Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA… or, for the sake of not typing the whole stinkin’ thing out, ‘Odd Future’ from now on) don’t mind a bit of controversy. In fact, they openly court it. They’re like Teflon. Nothing sticks to ’em.
When one of Sara and Tegan said: “I’m disheartened that any self-respecting human being could stand in support with a message so vile”, Odd Future’s founder, Tyler the Creator, retorted with: “If Tegan and Sara need some hard dick, hit me up!”
And so, with the news that opponents of domestic violence have announced a protest at one of their upcoming shows, what are the chances of the group being phased by it?
There’s been a lot of controversy about Odd Future’s lyrical content, leaving bystanders worried sick about these words that are running rampage around millions of ears. One worried/angry onlooker is a group called Between Friends who, alongside groups like Rape Victims Advocates, the YWCA, and LGBT groups, will be protesting the group’s performance at the July Pitchfork music festival.
And sure, a lot of Odd Future’s content is hugely offensive… but surely, everyone has the right to be offended? Someone saying something horrible never made anyone wake up with a terminal illness did it? OFWGKTA rap about ultraviolence, rape, necrophilia and more, but there’s clearly more to it than just that (or it’d get tiresome).
While many point out that Odd Future’s sound engineer is a lesbian, that’s hardly the point as she’s probably got a dark sense of humour too. Sense of humour… sense of the surreal… not everything that’s hard-to-swallow is an instruction or a declaration of truth.
Fact is, Odd Future are smart and, crucially, in character. It’s oft quoted, but worthy of a mention, that Jay Z once said of rappers that “the rapper’s character is essentially a conceit, a first-person literary creation.” As Village Voice point out, “it’s not like we actually think Matt Damon is out assassinating rogue CIA agents between movies.”
And while ‘Splatter’ contains some off-centre lyrics about getting your way with pensioners in a home, it is part of an absurd narrative. Does anyone baulk at “”beatin’ midgets up with ladders” and think it’s an instruction of some kind? It seems strange that no-one would mention the sharp rhymes the band possess:
“I created O.F cause I feel we’re more talented/ Than 40-year- old rappers talking about Gucci/ When they have kids they haven’t seen in years.”
However, on 17th July, Between Friends will be wanting to…
“…let Odd Future know that this is something that we’re taking notice of, and we really want to get the other view out there as much as possible. There are going to be people in that audience who have experienced domestic violence, and we don’t want their experiences to go unnoticed.”
We’re not sure that Odd Future give a fuck. And maybe, in an age where pop music is incredibly clean and controlled, always politician-precise to say the right thing at the right time, that’s precisely is part of Odd Future’s allure.
Follow hecklerspray on Twitter or join our Facebook group or BUY ONE OF OUR STUPID T-SHIRTS!
Chill Spector says
Sounds to me like these bitches need to sip some sizzurp and lay the fuck out before I rape some sense into them.