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People Hear What They See

by Oddisee

/
1.
They say you’ve got your whole life to make your first album/ Guess I’ve been busy living so that first outcome/ Was worth hearing so, here it goes/ Let me kick a verse & just zone out-from/ The time I was concieved, I honestly believed, I was destined for something I couldn’t break from/ It’d be cliche to say greatness, but hey this/ Is what I’ve learned, what you are your can’t escape from/ So embrace it, don’t run away from/ Being that digit in that everyday equation/ That’s steady glitching, itching for limits to break/ See nothing can get in your way if what you deliver is great/ & there we are back to greatness/ I think I’ve discovered what my place is, in theory it’s basic/ It’s me doing me, over time, utter rhymes/ Is a butterfly effect that affects mankind/ Chorus Y’all ready to rock/ Yup, we ready to roll/ Took a little of time, had to get the rhymes right, had to get the lines right/ Looking at my future like it’s all up in my hindsight, I believed that, boy it would have been a climb/ Sat up on my bed thinking I was on the sideline, eyes wide shut thinking about that bread/ If I believed that boy it would have been a crime, so I took it to the sleep & I dreamed instead/ Took it as a sign then I took to the streets/ Took it from the books then I took it to the beats/ Looking at my grind like a stretch doing time/ from the day that I signed to the date of my release/ Yeah, I’m doing fine, doing fine to say the least/ I ain’t trying to line with the rest, trying to shine with the best, til the lime just focus on me/ As it should, if I can than it could, be the case/ So I ran, over tracks, life I could, beat the race/ Overlapping who was laughing at the start, they depart/ Call it perm, I know it burns that I’m relaxing in your face/ Listen, I am on my job I set the standards & the rates/ Live & learn how discern the need for chill & making haste/ Now it’s time for everybody in the crowd to up the pace/ Cause, I’m ready to rock, apologize for the wait/ Chorus Y’all ready to rock/ Yup, we ready to roll/
2.
Do It All 03:33
Chorus I’m trying to do it all/ I’m trying to make the world know, stack g’s yet be lowkey/ Get paper with my brothers like the majors but we so free, til we sign like we don’t speak/ I’ma rhyme like, I’m trying to save the earth within the time I’m spinning on it/ The way my career is going, I might get to spending on it/ Depending on if, my minutes longer than fifteen/ I might say a verse & then end a song on a big screen/ Picture that from a small town with with big dreams/ From flying coach to buying Coach, I’m in between/ I’m not a star, somebody lied I ride the subway as a car, I’m getting by/ My life is hard, not all the time although yes I’m ready to live, ain’t trying to starve/ I’m on the grind from poverty to a bottom line & my barter time concluding only with dollar signs/ Chorus/ I’m trying to do it all/ XO Verse... Chorus yU verse Now peep the pattern as we moving-on-Up the ladder had a dream-of how we'd beamup putting the focus on what matters most Damn, & I hope that y'all ain't think the D-that-we-we're-on It would've ever let up never, full court press upon the ball.. Building bridges in this rigid bidness plus stayin on our pivot, piling albums wit different stylings We spit to shift the balance The District Diamond fill up they mind wit the realest of rhyming Visions get wide when I apply it now it's living inside 'em Borrowed tomorrow & gave back thru my raps.. Our motto Gotta let y'all know, so our steps led a path to follow Yeah, son.. Breadcrumbs.. Left two steps from the edge Not scared, feeling prepared. Thats for whenEver that bread comes Neva loafing, with potent.. the shop's forever open Speakers smoking wit O shit, you crackin the windows open & get to zoning, joning on whoeva want it, we go in on every song we on becuz we trynna do it all
3.
That Real (free) 03:41
