A bunch of of people have asked me what I think of OFWGKTA/Odd Future/Lil B/Tyler The Creator, and to make a long story short my reaction is “NO CARE.” Since I don’t fetishize black people, I evaluate them based solely on their music, which is just OK. Let me explain…
For the most part, white people who are into rap fall into two categories. First are betas/hipsters/nerds who are into weak, boring “conscious”/arsty bullshit– Common, Mos Def, Atmosphere, Kool Keith, etc. They’re pretty annoying, but at this point it’s pretty easy for me to just file them under “hipster bullshit”
On the other hand, you have people who are fascinated by black people who are scary and/or ignorant. These are the people who make a big deal out of how they only listen to the “realest, grimiest” rap and always hate on mainstream, poppy rap, unless it’s by a black person who is ignorant/ghetto enough to earn their approval. Basically they are the rap version of douchelord hipster hardcore types who listen to Defeater and Have Heart (and yes, they are almost always white), only maybe even more annoying: they only like hardcore bands who are too smart for their own good, and rappers who are ignorant spectacles.
Pretty hard to argue with the legendary Mobb Deep about this genre: “Niggas with your half-assed rhymes about how high you get, how much weed your smoke, or that crazy space shit that don’t even make no sense, don’t even speak to me. I’m about to get on some high school shit and start punchin niggas in they face just for livin.”
I feel like OFWGKTA/etc fans have one foot in each camp. They’re sheltered pussies, so they’re not quite ready for super grimy, thugged out rap (which is mostly awful). At the same time, they get all the artsy bullshit they need from rock, so when they listen to rap it’s to get their fix of scary black people. They hate jerkin music and top 40 rap because they are neither artsy nor scary.
Basically, I think all the little white kids who are into Odd Future etc are more into the idea of half-artsy, half-scary black people than they are the actual music– because let’s be honest, their music is just okay.
I still don’t understand why people can’t have their pants at waist level…
Prison Culture. Can’t have belts so as a way of saying, “Fuck it”, prisoners would sag their pants to the fullest extent. Made its way into pop culture now.
I’ll admit, I’ve listened to both of Tyler’s albums and enjoyed them. He’s a good rapper. However, I do get annoyed by all the dick-riding I see on Tumblr. More specifically people calling him a “lyrical genius” and similar shit. To that I say, “Yeah, he’s good, but he’s not original at all, and probably not the best at it. He just caught on.” It also seems like the average OF fan has never listened to rap in his/her life until they saw Yonkers on Youtube. That gets on my nerves too.
TL;DR
good rapper, annoying fanbase
Cosigned.
Cosigned.[2]
as a formerly hipster-afflicted skinnyass white kid from suburbia, I’ve listened to rap from that conceited bitchy artsy point of view. Which is fine. For about 45 minutes. But at certain point, you realize there are better things to do. Like teach your sister to pig squeal. Or make some fucking pancakes. If you’re going to be a little hipster, may as well bring some kind of desirable product to the rest of society rather than soiling the internetz and IRL with arrogant, near-intolerable faggotry.
Will say this for ODD FUTURE, the interesting thing i find about is that they are DIY and do there own beats and stuff, and have unique production which is kinda fresh in this day when all rap/R&B/pop has the same slick production and can buy success with the right guest stars.
I mean this must be the first popular rap album of the last five years that doesn’t have Kanye West of Jay Z or one of their shitty acolytes strategically based on one of the singles, and that could count for something.
Of course Tyler the Creator is just eminem with more emphasis on rape lyrics.
I didn’t know you liked hip-hop.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3637bXPEEA
Art of Fact. They’re great.
I’ve listened to Tyler once and thought it was pretty good, though I’ve heard far better.
Yeah, I listened to rap before I listened to hardcore (since like 1988, I’m fucking old). Not really into The Art Of Fact, too artsy/indie for me, but to each their own.
i want to argue the “how is this any different from suburban white kids who listen to ‘ignorant’ hardcore and carry an attitude because they’ve had a gym membership for six months” point, but as a fan of project pat and defeater, i will concede.
No, I think you are exactly right, only there’s an added element of subtle, implicit racism here which makes it even more annoying to me (via only liking black people when they act scary)
this is only shocking to an indie crowd tho. if you’ve been listening to rap since ’88, you know that lyrics dealing with violence and rape are nothing new. it’s simply new to the indie internet nerds that picked up their albums via tumblr. it’s not even as extreme as artists brotha lynch hung or eminem (older material).
