The Odds’ Interview on “The Mike Lee Show”

Mike Lee: Hello everybody, and thank you for joining us right here on The Mike Lee Show sponsored by the one and only Jamie Foster Brown and IOM Network TV. And today, we have a very, very incredible artist with us, Andy Blanc. How are you?

The Odds: Doing good; how are you, Mike?

Mike Lee: Doing great, man! Where are you right now? Are you in New York?

The Odds: I’m in New York, yes, Midtown.

Mike Lee: Great, great whats going on in New York right now?

The Odds: Oh my goodness…

Mike Lee: With this new virus and all this stuff that’s been going on? How’s New York doing? 

The Odds: Everything is actually a lot better than it was months ago. Everything is starting to open back up, and there is much more activity. The streets are more festive, which is exciting, and venues are starting to open back up. So that’s looking good for a lot of creatives as we’ve kind of been held in and away from our craft.

Mike Lee: Let’s talk about 2018. I reached out to you for an interview that long ago, and it was so good to hear from you when I did. I always am glad to hear from people who I couldn’t get an interview on, or something might have slipped through the cracks, so thank you for reaching back out to us. But I definitely want to ask you when we reached out to you then in 2018; we didn't do the interview than... why now?

The Odds: Chuckles…

Mike Lee: What’s going on now? Something must be cooking. 

The Odds:  Absolutely. Well, at that time, I kind of was in a stage where as far as my development, I didn’t feel as ready to be able to engage and know exactly where I stood as far as my artistry. At this stage of my process, I feel like  I am prepared to speak more and have more of a solid foundation of who ImpossibleOdds is and even as far as the creation of ImpossibleOdds Gentleman Hip Hop. That entire process has made me piece together mentally and convey to an audience and special folks like yourself, Mike Lee. People of affluence that I want to be interacting with, and I just wanted to be ready when I started showcasing this side of myself. So yeah, I think it was more about me being ready to have all my stuff put together before I started speaking on where I stood as far as my artistry and my style. 

Mike Lee: You were doing something different even in 2018, so from 2018 up to now, how do you feel like you've changed grown the music industry changes all the time so how has all of this impacted you since 2018.

The Odds: I feel like there was a time when artists were so focused on being themselves, and I feel like there is so much fixation on trying to follow the new trend or trying to follow what’s currently hip. So I think to address your question on whats changes. You know, certainly just looking internally and trying to as much as possible trying to find the inner essence on what defines ImpossibleOdds. On what defines Andy Blanc. This takes just a lot of prayer, a lot of reflection on what it is supposed to convey. It’s just been a lot of internal reviews, building, and learning even as far as the business side. Knowing how I want to approach the business was a major deal for me because I am one of these guys who are a little bit more rebellious in nature as far as … I disagree with the digital streaming royalty raids that are currently administered right now. I feel like we have the technology. Why not set up our product and set our own prices what’s? What’s holding us back from doing so? So that set me on a path of a more subscription-type model for my music and artistry. Still, of course, that was met with a lot of friction initially because it like: Put your stuff on Spotify, put your stuff on youtube, put your stuff on these platforms, and while I think it’s great and there is exposure there and opportunity sure, but I think my style is a little bit unique in that sense where I just want to have everything on one platform and set my own price, that’s the whole subscription-type free market. We should be able to capitalize on these opportunities in this country. 

Mike Lee: Describe your vibe because it is a vibe. there are a mixture of things going on in your artistry that’s familiar, but there is a newest to it

The Odds: That’s really great to hear you say because that is exactly the kind of angle that we strive for, and there are a ton of influences, and like your saying, the word refreshing has been attributed to our style very frequently. ImpossibleOdds Gentleman Hip Hop style is what it is. Still, I feel like there has always been that clean aesthetic when I think about some of my influences Big Daddy Kane, I mean a lot of these guys, even as an emcee, it isn’t the most common thing that you see, but of course,  you have The Roots, Tribe Called Quest although I very humbly take in that kind of acknowledgment. I mean, these guys are just phenomenal., 

Mike Lee Yeah, they are one of my favorites. 