Before I knew what I was doing, I was trying to do something/ That’s the definition, listen of a know it all youngin’/ Hard headed, hardly headed in directions I intended, where I ended was deaded, like no exit except the entrance/ so now I’m making my entrance as If I’m hopping the fences/ Thinking I’m big pimpin when really I’m just an infant/ Adolescent at best, had a lesson in living/ Given to me the stress, inherited with the vision/ Wool over my eyes, blue say is the sky/ Grey is the true color but who say-ith the why/ So does that make me pessimistic, if I feel I’m alright but that best at this sh*t/ N***** say I’m cool, shorties say I’m their lipstick/ On the tip of their tongues is my lyrics their whispering/ Lets make it apply, right place & the time/ Tight space & the vibe is right for lacing a rhyme/ Might, say I’m the prime, light laced in the lime/ Bittersweet is the beat & together taste is divine/ Lemonade in the shine, dimmer shade in the blind/ Spots in my mirror, forward never rewind/ Plots vividly clearer, not saying that I’m/ Knowing just what I’m doing but got faith in my grind/ So stop haters you’re lying, if you say that you get it how I get it/ Swab test your failed, can’t spit it how I spit it/ Chorus One of these days, baby I hope to be/ What ever that means, it’s all that I hope to be// One of the days, baby I hope to be/ They saying O, bring that real s***, something you could feel s***/ numb to that dumb it down, spun overkill s***/ Run, overhill s***, dated like the fifth wheel/ Hate it when they made it but they praise it just to get deals/ Me, never that man, that’s never happening/ See I be rappin’ for the feeling I got back when/ I was riding on a big wheel, when friends owing me a dollar was a big deal/ Sunday night, grandmama’ cook a big meal, meaning that I do it for the innocents in it still/ & if I’m naive f*** it man, shit will/ Seem better even though the weather seems chill/ Spleen chills at the idea of seeming fake, even though imitation makes mean bills/ I mean, innovation will get you recognition but keep it real is really code for the check is missing/ & that’s cool, cause me, I’m a realist/ optimistically drinking from the glass of the pessimistic/ Baby check it listen/ Chorus One of these days, baby I hope to be/ What ever that means, it’s all that I hope to be// One of the days, baby I hope to be/
4.
Let It Go 04:07
I was never one to let things go easy believe me, I wish I could let it all fly/ I know it’s not classy but every time it passes me I stare, & I whistle as the girl walks by/ My mother taught me better, she learned it from the hood/ Don’t bother chasing gold be complacent with the wood/ But I was like what ever, I’m never one to listen, I ventured into woods other people wouldn’t dare/ Entitled like I’m rich so I always thought I could/ In the world not a care when you’re full of ambition/ Following the trails to the cities made of myths/ Legendary tales took me there to make a hit/ I got up to the door & I wasn’t on the list, opportunity with scrutiny I’m soon to be dismissed/ I I was on a mission so I was like yeah, I’m kind of a big deal/ Let me in I got a gift/ Chorus You’ve got to let it go/ Sometimes you’ve got these problems on your mind/ & you should always know/ That people will tell you, you’ll solve them, you’ll be fine/ But I don’t believe that, you see that’s/ A way of being lazy, if you want it got to get it/ & you fronted & you quit it/ Than you’re nothing but a victim in a system that we live it/ but forgiven if you want to try again/ I’m a man of faith but I’m not a man that waits/ I don’t plan of fate, I plan on me to make a plate/ In other words I don’t bitch, I never walk away/ When things fall apart, I build them back I don’t ditch/ Folding under pressure, carry more than I can take/ Knees buckle from the weight but never sore from the lift/ Never came to grips with the fact, that I got to sit back/ With the cards I was dealt when I play/ I want a better hand so I’m putting mine together/ Not to the sky but the plans that I make/ Strength been given, I’ll be damn if I break/ It’s brains over bronze, at me weakest when I’m clever/ In my twelfth hour when my mom starts to pray/ Fifteen til, still trying to persist/ About a minute left when belief starts to shake/ A brother’s at his best moving mountains till they shift/ Chorus & what about the times you give it your all & you still for short/ To what will you resort/ Of course we bounce back but there’s times the force of the smack tells us, we should abort/ In fact, a fair line between/ retract & react & the action of pride & the lack of a spleen/ what happens when pride & the passion of passive behavior/ Clash on the grasp of a dream on impact/ & sometimes letting go can be a savior/ At times holding on could end up being more labor/ So I’m cool when I don’t get the girl/ It’s when I’m shooting for the stars that I’ll probably hit the world/ Not bad for bad aim, if anything my shortcomings show that I have range & that’s real/ So I’ma leave it up to God & God will leave it up to Odd/ We’ll see what will happen, chill/ Chorus