Yeah, it’s just an update to Geto Boys really– I’m not even hating on Odd Future themselves, but on their fans (and the fans’ attitude/perspective on the world)
also, while i like odd future, it’s pretty much gravediggaz the sequel.
Not hating but Art of Fact just kinda sounded like Mike Shinoda with a rhyme dictionary in his hand
Not seeing where you get any similarities, but okay.
I basically just think they’re like ICP/HU for blue state people. Hipsters feel more ok with liking “shock rap” when it’s coming from black people. No way Pitchfork would never have paid attention to them if they were white.
this exactly– you said it better than I did :)
I don’t hate this Tyler the Creator guy, but I don’t find a whole lot of compelling content in his lyrics
I guess I’ll just stick with Eminem and Jedi Mind Tricks because I’m a huge fucking poser. Actually I’ll be brutally honest, the closest I get to regularly listening to hip-hop is Devourment. I am literally the least credible person to be giving input on this.
I know that most people don’t care anymore and that they are going to curse me out for saying this stuff. No wonder this country is messed up, when people listen to this kind of music with profanity, sexual garbage and violence, they think it is all right. First of all don’t give me that crap about freedom of speech, freedom of speech is not about behaving or acting like this, if the founding fathers who wrote the freedom of speech found out that it would end up like this they would be devastated. When I look at the kids today they all have filthy things coming out of their mouth with no respect for anyone, sleeping around with everyone, no wonder half of them are suffering from STD’s and other sexual diseases. This kind of crap has to stop, again I know you want to curse or beat the hell out of me, but I know that there are still decent people out there who think that this kind of stuff Is wrong and it is wrong. We have taken freedom of speech and threw it in a toilet ball with raw sewage swimming around it. The way society is going the way it is (Lack of respect, STD’s, Violence, Divorces, anything goes and nothing is wrong any more) imagine how bad it is going to be in another 25 years, we have to change our ways and become decent with high morals or this country is going to go down. Again I know most of you reading this don’t give a crap and are laughing at me really hard, but that’s the truth.
how in the world did you end up on this site
HE MAD
This.
if the founding fathers who wrote the freedom of speech
wut
Also, objective morality don’t exist, nigga.
Not to be “that guy,” but objective morality is a subject of GREAT content and doctoral level work is being written on the subject RIGHT NOW. You’re thinking you can mention in passing that it doesn’t exist in the internet comments on SYWH and be correct is so far from the truth that it is funny.
i am a 100000% reductionist so I also disagree with the concept of objective morality
Morals vary between different cultures and time periods. Therefore morals aren’t objective.
derp
Who are you, Kant? The changing of laws alone proves that morality isn’t objective.
“no wonder half of them are suffering from STD’s and other sexual diseases”
So wait, half of the kids today have STD’s and other STD’s?
2/10
LOL, RacecaR is totally right. I wish we could go back to the good ol’ days, it was such a peaceful and wholesome country… we got to have slaves, women had no rights, native americans were forced from their land. Oh yeah, and, we didn’t have all of those crappy STDs back then either, just a few minor plagues that modern medicine has since cured. ME MAD. Now we can’t even burn/hang people who abuse Freedom of Speech because the gay liberals would get super upset for punishing someone for thinking differently. Well bro, at least we both found the absolute bottom of the internet here at SYWH where we can start to make a diff…… wait a tick – ARE YOU TROLLING?!
You must be new here…
THANK YOU SO MUCH. I’m white, so all of my friends are on Odd Future’s cock forever. I really like some of the tracks, such as “Earl”, but other than the occasional dopeness, most of it is forgettable.
Hmm, yeah most white people who loudly proclaim an interest in hip-hop listen to “conscious” rappers (ugh/hate) and are stupids who think they are smart. But most kids who listen to the thugged-out shit are unpretentious stoners who are just as likely to have ICP on their ipods.
I get the sense that most of the people who are into Odd Future are hipsters who otherwise have minimal interest in hip-hop (at least since pitchfork bukkaked all over Clipse in like 2006).
I like most of the Odd Future stuff but I don’t hang out on tumblr and have almost no contact with their fanbase so I can just spend an appropriate amount of time thinking about them.
you know what the best release odd future has done? Earl’s solo album. everything else falls kind of short of it and sounds derivative. I would excuse odd future for any perceived wackness on the strength of that record alone. here’s hoping the kid still sounds fresh when he comes back from samoa or easter island or wherever else the fuck he went. also fuck everybody who has ever said FREE EARL. god that shit is stale.
Fucking agreed @ that Free Earl shit. It’s so gay.
