Collective: Odd Future

[sulfur)addict]

Wild Thing by Sapphire

And I'm running,
running wild,
running free,
like soldiers down
the beach,
like someone
just threw me
the ball.
My thighs pump
thru the air
like tires
rolling down
the highway
big & round
eating up the ground
of America
but I never been any
further than 42nd Street.
Below that is as
unfamiliar as my
father's face,
foreign as the smell of
white girls´pussy,
white girls on the bus,
white girls on TV
My whole world is
black & brown & closed,
till I open it
with a rock,
christen it with
blood.
BOP BOP
the music
pops thru me
like electric shocks,
my sweat is a
river running
thru my liver
green with hate,
my veins bulge out
like tomorrow,
my dick is
the Empire State Building,
I eat your fear
like a chimpanzee
ow ow
ow whee
ow!
My sneakers glide off
the cement like
white dreams
looking out at the world
thru a cage of cabbage
& my mother's fat,
hollering don't do this
& don't do that.
I scream against the restraint
of her big ass sitting on my face
drowning my dreams in sameness.
I'm scared to go
it hurts me to stay.
She sits cross-legged
in front the TV
telling me no
feeding me
clothing me
bathing me in her ugliness
high high in the sky
18th floor of the projects.
Her welfare check buys me $85 sneakers
but can't buy me a father.
She makes cornbread from Jiffy box mix
buys me a coat
$400, leather like everybody else's.
I wear the best, man!
14 karat gold chain
I take off before I go wildin'.
Fuck you nigger!
Nobody touches my gold!
My name is Leroy
L-E-R-O-Y
bold gold
I got the goods
that make the ladies
young & old
sign your name across my heart
I want you to be my baby
Rapper D
Rapper G
Rapper I
my name is lightning
across the sky
So what I can't read
you spozed to teach me
you the teacher
I'm the ape
black ape
in white sneakers
hah hah
I rape
rape
rape
I do the wild thing
I do the wild thing
My teacher asks me
what would I do
if I had 6 month
to live.
I tell her I'd fuck her,
sell dope & do the wild thing.
My thighs are locomotives
hurling me thru the
underbrush of Central Park,
the jungle.
I either wanna be a cop
or the biggest dope dealer in Harlem
when I grow up.
I feel good!
It's a man's world,
my sound is king
I am the black man's sound.
Get off my face whining bitch!
No, I didn't go to school today
& I ain't going tomorrow!
I like how the sky looks
when I'm running,
my clothes are new & shiny,
my tooth gleams gold.
I'm fast as a wolf
I need a rabbit,
the sky is falling
calling my name
Leroy Leroy.
I look up
blood bust
in my throat
it's my homeboys
L.D., C.K. & Beanbutt!
Hey man what's up!
I got the moon
in my throat,
I remember when
Christ sucked my dick
behind the pulpit,
I was 6 years old
he made me promise
not to tell no one.
I eat cornbread &
collard greens.
I only wear Adidas
I'm my own man,
they can wear New Balance or Nike
if they want,
I wear Adidas.
I'm L.D.
lover
mover
man with the money
all the girls know me.
I'm classified as mildly retarded
but I'm not
least I don't think
I am.
Special Education classes
eat up my brain
like last week's greens
rotting in plastic containers.
My mother never
throws away anything.
I could kill her
I could kill her
all those years
all those years
I sat
I sat in classes
for the mentally retarded
so she could get
the extra money welfare gives
for retarded kids.
So she could get
some money,
some motherfuckin' money.
That bitch
that bitch
I could kill her
all the years
I sat next to kids
who shitted on themselves,
dreaming amid
rooms of dull eyes
that one day
my rhymes
would break open
the sky
& my name would
be written
across the marquee
at the Apollo
in bold gold
me bigger
than Run DMC
Rapper G
Rapper O
Rapper Me
"Let's go!" I scream.
My dick is a locomotive
my sister eats like a 50 ¢ hot dog.
I scream, "I said let's go!"
It's 40 of us
a black wall of sin.
The god of our fathers
descends down & blesses us,
I say thank you Jesus.
Now let's do the
wild thing.
I pop off the cement
like toast outta toaster
hot hard crumbling
running
running
the park is green
combat operation
lost soul
looking for Lt. Calley
Jim Jones
anybody who could direct
this spurt of semen
rising to the sky.
soldiers
flying thru
the rhythm
"Aw man!
nigger please
nigger
nigger
nigger.
I know
who I am."
My soul sinks
to its knees &
howls under the
moon rising full,
"Let's get a female jogger!"
I shout into the twilight
looking at the
middle-class thighs
pumping past me,
cadres of bitches
who deserve to die
for thinking they're better
than me
You ain't better than
nobody bitch.
The rock begs my hand
to hold it.
It says, "Come on man."
T.W., Pit Bull, J.D. & me
grab the bitch
ugly big nose white bitch
but she's beautiful cause she's white
she's beautiful cause she's skinny
she's beautiful cause she's gonna die
cause her daddy's gonna cry
Bitch!
I bring the rock down
on her head
sounds dull & flat
like the time I busted
the kitten's head.
The blood is real & red
my dick rises.
I tear off her bra
feel her perfect pink breasts
like Brooke Shields
like bitches in Playboy
Shit! I come all over myself!
I bring the rock down
the sound has rhythm
hip hop ain't gonna stop
till your face sees
what I see every day
walls of blood
walls of blood
she's wriggeling like
a pig in the mud.
I never seen a pig
or a cow
'cept on TV.
Her nipples are like
hard strawberries
my mouth tastes
like pesticide.
I fart.
Yosef slams her
across the face with a pipe.
My dick won't get
hard no more.
I bring the rock down
removing what she
looks like forever
ugly bitch
ugly bitch
I get up
blood on my hands
semen in my jeans
the sky is black
the trees are green
I feel good baby
I just did
the wild thing!