5.
While George Bush took the oil from the soil/ I was in front of counter buying some milk from Arabs/ in the land of honey I order fries from Chinese surviving off of what's in the foil/ gallon of gas & 2% is the same price/ so its seems to villain goes the spoil/ cheap fuel, fried rice to brother man/ cheap fuel pipelines from the motherland/ it's all the same right, on the other hand/ supply & demand fills the corners on the late night/ the suffering bestowed upon us by the great white/ not Columbus but Colombians/ ain't no cocoa leaves growing in the district/ of Columbia, so the rut we're in/ got to be the best example of some pimp shit/ hit the strip nigga, get the money and/ bring it back to daddy/ are forefathers been giving shaft/ back lash of a whip, to the whip like the back of caddy's/ but we don't give a fuck because we getting cash, exactly/ This is everything you want, it's everything you need/ This is good old fashion American greed/ see we get it how we get it & we spend it how we spend/ Cause it's good old fashion American greed/ I want that dollar, but when I get got, it's not enough/ fucking forget I, you think I'm quitting, you're out of luck/ cause I'm addicted to picket fences & getting profit/ fuck penny pinching & pissy pensions amount to what/ I'm never stopping, killing myself to make a living/ I make it, I spend it/ they lend it I take it/ they print it I fake it/ the laws invented by those who break them/ I bend them I'm painted as heinous by hypocrites that feel offended/ blue collar due to stains from blood of royals/ can't complain, freedom rang but it didn't holler/ I'm hard knocking at opportunities door for life/ cause you can only reach the buzzer if you are a scholar/ higher learning higher earning at the same time/ fire's burning in the ghetto it's about to boil/ the tipping point in the celebrated plot/ of I have everything I need but I want everything you got/
6.
Hot damn son where should I start/ on my sleeves I was wearing my heart/ My beliefs I was tearing apart/ cause she was my religion I declared as an art/ Idolized her, itemized her/ fiend for the esteem I secrete & supplied her/ for I too am to blame for I used her/ to view her's a living proclaim I'm not a loser/ To walk next to her you'd understand/ to be her man most think that you'd have to throw a check to her/ I mean dog, I fooled off the might I get/ when men would drool off the sight of the chick that I'm with/ excite's the word to describe being next to something that's desired/ to possess requires obsession/ I need her in my life so she I invest in/ Chorus Superficial, super, loving Most things being chased don't want to be/ she keeps a pace where her face stays in front of me/ what a great catch, don't let her get to near/ Biggest fear is that my interest would disappear/ I ain't escape yet, but in time I'll find something to climb for the challenge of it mere/ sweet nothings in the ear of my next here/ my dear in the making I make tears/ from the faces of beauty I've turned ugly/ I want you to want me to be unclear/ I'm so good at courting & yet keeping/ I ain't quit perfected I'm just horrid/ steady deceiving myself/ believing I ain't leaving for somebody else/ I cycle I just can't get through/ I love her right now though, superficial/ Chorus
7.
One mans trash is another man's treasure/ but most men treasure what other men have/ so little thrown away to the many that will never/grasp what few view as pennies in the grass/ & underneath the grass are the roots of inequality/ creating all the bumps we come across on the path/ & I don't have a green thumb & neither niggas/ & having a money tree is a luxury of class/ the only ho I know for a flattering ass/ & when I asked could she dig it, she looked at me & laughed/ so we crabs in a barrel & barrel glass/ so we broke, crack was the answer to cash/ but the question was never asked/ how I get off the path/ steady walking within a maze the was built in the last/century, eventually we'll raise our hands/ but the teacher is apart of the scam, god damn/ Chorus Got me looking