The Odds: Oh my gosh, just tremendous I love those guys. 

Mike Lee:. One of a kind 

The Odds: Like no other, but it’s more of a more intelligible hip hop vibe heavily jazz-influenced, and you know it all comes from inside and life experience and expression. I’m all about expression. A little background on me: I was actually working as a phlebotomist for much of my young-adult-like. I was bootstrapping the company, investing and buying equipment, and working towards my music until I was able to break off from that take on music full time. But that has been a process in itself, and that whole entire journey has been wild, but it is the best decision I ever made because it’s about expressing. You have all this creativity bottled in you, and it is urning to be born to be birthed. It’s exciting to be doing that now.

Mike Lee: Mmmmm, how did you listen to growing up? 

The Odds: Oh man, I listened to let’s see I mentioned tribe a lot of the native tongues Talib Kweli, Most Def, The Roots, MF Doom a lot of these guys who are considered underground to me they are just the pillars hug monumental guys. I even have to think about Guru from gang star.

Mike Lee: Guru is awesome, yeah man, his albums…

The Odds: Just tremendous. Andre 3000, Outkast, all these intelligent guys.  Poets, modern-day poets: Kayne;  Jay-Z, especially Reasonable Doubt Jay-Z, those albums are tremendous; and Nas: Illmatic. I  really was immersed in a lot of late 80s early 90s hip hop. Being that that is my origin, I think I naturally gravitate towards that. I just love it!

Mike Lee: Let’s talk about the state of music today. What are your thoughts about this; Well, we talked about the digital world, but the sound the sonic the information that is embedded in that? What is your take on that? 

The Odds: Tremendous change, especially in the early 2000s. Everything started to become more digitized for me. I have always had an appreciation for the natural sound, which is one reason why I play with The Odds Band. I mean, these guys bring so much value when you have that organic kind of sound. Even as far as our live recordings, we’ve done so many demos where we have so many samples. We have started transitioning to recording those demos with live instrumentation, and that has been a tremendous process. I feel very privileged and blessed to be working with some great producers. You know Evan Joseph, who’s been hands-on since day 1. He is a producer and a long-time friend of mine. I am just working with a great team of musicians, and I feel like as far as the sound, that’s kind of what’s lacking is that natural organic sound. I feel like we have done so much with digitizing and sampling, and it’s great. I love all of it. I have no distaste towards it. But as far as my personal flavor, I just love that organic feeling. There is nothing like a snare being struck by a drumstick that live feeling. There is no parallel to me. 

Mike Lee: As an artist of your caliber, do you want to be a change agent? In any way to change the direction of how some of the music is going or the information 

The Odds: I do want to inspire change, and I think that's the best way that that's going to happen just by continuing to be, you know, true to myself and true to who ImpossibleOdds is. And staying fixated on our current path and not deviating towards anything other than just who we are. Being truly original to one’s self but I mean, like you're saying with the mainstream audience, that is going to be something that I am not as fixated on because I know that my content is going to like you're saying it's going to speak to a different audience probably the more a little bit more of the sophisticated audience. I say that humbly because I think that anyone my content is for everyone. I definitely want everyone to embrace ImpossibleOdds’ content. It is certainly about exuding a higher level of excellence and that influence. I definitely want it to persuade my fellow man to chose the better part of himself, and while there is that search for making a harder or gritter sound. Still, you can certainly convey that, but it doesn't have to be in any way that’s derogatory or takes away from society or takes away from my fellow man. I think we can still come with a hard or gritty sound or even in any sense, like a sexual sense if something is sexualized. It can still be tasteful. It can still be uplifting and do better for mankind and not take away from it. So these are lofty ideals, and I’m definitely no saint. I definitely have my shortcomings and my moral failings, but as much as I can, I try to portray content that better mankind and the world at large. 

Mike Lee: If you had to change anything about your past in some of the decisions you had to make in your career, what would that be.

