This week’s column: Waka Flocka Flame, Odd Future, and metal.
Last Thursday, skate-prick rap collective Odd Future signed off Tumblr and appeared on national television. Sporting ski masks with inverted crosses scrawled on them, and bouncing across a smoke-filled stage, Tyler, the Creator, the crew’s charismatic frontman, along with Odd Future point guard Hodgy Beats, performed their 2010 single “Sandwitches” on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The morning after, the Internet — which basically birthed Odd Future as well as most interesting rap these days — celebrated the group’s bizarro entrance into the mainstream.
Many of the same people losing their shit over Odd Future on Fallon were also busy downloading Salute Me Or Shoot Me 3, a victory-lap mixtape from Waka Flocka Flame, which featured the same sort of headbanging, fuck-you-up rap that made his debut album Flockaveli a success last year. Less than a week after a Grammy Awards show that was proud to acknowledge only the kindest hip-hop (B.o.B, Drake, a once caustic now “recovered” Eminem), Odd Future’s off-the-rails TV appearance, plus a new batch of noisy aggression from perhaps the genre’s most polarizing figure, were welcome disruptions. Tyler, the Creator and Waka Flocka are anti-pop, sure, but they’re also interested in being just plain fucking scary. Think of them as the first truly metal rap stars…
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I’m surprised to hear you refer to Odd Future (and Waka) as “welcome disruptions.” I got the impression that you weren’t really feeling OF like that. I’ve been drinking the kool-aid for months now, but I was interested in hearing out a more unenthusiastic response to their music.
brad
25 Feb 11 at 9:16 pm
Jesus Christ there is a lot of spammy feedback on this website. Have you ever thought about attempting to get rid of them or installing a wordpress plugin?
read
7 Jun 12 at 1:14 pm