for a way out, a way out, way/ running down a fire escape to to get away/ got me looking for a way in, a way, way in/ got me looking at your doors & your windows/ I'm a product of the environment that I was brought up in/ material things I'm caught up in/ hustling, a product that creates the production/ a plus then for for shackles that resemble circumference/ my world, my word, I'm running from my block/ right into your wall, street/ that when I see up close is just prop/designed to keep me cropped/ outside of the picture that pictures the people in defeat/ so i'ma cook the books like a communist bonfire/ & tell uncle Sam I forgot the recite/ & he gon call me a liar & I'm gon call him a thief/ the jury looking like him enjoying looking at me/ at my arraignment screaming/ all is blacks got is sports & entertainment & a belief in/ religion as the answer for the grieving/ believing that the bless get test/ & the less get even/ Chorus Running away from trouble got me running into you/ running away from darkness got me running into view/running towards all the lights got me running from blue & whites/ running for you by day hope I run into you by night/ running for an election to run the country for who/ run & tell the news that you run it for something true/run it into the ground, run it into the tomb/ run it until there's nothing, run it until we lose/
8.
Maybes 03:47
Sorry I called, too many times/ The way you left me earlier left plenty on my mind/ Saying I ain’t deserving you, blaming me for the fall/ Or the decline, I ain’t involved in us/ My heart of ice left you salty, dissolving trust/ I know I’m faulty but, that’s not a crime/ In forty eight hours we’ll be fine like Nolte/ Normally that’s like the case but this time around/ I’m bent around five, intent just to dial/ Your number, wonder, we can reconcile/ If we could work it out, like plumbers/ That’s water under, the bridge, we lost it/ Fire when we fight so that bridge we lost it/ Let me pipe down, emulating a faucet/ I’m smoking like a muffler, you’ve got me exhausted/ Chorus Maybe I’ve been drinking, maybe i’ve been smoking/ But baby I’ve been thinking, that maybe we’re just broken/ & Maybe we can’t fix it, see maybe we’re just hopeless/ Or maybe we need romance, so maybe we’ll just hold hands/ Maybe Hi, It’s me again, in need again, I’m really high/ See what I see us being in can we pretend/ That this never happened look, I’m really smacked & shook/ The weed begins, to kick in action, don’t get it twisted cause these thoughts are with reason &/ I go & twist it, so yeah, I’m lifted/ Spoken like I’m truly broken so you can get it/ Our happy home had a foreclosure so we’re evicted/ So now our clothes are, sitting on the street/ & I sifted through my sleeves to find my heart still had a beat/ Now that’s thrifty, seemed like I’m tailored new/ Why you trying to rip me/ I know I sounded sincere when I said that it was over/ Don’t ever listen to me when I’m sober/ Chorus
9.
Chorus Y'all know my steeze y'all know my style I keep it gritty/ y'all know my means, y'all know my how, I rep my city/ no time to sleep the time is now I get it quickly/ I don't care about another mans grind, it's all about mine/ I’m a dude about his paper, always kind of been/ If I was doing anything see I was trying to win/ & if there was no competition listen, I would make myself the opposition/ Just to fence the grind within/ It’s in my nature, nurture is the way of haters/ Learn to like me, I’m connected to the kind of men/ That could make you, break you/ Ties to the underworld, lies with a cover girl/ Lies to the other girl, home sending text like, what time you in/ Reply later, the studio be my groupie ho/ In her all night, trying to get my song right/ Hoping that my verse was, tight like my first was/ First the buzz then the top, first the bus then the drop/ Happens any other way & you’ll smack the surface/ Unprepared for the wayward climb & unaware of other ways to grind/ Chorus Knowing when to hold them man/ knowing when to fold them man/ word to Kenny Rogers nigga, you should learn to dodge a nigga/ that ain't got no focus man, that there is a hopeless man/ that ain't got no rod so niggas fishing for a problem and/ that ain't my concern, took a couple times to learn/ a reputation for the faking is the only thing you'll earn/ if the promises you making you ain't keeping then in turn/ the effort ain't remembered but the failure will be burned/ in the memory of enemies disguised as your peers/ & if you ever drop the ball, that disguise disappears/ so I learned to minimize the niggas that get inside my enterprise/ I find that's the way to stay clear/ yeah, handle biz with my partners like a beretta spray/ cause everybody fucking with me is in a better place/ yeah we doing more than getting by/ fixed time to get an infinite supply/ Chorus Tranqill Chorus
