People Hear What They See

Critical reception

Andrew Noz of Washington City Paper gave the album a mixed review, noting that "[sometimes] he gets buried in the ornateness of his own beats; elsewhere, he manages to compensate with the instinctive understanding of having created them." Meanwhile, Marcus J. Moore of BBC Music commented that "[with] this album, Oddisee looks in the mirror and examines his own intricacies, attempting to comprehend his immediate surroundings and society as a whole."

Jesse Fairfax of HipHopDX gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying, "Technically still a product of Hip Hop as his long established penchant for fierce rapping accompanied by boom-bap rhythm is fully intact, his gradual growth towards a fleshed out vision inclusive of live instrumentation may seek transcendence that dispels confinement within a set genre." Brandon Soderberg of Spin called it "a gritty hip-hop album with detours into orchestrated soul, quiet storm, and space disco."

Homeboy Sandman named it his favorite album of 2012. Uproxx named it one of the "12 Most Slept-On Albums of 2012". In 2014, Complex named it one of the "Best One-Producer Albums of the 2000s".