Especially memorable is the arresting use of horn and brass arrangements, which seem to communicate a resilience in the face of the difficult hardships about which Khalifa sometimes raps. The Good Fight features a free-wheeling jazz element. Khalifa does not come from the gangster rap school of hip hop. These groups sought to incorporate more socially critical themes into their music. Khalifa is influenced by the early 1990s hip hop collective Native Tongues, which consisted of “conscious rap” groups like A Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubian, Black Sheep and others. His programmed drum sounds complement rather than intrude upon the layers of melodic instruments, preserving a feeling of spontaneity in the proceedings. Khalifa’s music is noteworthy for its vibrant instrumental backdrops, which feature elements of jazz, funk, electronic and soul music. Khalifa has produced music for a number of hip hop and R&B acts, as well as releasing his own instrumental and traditional rap albums as a solo artist.

The Good Fight (released May 2015 on Mello Music Group) is the latest full-length studio album from Washington DC-based rapper/producer Oddisee (Amir Mohamed el Khalifa, born in 1985 to a Sudanese father and African-American mother).

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