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It’s a Small World After All: Traveling the Globe with the Rapper Oddisee
To see more of Oddisee’s travels, check out @oddisee on Instagram. For more music stories, head to @music.
A few years ago, Oddisee (@oddisee) was on his way to Heathrow Airport when his cab driver, a Turkish man, made a comment that had a profound effect on his worldview: “The world’s a big place and when you travel, you realize how small it is.”
Having performed around the world and paid regular visits to his father’s home country of Sudan, the Washington, D.C.-born, Brooklyn-based rapper has a love for experiencing new cultures and learning more about humanity along the way. “Through my travels I’ve learned that we’re not that different,” he says. “Whether it’s race, culture, creed, religion, most of us are fighting for the same things. The problems, the achievements, the trials and tribulations we face are happening around the world.”
That belief turned into the theme of The Good Fight, his critically acclaimed, thought-provoking 2015 album. As an avid photographer, he decided to document his months-long international tour behind the LP in a unique fashion. For each stop, he’d create a triptych — one black-and-white shot with the city’s name written over it, bookended by two color photos that create a cinematic montage-like effect for his feed.
“I wanted people to go back and look at the entire tour,” he says. “I wanted to find a way to let fans know I have been to their city, I performed there or I experienced the town in some way, shape or form. Someone would say, ‘Shame I missed you’ or, ‘Can’t wait for you to come back.’”
Oddisee originally got into photography six or seven years back, starting with a point-and-shoot and improving his gear as he grew more in love with the hobby. He makes sure his camera is “glued” to him so he can capture all the interesting things he sees while walking around before gigs or traveling from city to city. “We’ll look at where the venue is, where the closest river is, where the districts are and familiarize ourselves with the neighborhood. That way, when we jump out of the van, we can say, ‘Let’s go shoot something over here.’” Being the lead vocalist has its perks, too — Oddisee is the last to sound check, giving him more time to venture out for a “golden hour” of sightseeing.
That said, traveling the world isn’t always easy — particularly for Oddisee. As a Muslim (his real name is Amir Mohamed el Khalifa), he’s used to extra security screenings, and though he’s disappointed in Donald Trump’s recent remarks about the Islamic faith, he doesn’t harbor any anger. “I’ve been going through it since 9/11, man,” he says of airport hassles. “We laugh at it at this point. It’s our policy that’s to blame. I’m not mad at Trump or anyone else. If you truly take time to understand someone, you should be left with nothing but sympathy and remorse.”
And that all leads back to his battle to be more understanding, tolerant and empathic: “If you believe in it, if it’s your calling, it doesn’t feel like a fight in the first place.”
— Dan Reilly for Instagram @music
by via Instagram Blog
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