The Odds: The first thing would probably be to exercise more patience. 

Mike Lee: It's tough, isn't it? 

The Odds: * Laughs *  It’s challenging. Even today, realizing it’s a process and knowing when you put everything on the line, there will be times when you are thinking, are these the right choices, and are you going to have those moments. Still, for me, I am in constant prayer. So I am always seeking the Creator’s guidance on what the next step is on what direction I should go, and oftentimes it’s those moments when you’re at the lowest when you don’t know what’s gonna happen next that defines your character. Still, those are the character-building moments that are crucial. I wouldn't have it any other way. I certainly wouldn't frown on those moments. Or in fact, I think it’s best to completely embrace the adversity, and another thing for me is to not care so much about I mean, I’ve always not really cared about what my peers had to say, but I think even further. I think it’s about loving and accepting all opinions and thoughts, and ideas but making sure to be true to one’s path. 

Mike Lee: Let’s talk about your brand new music video “Pristine” is it?

The Odds: Yes 

Mike Lee: “Pristine!” Tell us about that... 

The Odds: I am very privileged to work with a great team. Traffic Art is the name of the organization. These guys are just phenomenal. Juriel Majeed is his name, he is the one who directed and shot the music video, and when I mean exceptional, he has such vision. He has other projects happening, but I am just so happy and excited to be working alongside him. But I wrote the song “Pristine,” and a lot of musicians featured on it. Evan Joseph, who I mentioned, is actually a professional classical composer and does a lot of work for the film. Avery Thomas, who is my drummer, is also on there and on the production side and also a phenomenal drummer. Chris Miley, our saxophonist who is a tremendous musician and has been playing with us for years. I could go on and on about these guys! They are just really great.

Mike Lee: That’s awesome, man, well check it out. We are gonna watch a little bit of “Pristine,” and then we will be back for more with this interview.

The Odds: Sounds Great

Mike Lee: Okay, enjoy “Pristine” on The Mike Lee Show. We will be right back... 

*Preview of Music Video Plays *

Mike Lee: Hello everybody, and we are back. And I know you enjoyed that video as much as I did, and lastly, did we talk about the direction? Who directed this music video?.

The Odds: Yes, Juriel Majeed of Traffic Art

Mike Lee: Now, is this the first video you’ve done with him?

The Odds: We actually did a prior video which we ultimately shelved that video. It was a copyright thing that happened.

Mike Lee: Okay 

The Odds: But we’ve done some material on photoshoots before. So we have worked together before, and we are planning on another video.

Mike Lee: Okay, great, great! Let’s talk about you in the younger day. What kind of kid were you?

The Odds: Growing up, man! I was wild and rambunctious, unhindered, and completely insane. Definitely happy to have calmed down. 

*Both laughing *

The Odds: I had too much energy. Really I give it to my tremendous parents, who are extremely patient, The most phenomenal parents, and people I know. I am so tremendously impressed with them. They were so patient with me. I was pretty wild. 

Mike Lee: Now, did you know anywhere in your childhood and younger days that you had a love and a knack for music and that this was something you were going to aspire to?. 

The Odds: I didn’t really…. It’s funny ‘cause no one knew that I had any abilities as far as acting or stage. It was a children’s choir director, her name is Sherry Gillum, and she was insistent that I was a part of this big Christmas production, and she even got on my parents about it. “Your son, he needs to be in this! He needs to have this role!” It was this role that was beyond my years. It was a role meant for a 15-year-old, and I think I was probably 11 or 10, and she was very confident that I could do this role, and I studied it was against my will I didn’t even want to do it. I wanted to play basketball and hang out with my friends, and before you know it, I was practicing for this play and this role. I went and performed, and everyone loved it. And was like, how did this happen? Where did this come from? Who knew andy had these abilities? And from there, I kept going. It’s funny because I was shielded from hip hop growing up. My parents were pretty strict in what influences I was allowed to have, which I thank them for now, but in the time period, I was like, all my friends can listen to that why can’t I listen to that. Now I appreciate and understand it because it certainly has given me the ability to have my own perception of what I envision music to be like and how I would approach it. As opposed to having been exposed to content at an early age, nothing is wrong with that either, but I think it can take your own inner essence of creativity and influence it and shift it away. If you instead had that creativity coming without any influence, you can get something very original. But yeah, those are my thoughts on that. 

