Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (OFWGKTA) are the embodiment of what hip hop should be about. I have always noticed the parallels between punk, and hip hop. Both genres were started underground in poor communities, and both became completely co opted by mainstream culture. You can now buy spiked belts at wal mart. Every marketing agency on the planet which is trying to sell anything to teenagers has to use Hip Hop. But OFWGKTA exist within a space that won’t be such an easy sell as say, Soulja Boy.

While Soulja Boy is clean cut and showing his dance moves to cute girls. OFWGKTA are getting high on prescription meds and spray painting fuck in strip mall bathrooms. Many were so surprised when Soulja Boy made it big. Amazed that a kid could write, produce, and record a hit song. But if they were surprised that a kid could make a pop song, they should be blown away by the fact that a group of fatherless teens can create a genre of hip hop the world has never seen. OFWGKTA write, produce, do all the web design, create videos, and record albums all on their own. They really are a testament to what you can do with a computer, a camera, and an internet connection. They’re a group of kids I’d like to shake my finger at, not because they’re doing anything wrong, but because in terms of marketing and brand identity, they did everything right. Goddam kids these days.

In the first video below we see what really put them on the internet map. Earl Sweatshirt’s lyricism flows like cough syrup on top of Tyler the Creator’s deep slow beats. In the video we see a group of young teenagers mixing up a potent blend of what appears to be prescription drugs in a blender. After consuming it we see the aftereffects as their gums turn white and their noses begin to bleed. This is a video that could only be made for the internet, there’s no way it could ever end up on Mtv. At the same time OFWGKTA perfectly embodies what popular music has always been about since Elvis Presley, teen rebellion. Except in this case these teens don’t want to know about the world, they simply want to tear it down. Which brings us back to why I think OFWGKTA are the punkest hip hop act in the world.

My whole life I’ve loved hip hop. I used to copy and sell tapes of Ice Cube, NWA, and 2 Live Crew literally on the playground of my grade school. I already understood that I didn’t want to listen to MC Hammer, I wanted to hear about Eazy E “perched up high on a rooftop” as the neighborhood sniper. This wasn’t because I thought violence was cool, I think it had more to do with authenticity and honesty. I didn’t know MC Hammer’s story, nor did I care. But I knew that NWA were from Compton, and thus, the real deal. One of the things that really amazes me about OFWGKTA is their versatility in what they produce. In the video below we see an interview which makes absolutely no sense, and I hate to say it, but it’s really reminiscent of Dada. It’s a conversation which is going nowhere and both seem to be ignoring the other. Hell, if this were an hour longer and in German it would probably go over well as avante garde theater.

Further connecting OFWGKTA to dada (and punk) is the fact that they commonly use old black and white photos which are crudely edited . The visual aspect of the group is a pastiche of genres and only adds to the complexity of trying to pin down what exactly OFWGKTA is or where they came from.

In a day and age where super shiny graphic design and bling is a must for any wannabe rapper OFWGKTA have essentially said “we don’t want to be a part of that, we’ll create our own fucking world”. It’s a world I’m happy to see continue to unfold and a breath of fresh air in what has become an otherwise sterile world of mainstream garbage.

Free Earl
You can download all of OFWGKTA’s albums for free by going here.