Wow, lately people are taking SYWH articles WAY too srsly. Strong butt-hurt in these comments.
I have no idea where they came from but I wish they would go away. I appreciate disagreement but the stangry, butthurt commenters can GTFO back to ap.net or whatever
people that dont listen to rap talking about rap
People that listen to rap talking about people that don’t listen to rap talking about rap
post-postmodernism
this whole time i thought i liked rap music cause it sounded good! boy what a fool i was
U CANT RLY TAKE A JOKE/ PICK UP ON SUBTEXT AND/OR SATIRE CAN U?
lololololololol THIS
DERP I DONT UNDERSTAND SARCASM GOTTA COMMENT
lololololol!
Odd Future = Hypebeast kids who got their heads out of their SB Nike’s and did something
Umm…there is nothing scary about odd future or lil b?
congrats on writing an article only a white hipster douchebag could come up with though i guess.
THIS
lol u so mad
tryin too hard D, calm down
Yo D, I thought you dug Kool Keith. Didn’t you link to “I Don’t Believe You” a while back? And is Kool Keith really a conscious rapper or did you include him with that group for giggles?
I do like Kool Keith, and he is definitely NOT conscious, he’s just popular with those types
Any white person who listens to rap will get labeled as something no matter who you listen to. So who gives a shit. I enjoy certain rap artist because I like the way they sound. no matter what category they may fall into. If you really want to take the time to worry about what white people are listening to then you are just as big of a faggot as the people you are trying to insult with this article.
“if you have an opinion you’re a faggot”
this is true, sorta. if you like the genre, you probably like artists that fall into different camps, gangster/golden era/crunk/hyphy/backpack/trap music/hardcore, so there’s really no point in caring what people think. whether you love mainstream/underground/old school, people will assume you have ulterior motives. the same can’t be said in the case of black or latino scene kids. partaking in white culture when you’re not white won’t draw the assumption that you’re afraid of white folks.
hahaha one of the most insipid, racist articles I’ve read yet about odd future and lil b (and rap in general). if you think a lot of gangster rap is ‘scary-black-people’ music then that opens up a whole new can of worms. apparently storytelling influenced by actual lived experiences from people who weren’t fortunate enough to be white and privileged and brought up in a safe middle-class suburban home are fucking frightening. get off your own cock and rip that Arcade Fire album out of your ass.
Arcade Fire? WTF?
yeah dude i hear they’re getting some mainstream success these days.
I GUESS BRO, but anyway i agree with your above statement
i was just being an ass trying to reference a band that a lot of non-ethnic, annoying middle-class white kids who haven’t experienced anything like to invoke as the be-all-end-all of modern music unlike a lot of that EVIL/stupid rap (as a half-white man having lived in an entirely white town i can attest to this). thanks for agreeing btw.
“I have internet access and no sense of humor”
“I’m a middle class suburban white kid who understands rap, and really gets it. But you’re a middle class suburban white kid, so you don’t understand rap. You just don’t get it”
“Everything is racist. You made a joke about a race you’re not a part of? Racist. I’m way better than you, because I don’t make jokes that are racist”
IS THAT WHAT U MEANT 2 SAY BRO? CUZ THATS ALL I HEARD.
this comment = pure win/truth
LOL HAY GUIZE MY OPINION MATTERS WHITE PEOPLE SUCK BLACK PEOPLE SUCK LOL LISTEN TO GOOD MUSIC CAUSE I CAN DETERMINE WHAT SOUNDS GOOD TO AN INDIVIDUAL PERSON LOL U MAD?
So much butthurt everywhere. So many people who don’t get it.
“betas/hipsters/nerds who are into weak, boring “conscious”/arsty bullshit– Common, Mos Def, Atmosphere, Kool Keith”
hipsters haven’t listened to those olds since 2002. really showing your age/lack of knowledge on the subject here sarge =/
I originally had a note that said “I am aware that these are outdated examples, but you get the idea,” because I knew some asshole would chime in with a comment like this to prove that “they really know what they’re talking about.”
lololol
this post can moreorless be summed up as sarge being mad@ tyler/lil b fans tho, it’s like the 30 y.o. scene kid is gettin trolled/ragin hard at white kids listening to rap again. maybe theyre stealing shine from acacia strain or ADTR ? y u sad tho?
Heh…you’ve pretty much described my taste in rap. I freaked out about OF when I first heard them a few months ago, downloaded all of their stuff, etc. But my final answer on them is that you basically have 1 really good rapper (Earl), 1 pretty good rapper (Tyler) who also appears to think that he is rap Jesus, and a bunch of other dudes who will ride their coattails for a while until it white people realise that it is ok not to like them anymore. I’m sort of surprises you don’t like lil b though.