10.
Set You Free 03:38
We’re living in the age of the microchip, to think real life is like those flicks/ We used to watch where the doc was working for the villain to insert s*** into your fingertips/ The danger is, those flicks desensitized us to the ideas it could exist/ Well done Spielberg & Lucas a theory conspired/ I don’t know, in the pudding the proof is/ But who reads the labels of what they eat/ So the readers digest, just what they speak/ But who’s they, bigger than the monotheistic belief/ That the man is controlling the axes of e-vil/ & still all the masses believe, that a masked thief, makes all the madness & grief/ We endure, so we indulge ourselves in the idea that wealths the cure/ & further more, less ain’t more no more/ We assess success like herbivores/ More green, more esteem & clout to liberate us from that twenty four hourly bout/ Better known as the day to day struggle, no escape from to make one you got to hustle/ & that’s where the mistake comes, the tussle/ Between fiendn’ out for the dream or the puzzle/ That perplexed minds since the beginning of time/ Why are we here, do we really have free will/ Are we gods, god like or beast still/ Did the pharaohs even have it right/ In two thousand years, you’d think that we would learn/ Can’t take what you earn to the afterlife/ Place it in a urn, the body burns liberated from the ideology that to have we like/ More than life itself/ Man builds rockets to go to the moon but can’t lend hands to the needy in help/ It’s them type moves that forever ensure that war glooms/ Like a tomb where the battle was held to tell the tale how men turned heaven to hell/ oh well, oh well, you know me well/ A common story I came from the bottom to the well/ Not quite the top so exaggeration I’m trying to sell/ So since we’re building my problems I’m from the basement/ No, not my sound, my surroundings, astounding if you found how we dwell/ Streets are filled with complacent minimum wages/ But faking as if their making the maximum & it’s breaking their pockets cause uncle sam is just taxing them/ & their pockets frail/ Yet the streets are unpaved, still the road is rough/ Not for motors but their motives, exposed to black kettle & pot-holes, that just be closing up/ So hold that though, Imagine having an accent that would band you for asking, for a job/ You’d react & hold that torch/ & burn down oppurtunities door/ the politics of classism is infused with the poor/ That’s condusive for a movement or more, that’s a soon to be war/ Not sure we’re living in a paradise/ More like a resort unaware of plite/ we alright/
11.
You were there from the start/ taught me to be aware of the sharks & prepare for the dark/ you kept a secret you practiced what you were preaching against/ your inner demons were praying I would tear apart/ you won't admit but you competed just a little a bit/ I could tell cause you'd be heated over little sh*t/ telling me to quit trying & get real/ I got a little shine you was like big deal/ I was pursuing dreams, steady doin my thing/ you wasn't doing the same you wasn't doing a thing/ from my truest to a brutes to a judas/ to who knew that this would happen/ but the fraction was brewing it seems/ I should have seen, mistaking smoke for a little steam/ it turned to fire you burned me hoping to ruin me/ I won't even mention your name in the bars, it's too close to the scars/ but I'm sure n*gga you know who you are/ Chorus You Know Who You Are You were there from the start/ you told me what ever I'm doing to do it from the heart/ I was pursuing a dream that was cloaked in the cloth of the uncertain/ making money music & art/ and it wasn't perfect/ you told me what ever's worth it is worth hurting/ double edge seemingly sharp, rather unnerving/ but still, you believed in a brother/ I was starving as an artist, you was feeding a brother/ you could see in a brother what I couldn't see myself/ when couldn't see myself