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Oddisee, OSHUN & Tunji Ige played BrooklynVegan-Red Bull Sound Select at Baby's All Right (pics)

photos by Amanda Hatfield & some by Shannon Sturgis, words by Andrew Sacher

Oddisee / OSHUN / Tunji Ige @ Baby’s All Right – 1/19/15
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Oddisee headlined Tuesday night’s BrooklynVegan-curated installment of Red Bull Sound Select at Baby’s All Right. It was his first time back in NYC since the release show for last year’s great The Good Fight in May, and I think it’s safe to say everyone in attendance was happy to have him back. Backed by just a DJ, he went through cuts off that album and older stuff too, and he had the crowd in the palm of his hand for all of it. We got standouts “That’s Love” and “Want Something Done” off the new album, the latter of which he stopped part of the way through to play a trap version of. Whether he was doing it to say “see I could do trap if I wanted to” or just to have a little fun with it (or maybe a little of both), he pulled it off naturally and it was fun. (Watch a video of him doing it in Philly in October, below.) Not that Oddisee needed to do anything extra to win over this crowd though. He’s been carving out a niche for himself that pulls from soul, funk, jazz and more, and his raps are great in a “traditional” sense without ever sounding traditional. All this was on display at Baby’s, and aided by his very charismatic DJ who’s also his backup vocalist. Even if you weren’t previously a fan, it felt like the kind of live show that’d be impossible not to like.

Luckily Oddisee is such a master on stage because he came after a very hard act to follow: OSHUN. Main members Thandiwe and Niambi Sala were decked out in matching outfits and facepaint, and backed by a seriously tight trio with keys, bass and drums. They’re like Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and Digable Planets all rolled into one, with so much natural talent and confidence. They can both really sing, and some of their singing is kinda like rapping too (they pay tribute to Nas by doing the chorus to “I Can” in “Gods”). If you haven’t seen them yet, you should change that soon (they play locally a lot). They may very well be the best band in NYC right now.

Tunji Ige kicked the night off and he was great too. He played a still-unreleased new song that he promised would be everywhere later this year, and going by the reaction to his recent single “On My Grind,” he’s probably not wrong. That song, which had him joined by a few friends to hype the crowd, was the clear highlight of his set and plenty of people in the audience knew the words.

Thanks to all the artists, Red Bull, Baby’s All Right, and everyone who came out. More pictures from the show below…

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