As Odd the Artist was developing her latest project “Mothership,” she started digging into the Blaxploitation films of the ’70s. She was drawn to the portrayal of strong Black women, like Pam Grier in “Foxy Brown” and Tamara Dobson in “Cleopatra Jones,” ready to wield a gun and save the day.
There was an “ability to showcase that women are strong. There’s an ability to protect and ascend. There’s strength and leadership,” says Odd, a New Orleans rapper, producer, DJ and visual artist. “That was displayed mostly in the movies of that era. I see it now, but back then it was like a stamp in the community.”
“Mothership,” released earlier this year, is about motherhood and Odd’s own journey as a new parent and a hard-working artist. She wanted to have that same Black feminist strength on the album — and there are ’70s soul and funk-inspired samples in the production of the album.
“There’s the realities of love and ambition,” she says. “The ship symbolizes survival, leadership and the generational responsibility of Black women and what they shoulder. But there’s also power to build and ascend and protect.”
Odd the Artist, the performer name for Jasmine Williams, grew up in New Orleans and graduated from Dillard University with a degree focused on the music industry. She started rapping and learning to produce her own music, using a MacBook and a Wii microphone, while in high school, and since 2019, she’s released a steady string of EPs and singles.
In recent years, Odd has been hitting bigger and bigger stages, like the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, French Quarter Fest and the now defunct BUKU Music + Art Project. She’s also La Reezy’s live DJ and last fall went on tour with the ascendant New Orleans rapper and played Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival.
But 2024 was an especially monumental year for Odd. She opened for Noname during the hip-hop artist’s stop at the Republic and, in the spring, released her first full-length album, “Let Go, Let Odd,” which found Odd leaning into her abilities as a singer with a mix of hip-hop, R&B and neo-soul.
Just a few days after her album release show, though, Odd learned she was pregnant. And her son, Apollo, was born that December, following a difficult birth during which Apollo had to be resuscitated.
While also adjusting to being a new mother in 2025, Odd continued to create art and music, and last October released the song “Go All In” before joining La Reezy on tour. Playing shows and traveling made Odd want to get back to hip-hop, and La Reezy encouraged her to develop “Mothership.”
Across “Mothership,” Odd raps about the different parts of her recent life, often with a lot of vulnerability. There are the joys and challenges of parenting, acceptance that she’s going to make mistakes and openness about the dangerous delivery she went through. On the track, “Breathe,” La Reezy offers a guest verse from Apollo’s perspective.
“I wanted to be as real as I could,” Odd says. “My whole approach to making music in general is embracing reality.”
Odd also is committed to her artistic dreams, and there’s a ton of confidence across “Mothership.” As she raps on “Don’t Miss,” odd is “Making moves with Apollo on my hip.”
Odd produced most of “Mothership” and, influenced by “Drought” era Lil Wayne, Jay-Z’s “The Blueprint,” Kanye West and Lil Kim’s ’96 record “Hard Core,” she sought heavy drums and an epic feeling.
Odd’s boyfriend, and the father of Apollo, Leverne co-produced “Mothership” and made the beat for the track “Perfect Mother.” And producers ndigoslim, Dvmn Rudy, Stix and DJ PJ also contributed to the project.
Sketches at the beginning and end of “Mothership” frame the album like a flight full of mothers taking the journey together. There are spoken word interludes from women talking about art and motherhood.
“Every woman carries a universe, and every mother is a vessel of creation,” Odd says. “I wanted to put that out there as like I’m mothering the game, in a sense.”
Find “Mothership” at oddtheartist.com. And find a recently release album of freestyles at youtube.com/@oddtheartist.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com ’
