After a highly productive decade of releases on Mello Music Group, including several studio full-lengths, beat tapes, EPs, and a live album with his backing band Good Compny, Oddisee branched out and formed his own Outer Note Label, releasing the EP Odd Cure in 2020. To What End is his first LP since 2017, an unusually long wait for an artist who typically puts out multiple projects per year. The album contains some of the rapper's most introspective lyrics to date, with songs like "Many Hats" reflecting on the pressure of having to constantly switch between roles as an artist, performer, family man, and much more. Some of the hardest hitting lyrics appear later in the track sequence, particularly "People Watching," a brutally honest song about having to face daily professional life as an extreme introvert. The following "Hard to Tell" also resonates with its stressed-out verses and sung chorus "I don't feel a way about nothing." Oddisee's production skillfully incorporates breezy soul and synth-funk, with live drums, guitars, and horns taking precedence over programmed beats and samples. He channels '80s boogie on the brisk but determined "Try Again," and while "All I Need" has a slower, more laid-back rhythm and an Earth, Wind Fire-inspired chorus, Oddisee lets off steam with his tight, rapid verses. "The Way" manages to flip samples of Wreckx-N-Effect's "Rump Shaker" while tenderly expressing affection for a fashionable lady. Oddisee is a pro at boiling a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions down to concise, relatable songs, and To What End contains some of his most deeply personal work to date. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi

1		The Start of Something
2		How Far
3		Many Hats
4		Already Knew
5		Choices
6		Try Again
7		Ghetto to Meadow
8		More to Go
9		All I Need
10		Bartenders
11		Work to Do
12		People Watching
13		Hard to Tell
14		Bogarde
15		The Way
16		Race

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