I guess when poetry gets translated into a rapper's identity, feminist bloggers and parents everywhere can't take it. Sapphire is, of course, a African-American female poet. Sorry, but everything that defines OF is in this poem.

[Antero]

That poem was pretty damn intense. I like it.

[Boombats]

Sorry, but everything that defines OF is in this poem.

No. Those OF kids did not grow up hard, not based on what I've read in the links from this thread. The sex, violence and rape they rap about is internet-variety video voyeurism, lived through keyboards and Grand Theft Auto Xbox controllers.

[Ptommydski]

So basically like their audience.

[famousjunkie]

Sorry, but everything that defines OF is in this poem.

No. Those OF kids did not grow up hard, not based on what I've read in the links from this thread. The sex, violence and rape they rap about is internet-variety video voyeurism, lived through keyboards and Grand Theft Auto Xbox controllers.

Yes, because you must have lived through something in order to express anything about it artistically.

The argument is over the content, not the reputability.

[digital lofi]

I have to say, I'm a little surprised at the general vocal consensus on this thread —it is not what I expected for the EA boards. I always thought of the bullshit detectors around here as being pretty finely honed. Anyway, I've been thinking about Tyler/Odd Future for a few months, reading about these dudes, watching the hype... And I might as well start my spew here. This is gonna be long; ignore at will.

So, while I didn't vote ('Crap' is slightly ahead, right?), I'll be vocal about why people might call 'Feh' on Tyler/Odd Future.

Yeah, I didn't vote; my feelings about OF are not so cut and dry to weigh in thus. I don't think they're crap per se; Tyler is obviously a talented, energetic, savvy guy who has surrounded himself with other talented, energetic young 'uns and are making music that is getting a lot of kids & young adults excited. Music that feels —finally!— dangerous. So, cool, right? The whole fiction/mythology/vernacular of the band is so expertly spun as to make the other YouTube/MySpace musical provocateurs seem quaint.

You know where I'm going.

