The North
04 Black Broadway Feat. X.O.
05 Brain Wash Remix Instr.
06 Riiight Feat. Stik Figa
07 Carry On instr.
08 The Warm Up Feat. Homeboy Sandman
09 Queue With No Coat
10 60901 Instr.
11 All Because She's Gone Instr.
12 It's Over Feat. Tranqill
13 Blizzard Of 09

Tags: Diamond District, Homeboy Sandman, In The Ruff, Mello Music Group, Odd Winter, Oddisee, Stik figa, Tranqill, Traveling Man, X.O.

Via Press Release:

Coming off of a string of suc­cess­ful 2009 releases, includ­ing Diamond District's In The Ruff, Mello Music Group is proud to announce its lineup for 2010. The year promises to be pro­duc­tive as the label plans to release high pro­file projects from acclaimed artists Finale, Georgia Anne Muldrow & Declaime, Ken Starr, Oddisee, Trek Life, and others.

Mello Music Group (MMG) has been mak­ing great strides since first drop­ping an album by Oddisee in 2008, and 2010 promises to be a break­out year for the young label. Founded in 2007 by for­mer mix­tape DJ Michael Tolle, MMG is look­ing to bring hip-hop back to its base ele­ments in the new year by com­ple­ment­ing their releases with the work of a ros­ter of renowned graphic and graf­fiti artists includ­ing Mear One, Gene Pendon, Tokio, and Josh Beyer. The label plans on fur­ther advo­cat­ing its hip-hop phi­los­o­phy by team­ing up with A-list online out­lets and giv­ing away an emcee-selected pair of Nike Dunks every month to one lucky fan. Each win­ner will also be entered into a final draw­ing at the end of year to win a pair of cus­tom painted kicks cour­tesy of MMG graf artists.

Leading MMG's musi­cal charge will be Georgia Anne Muldrow & Declaime who are look­ing to keep them­selves busy in 2010 as they prep the release of SomeOthaShip, their first joint album since 2007's Message Uni Versa (Look Records) out dig­i­tally on February 16th and avail­able phys­i­cally on February 23rd. The full length will be pre­ceded by the vinyl-only EP Heaven or Hell, on 1/11. Georgia will also be tak­ing some time to stop and smell the soul as she read­ies instru­men­tal funk (Jyoti) and jazz (Turiya's Smile) projects, while Dudley assures fans that a solo project is in the works.

MMG's unof­fi­cial con­sul­tant of all thingsmu­si­cal and Diamond District mem­ber, Oddisee, will release both an instru­men­tal album enti­tled Traveling Man and a solo album for lis­ten­ers this year. Kenn Starr will be keep­ing things fresh in 2010 by first putting out a House Shoes pro­duced mix­tape, and then by releas­ing an album fea­tur­ing one disc of 8 cuts pro­duced by Detroit pro­ducer of the moment Black Milk and another disc con­sist­ing of remixes of those tracks fea­tur­ing work by Mr. Porter, Apollo Brown, and Skyzoo to name a few. Another lyri­cist not con­tent to rest on his lau­rels is Finale, who emerges from a crit­i­cally acclaimed 2009 ready to drop an Oddisee pro­duced album and may also be grac­ing lis­ten­ers with a col­labo project with Apollo Brown.

MMG's 2010 musi­cal offen­sive con­tin­ues with Trek Life's plan for a free EP give­away and projects with part­ners in rhyme J. Bizness, DJ Babu, and Bishop Lamont among oth­ers, while Apollo Brown gets ready to hit the Reset Button with his project con­sist­ing of 15 reworked and remixed MMG clas­sics. yU will round out MMG's son­i­cally pro­duc­tive year by offer­ing up some remixes and the offi­cial release and remas­ter­ing of his album, Before Taxes. 2010 looks to be an excit­ing time for the grow­ing label whose motto is "Sound's beau­ti­ful like the truth," and with this exten­sive offer­ing of releases planned this year, noth­ing will sound more beau­ti­ful than Mello Music Group in 2010.

Tags: Apollo Brown, Before Taxes, Bishop Lamont, Black Milk, Diamond District, DJ Babu, DJ Michael Tolle, Finale, Gene Pendon, Georgia Anne Muldrow & Declaime, graffiti, Heaven or Hell, House Shoes, In The Ruff, J-Bizness, Josh Beyer, Ken Starr, Mear One, Mello Music Group, Message Uni Versa, Mr. Porter, Oddisee, Reset Button, Skyzoo, SomeOthaShip, Tokio, Traveling Man, Trek Life, YU