Does brick squad fall under into “scary” rap? Or are you talking about super grimy stuff like that “I’m from joy rd.” track?
yeah, Brick Squad would fall into “scary” rap for sure– and I do like that stuff
WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA
I am too white and hip. This prevented me from realizing I shouldn’t be butthurt over enjoying the socially conscious rap stylings of Kool Keith and Mos Def. Now I will post an angry retort about being butthurt over liking the socially conscious and timely rap stylings of Mos Def and Kool Keith.
IM MAD BRO
Is that racecar guy serious? Hahahaha
not going to say much on this because there’s obviously a lot of h8rs but:
1. hearing Odd Future for the first time was a really unique experience – it literally gave me goosebumps. these kids could possibly be the most exciting thing to happen to hip-hop since Public Enemy or Wu Tang.
2. Earl > Tyler.
3. Radical > Goblin.
4. they’re better than literally ANY other rap artist that comes on the radio or MTV. yes, even Em, he’s gone so soft in the past few years.
5. this is the opinion of a boring suburban white girl so feel free to ignore me.
6. all the members are really fucking young and also really DIY. i feel that earns them some cool points.
let the shitstorm commence.
i agree with all of this also i want to add that i dgaf !!
SGT D CAN FUCK MY BITCH
SWAAGGGG
#BASED
#BASED
Damn, late on this. But I like Odd Future, there is a lot of talent there. But there are really a lot of fans that heard one song and jump all over them for being slightly different from the mainstream rap nowadays. And there are the people who love/hate them just because they talk about rape/”controversial” things, etc. When the hype dies down we’ll see how many people like their music and how many people just liked to ride the hype.
Swag.
And when Earl comes back, shit is going down. He was better than the rest of these guys when he was sixteen, should be crazy good now.
he’s the GZA of the group, a lyrical wordsmith. tyler = method man, the most marketable of the group thus far
I feel you, but the Wu-Tang metaphor can’t apply to all of them.
Odd Future, Lil B, Das Racist and Justin Beiber are all swagged the fuck out and are the future residents of thugz mansion
Gucci Mane and Wacka Flocka are awesome too
I agree, fuck niggers
This post is fucking lame. Just speaking for myself here but im into OFWGKTA, cause i love their minimal beats. Tylers flow is sick too, i love the gorey shit about killing people. Id take this over atmosphere anyday. Atmospheres shitty songs outweigh their good ones.
Haha why do you even read this site?! You are like exactly the kind of person I can’t stand and would expect to hate everything on here
tyler dissed immortal technique. LOL. burn him.
Immortal Technique is gay as fuck
I read this site cause its funny man. And i love the posts you do on slam and other heavier shit. I just really dont like the cheesy scene stuff. Other than that i feel we probly like alot of the same shit. Ive been reading your stuff on metal sucks for a while now, it never gets old.
Some great thoughts displayed in this, and some that I completely think are silly…But that’s the thing, state your opinion and reasons follow, not necesarily REASON follows. When I read this my first thought was that it was written by a former wigger, because you can hear/feel the bitterness towards such. Anyways, interesting ideas expressed are still interesting even if I don’t agree with all their ingredients. The Lil B pic had me rollin’ that is hella funny stuff.
this post is weird to me, because i agree with everything you say, except i think odd future is above average (though with a lot of room to grow – and while i hope they do improve, i’m afraid they won’t).
but yeah, there’s a weird racist element to how these acts are being written about/perceived by white people that bothers me A LOT and i think you’ve articulated it really well. some white folks are only down with white people when they are enacting some kind of role that are familiar with.
second white people should say black people.
it was my last day of finals, ok? my brain stopped working.
You don’t know anything he has pure rhymes.
LOL glad I came back to read these comments. Everyone’s busy getting asshurt because something hit a little close to home. I like how you can tell what they’re asshurt about too because they never post in anything but those threads.
A non-mad person: “Nah D, It’s more like __________”
A mad person: “GONNA TALK SHIT AND TRY TO BE COOL LOLOLOL 100 COMMENTS UR GAY LOSER”
:( ur life bro
Wow, a whole lot of butt hurt on these comments. It seems like everyone’s always on Ds side until he hits close to home for their music taste, then its defensive lockdown butt hurt mode. Anyone who wasnt already thinking everything he wrote here is an idiot
what they don’t seem to realize is that it’s the internet and no one cares