needing help/ one reason or another I was trying to do it all/ there's allot of ways to fail but that's the fastest to the fall/ but through it and after all you was with me not against/ you cheered me from the bench/ and now you're with me as I ball/ and that meant, I ain't got to mention your name in bars/ you know you're close to my heart/ so I'm sure that/ Chorus You were there from the start/ before you were even aware of a plan you part/ of the scheme, grand as it could seem at the top/ man can only go so high before you reached where we can't breath/ but you know your limitations you walk patient/ while everybody starts to run for their plan B/ like a fire escape, but you stay in the kitchen/ let them sleep on their dreams, you just lying awake/ you stay eyeing the cake, they getting greedy/ and then they turn their side against you like their getting sleepy/ try to prevent you cause you ain't too what they bout/ get in your mental convince you to take the way out/ please, let them try, let the me fail/ let them tell lies on you let them be/ let them see you prevail/ let them bail on their attempt to stunt a star/ in any event be sure that you know who you are/ Chorus
12.
I'm feeling so good right now/ as if everything I'm saying's understood right now/ usually I'm all biz, preoccupied with should/but now a brother playing with could right now/ see I could just dial up this smile/ I ain't seen in a while f*ck or just have a night on town/ shucks, I love options, good life now/ (Ayo, what more can I say) Well I can think of a few things I'm trying to keep my levels of stress down/ not get all worked up when I get let down/ just keep the work up prepare for the next round/ work out & it'll work out, flex now/ I'm trying to have the answers in advance to the next how/ so doing won't be much of a test now/ you want a better future got to give it your best now/ (aye young, what more can I say) Well I could think of a few things Politics I might get involved in/ but knowing me i'll probably get endorsed by the wrong/ shady individuals who make the law bend/ & when I got a problem always tell me to call them/ I might learn to trade & then invest in the market/ I know a guy that knows a good, that works in the mosh pit/ my inside trader with stock tips/ (ayo, what more can I say) Well I can think of a few things I'm all about preserving my time/ not everybody sending messages deserves a reply/ this is generation now & the urgencies high/ if you subscribe then your nerves will be fried/ so I've learned to be quite cause loud don't always mean live/ I'm on the rise cause I deserve to be fly/ (what more can I say) Well I can think of a few things/ Peace out to PG county/ Moco, Va & all the surrounding/ areas of DC I rep that proudly/ bump this through your speakers like your reafa, loudly/ I'm a Largo n**ga Toine what's up mo/Marlboro all stars out for that gusto/ & until the day I die man the budget is low (what more can I say) I can think of a few things/
13.

about

"This album is about influence, inspiration, perception & reality. Every song was written in an outside environment, so that I could observe the subjects that would become my subject matter. All too often in Hip Hop, reality is limited to that of the artists own, actual experiences. People Hear What They See is my attempt to liberate the MC from those constraints & allow reality to be penned other than my own. Listening to congressmen & lawyers converse on the steps of the supreme court inspired 'American Greed', Watching a couple argue over the phone in a bar inspired 'Maybes'. By having a visual representation of my subject matter, my hopes are that the listener will see them through the worlds & melodies of my songs."

credits

released June 5, 2012

produced by Oddisee
vocals by Oddisee

Tracks 3, 4, 6 feature Olivier Daysoul
Ytack 2 features Diamond District
Track 3 features Ralph Real
Track 9 features Tranqill

Additional Instrumentation by Ralph Real
Trumpet: Akhil Gopal
Saxophone: Leon Cotter
Trombone: Brian Paulding
Tuba: Will Wells
Viola: Alex Blum

Executive Producer: Michael Tolle

Marketing Campaign: Synergy Works
Marketing Consultant: Amelia Ideh

Digital Distribution Rep: Corey Sheridan
Physical Distribution Rep: Joe Dent

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Oddisee Brooklyn, New York

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