Mike Lee: Great , great! What have you learned most about yourself in your most challenging times, I wanna say in music, but period. When you’ve come up against challenges, who have you been able to survive that / what have you learned 

The Odds: That’s a very good question. With challenge…. what I’ve learned about myself is that when times are really difficult or challenging for me, I can be really calm; I tend to be really, really calm. I’m not sure if it’s part of my nature. Who I am as a person, but I do think it’s the Creator’s peace that is causing that calm. I’ve been in many situations that would probably be extremely challenging and distressing, but I’ve found in prayer like it can be a really awful circumstance, but I take a moment to stay calm prayer not do anything rash and pull myself away from the situation often times it is just a walk away thinking reflecting meditating for a moment and coming back with a clear mind that can be so much more constructive than just acting because we often have a tendency to just react and I feel like that’s where a lot of the demise and a lot of non-constructive outcomes come from 

Mike Lee: Very good. Where do you want to be in the next five years? What would you have wanted to do and completely blown away and accomplished 

The Odds: Next five years, well, certainly it would be a prominent figure as far as standing on one’s own independent platform like to be the fellow who does astronomical levels while setting his own price on his artistry. Those are my aspirations.

Mike Lee: Very good if you weren’t making this music. If the music were to go away tomorrow, what would you do?

The Odds: That’s easy., I’d probably be a doctor *laughs * it’s funny because that’s what my parents wanted. I was working in the medical realm only as a phlebotomist. Still, it certainly was a part of my life where I came to bridge, and I had to choose one or the other. If I didn’t have the abilities and the gift God has given me, I definitely would have pursued the medical route. Because I did have an interest in that realm, it’s not as though I didn’t like it. But my heart and passion lie in creativity. Music that’s what makes me alive. That is what lifts me, and I know that’s where His purpose is for my life.

Mike Lee: Beautiful; what do you want people to know to most about you?

The Odds: Most about me…, you know I love everyone, and I will do as much as I can to love every person no matter how different, no matter how unique, no matter what beliefs. I love you, and it’s my responsibility as part of the Creator’s, you know servant, to do my best to love and accept you and to share that love with everyone.

Mike Lee: I am looking forward to hopefully seeing you on the next BET sound stage or something. I just want to turn on the tv and see you and say I knew it! Because what you offer is just so refreshing, just yourself as an artist, and even with the band, I listened to them play, and you guys did a live spin to the song pristine, and I thought this is another single! You could have the recorded version or have it live! Tell everyone where they can find you and where they can find your product. 

The Odds: Sure, first I just want to thank you, mike, for those words. It means so much to me, and likewise, I mentioned to you your platform and what you are doing. I think it’s tremendous. How you engage people, I’ve watched some of your interviews. Wow, I was just thoroughly impressed 

Mike Lee: Thank you! That means a lot. 

The Odds: As to where to follow. You can follow us  @impossibleoddsmusic and alternatively to get our music where you can buy and purchase our music is impossibleoddsmusic.nyc

Mike Lee: ImpossibleOdds what does that mean. 

The Odds: Well, it means…

Mike Lee: You know I couldn’t let you leave without

The Odds: I’m so glad you asked! When the Odds are against you, do the Impossible. 

Mike Lee: That’s great, that is just great, mmm that is great! What a great way to close the show. I had to ask that question; I just didn’t know where but perfect timing right at the end. I want to thank you for joining us tonight, and all the best to you and your band. I think you guys are incredible. Please make sure you follow him on social media, follow him along on the journey and. Please buy that music because it is damn good music. Ya’ll have a good night?. and we will see you all again next time.