So: Odd Future. Zach Baron wrote a pretty nice piece for the Village Voice today on grappling with the youthful hip-hop crew’s belligerent lyrical fascination with violence and misogyny — particularly the word “rape,” which the crew loves, not to mention the also horrific “fa——.” Calum Marsh…
Really great piece about Odd Future. I’ve been feeling so ambivalent about this crew; I completely understand that what these kids (and “kids” they are, with no member over twenty years old) are doing is creating elaborate fiction with morbid, deplorable subject matter, but hearing the offensive content and language is still quite unsettling at times. However, Odd Future display a musical Acumen far beyond their years. Chief producer (also my favorite emcee of the bunch) Tyler, The Creator’s beats are particularly fascinating, combining jazzy chord progressions on atmospheric synths with dirty, overblown bass and kick drums. The caustic delivery of his rhymes (through a sinister growl that belies his mere 19 years — and as the song below notes, he was apparently 17 when recording this) perfectly complement the sinister nature of the lyrics and production.
