Odd Future is taking the Rap music scene by storm.
Artwork by Ed Gloor
The Skate-Hop group Odd Future is on a meteoric rise to fame, and they are doing it the unconventional, and the controversial way.
Tyler The Creator, the founder of Odd Future, is easily the most well known of the group, but with a deeper look, listeners will find many talented artists on board. Odd Future is comprised of eleven people: Tyler The Creator, Hodgy Beats, Left Brain, Domo Genesis, Mike G, Frank Ocean, Syd tha Kid, Matt Martians, Jasper Dolphin, and Taco Bennett.
Tyler The Creator, also known as Wolf Haley, and Ace, has been a source of controversy for his songs containing sensitive topics, and use of slurs, but he has stated multiple times that he doesn’t do it because he dislikes certain groups of people, but instead because the things he says hit and hurt people. Despite being controversial, Tyler must be doing something right, winning Best New Artist, Rookie of the Year, and Must Follow Artist in 2011. He was also nominated for Best Web-Born Artist, and Odd Future was nominated for Best Crew of 2011. Tyler easily gets the most attention than any other member of Odd Future, and rightfully so. He founded the group, produces almost all of the music that the group puts out and, despite his outrageous behavior, is an extremely hard worker. Recently, Tyler achieved one of his lifetime goals of having eight music videos before the age of 21.
Most of the original fans of the group started listening because of skateboarding. Senior Frank Hupperts said, “They all skate, and the people I skate with listen to them too, so we all just started to listen to them together.” Even though Odd Future has a strong cult following, they are also growing in popularity with mainstream audiences, selling out shows across the country, and opening up a store in the California area.
Odd Future has taken a hit recently. After the release of Earl Sweatshirt, one of the lyrical geniuses of the group, from a facility in Samoa, Earl announced that he would not be working with Odd Future Records, a record company dedicated to releasing the group’s music. This has surprised a lot of fans because Tyler and Earl were extremely close friends, but because of the animosity and hatred created by the group towards Earl’s mother, Earl is off on his own. It doesn’t seem that Earl and the rest of his old friends have cut ties however, regularly sending each other tweets talking about old times.