First, I don't often say things like this 'cause I don't really know who's at the other end of this series of tubes, but the idea that OF is somehow 'scaring whitey' is so stupid on its face as to be worthy of being mocked. Oh, I get it; you're being ironic, right? In that case why bother trying to redefine the 'slur'? 'Cause, no, 'whitey' does not mean 'the man', e.g. soccer moms, Republicans, and chino wearing blue-shits, i.e. people who don't 'get it.' Whitey is Caucasian. If you think you —I'm guessing you're white— are somehow excluded from that appellation because you're hip or down or whatever, well, that's pretty funny.

As many others have pointed out, by and large OF appeal to, and are being sold to white males, 18 to 35. You know, that demographic that advertisers, music executives and consumer culture so often neglect because it's unprofitable. They're managed by a former VP of marketing at fuckin' Interscope. They may have roots and the aesthetic of DIY internet & skate culture but come on, they're about as 'indie' or 'punk' as Green Day. Or soon to be.

But what they do is exciting, right? It gets people riled up, speaks to the frustration and rage of teenagers in general and teenage boys in particular. It pisses off not only conservatives and boomers which is easy enough but also pushes the buttons of Gen X post-punk riot grrl indie college rock nerds whether positively or negatively. It's hard to get that kind of visceral reaction in our race to the bottom. So, well done!

I get the people here and elsewhere —in any of the other thousands of places writing about this (Odd Future=link bait)— who cop to OF being morally problematic but respond to the visceral aspect of the collective's performance and music. No accounting for taste and whatnot. But the mental gymnastics it takes to intellectually defend such casual hate might be kinda impressive if it wasn't so misguided.

It's good that people are calling out the blatant homophobia. But, as stated by many, many others, this is more a larger problem with (mostly) mainstream rap and to be fair a lot of metal. More importantly it's a problem in the culture at large. It sucks but to single out Tyler/OF is unfair. And missing the larger point. It's the 'rapey' attitude/lyrics that are so troubling when people just brush them off as no big deal.

What exactly are we brushing off when we say it's 'beside the point' or 'just about having fun' or whatever nonsense their anonymous fans post in response to any article about them? Well, let's see what google has to say...

Yeah, just as I suspected. Yadda yadda choke a bitch... in my basement... punch her in the face... stick my hard dick in her... until she bleeds. Radical, man. Do they have a particular fixation with the fictional victims being white girls or is that just on the 'hits'? I can't be bothered to do a comprehensive study —kid is prolific— but it would make sense, as that is the quickest way to stir up those controversies, cut to the quick of a lot of historical racial tension. But, yep, over-the-top cartoon violence that pushes what's left of the line.

The claims that it is basically the same as the Ramones or Swans or Big Black is making a drastic over-simplification of what we're talking about/around. It's a continuum, yes. Writing a pop song about the Third Reich or naming your truly independent band Rapeman may have pushed the line, but we're 20/30 years down the road. Multiple songs the mention gang rape and sexual abduction are a whole new world. Last House on the Left is sick and disturbing but seems quaint when held up to A Serbian Film.

More accurate, I think, is to lump them in with GG Allen and Mentors and WASP and that school of sludge rock/metal. If that's your milieu and musical history I suspect you'll have more of a proclivity for OF's brand of rebellion. More accurate still, I think, is to look at them in light of Brokencyde, Hollywood Undead, Blood on the Dancefloor, et al. The music and lyrics may be a different league artistically but conceptually its looking to mine the same reaction. Lulz et cetera. It doesn't matter if someone's clicking your link or coming to your show to mock you or because what you're saying is so revolting/terrible that it's titillating, the point is they're clicking, watching, commenting. And the more hate Tyler generates, the more hits he gets, the more cache he gets, and in the end people are getting paid. And in the end isn't that what it's all about? Who cares whose backs we have to crawl up to get there. Fuck 'em.

