With the opening track of Oddateee's Halfway Homeless, you might think you were embarking on the most twisted and bizarre hip-hop journey ever, like Fatlip and PCP and 4:00 AM all rolled into one. He’s yelling about stabbing MCs, crack rock, and gentrification. But when second track “Ricans” rushes in with a funky violin loop and a party junkyard beat mixed intermittently with a crunchy digital effect, it’s clear that Oddateee is not 100% bizarro rapper. Clearly, Hispanic origins play a large part in Oddateee’s outlook, and his style hearkens back to the golden days of hip-hop. Verses pay homage to Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew’s “The Show,” reinforcing his connection to old-school electro/hip-hop.
There’s a lot of anger directed toward society and politicians here, in the beats, lyrics, and tone of the delivery. He’s pretty explicit about the source of his dissatisfaction, referring to corporate rap as “muppet fucking in a pendant sequence” (?), claiming the “devil runs this nation fucked up.” As the album progresses, you get the feeling that Oddateee and his crew are using some sonic qualities in order to add a visceral edge to the message; the beats are so present in the mix that by the time the circus beat of “Hello” rolls around, one feels grateful that there is a respite from the raucous and overdriven mix on the other tracks, until “The Hood” busts in and returns you to the dark and forceful commentary. Its chorus claims, “The hood/ Told you that we could/ Blind men only risk their life for good,” a cryptic message that demands interpretation.
The hidden track is a curious addition, definitely the strangest thing on the record; when bands bury something after eight minutes of silence at the end of a record, you gotta wonder if they’re not slightly embarrassed by the content. However, in this case, its noisy ambience, off-key singing, and indecipherable ranting about drug use might be the most telling part of the album. We’re all pretty used to hearing the sounds of drug use in rap songs, but it’s usually just blunt puffing or bong gurgling, not the repeated sniffing of coke rails. Oddateee is concerned with cocaine to such a degree that you might wonder if white powder isn’t the true demon of the record — not society or government or oppression, but the skeletons in the rapper’s closet.
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