Listen, your millage may vary, so, you know, who am I to say what you like or don't like? But let's be honest and blunt about what Odd Future is selling. This is troll music. It's primary function may not be simply piss people off like Salem or Brokencyde —I honestly believe Tyler and Co. are sincere in creating compelling pop art— but getting a rise out of people just for the lulz is certainly no accident. If it was 'just about the music' then they wouldn't need all the 'rape a bitch' shit in there and this thread wouldn't be 16 pages long. I've seen other acts throughout the years do what they're doing, more or less, without the intentional morality baiting. Odd Future may be musically exciting and/or original but they're not unprecedented. But just right amount of incidental verbal violence against girls/women and they've created the perfect storm of hipster ironic detachment, post-modern alienation, and post-suburb youth rage bottled in street/skate/hip-hop culture.

Someone may claim I don't like hip hop (so not true). Or that 'I'm missing the point' (subjective). Or that it's just about 'the fun' (whatever). Or that I'm old. Which is true. Hey, good for the kids and their older counter parts for finding their version of punk rebellion. It's just a shame it has to be one-upping the same old tropes that were distasteful and hateful the first six to a 100 times anyone used them.

Point: trolls.

[digital lofi]

Incidentally, someone here mentioned Axl not getting in trouble for his stupid racist and sexist comments and lyrics. As I'm sure anyone else who was in their 20s/30s when G&R roamed the earth will tell you he caught plenty of flack. Boycotts and hand-wringing and earnest column inches spent on the meaning of this and how dare he. In retrospect, sure, it seems a total 'meh' but at the time plenty of people called him out for being an arrogant douche who was stirring up lazy controversy. Which is roughly how I imagine this playing out.

Mine it for all it's worth, collect the check and move on to the next thing.

[bluegreengold]

Since someone brought up Axl Rose. I just thought I'd comment that GNR were an art rock band, and pretty much all their songs are sung in character. They are completely contrived and were generally always making poetic statements with their lyrics, be they heartfelt, subtly subversive or grandiose. People caused a stink about 1 in a Million because they never read/listened to all the lyrics, couldn't comprehend irony or face the mirror.

[Boombats]

point: digital lofi

[AnthonyCinder]

GNR were an art rock band

Whaaaaa????

[AnthonyCinder]

The idea that OF is somehow 'scaring whitey' is so stupid on its face as to be worthy of being mocked.

Yes.

[enframed]

Crap. Too much raping for my taste.

Musically, these guys are OK, better than most rap out there that I've heard, and I've not heard a lot, I admit; I'm not a big fan. I like how unrefined the music is. Also, they're an entertaining bunch of kids in interviews.

[Bill Swansea]

Crap. Too much raping for my taste.

Read that as "too much rapping."

I was like eh?

[Boombats]

Since someone brought up Axl Rose. I just thought I'd comment that GNR were an art rock band, and pretty much all their songs are sung in character. They are completely contrived and were generally always making poetic statements with their lyrics, be they heartfelt, subtly subversive or grandiose. People caused a stink about 1 in a Million because they never read/listened to all the lyrics, couldn't comprehend irony or face the mirror.

[J. Burns]

Crap. Too much raping for my taste.

The Mellowhype and Domo Genesis albums are worth listening to for this reason.

[Antero]

Speaking of Mellowhype...

Damn, son.

[Mason]

Acceptabledome: Odd Future vs Anal Cunt

[Mama Clortho]

Speaking of Mellowhype...

Damn, son.

I'm the doctor. You wait on the waiting list. Patients been here since this morning I dismiss.

[elisha wiesner]

I really like the Odd Future stuff I've heard. The Earl album is fucking sick. The best rap album I've heard in a long time. I just got Tylers new one yesterday and I'm liking it. Maybe not as much as Bastard but it's still good.

As a side note, in a field dominated by men it is nice to see that the bulk of the Odd Future stuff is engineered and mixed by Syd Tha Kid, an 18 year old female. She did all of Goblin and a bunch off the other stuff.

[crustandcrumb]

these dudes have jumped the shark already?