Odd Future

BY Chris DartPublished Mar 27, 2012

Fans who pick up Odd Future's new release, The OF Tape Vol. 2, looking for more of the scatological violence and general misanthropy that filled Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt's solo work won't be disappointed. What may surprise fans who aren't familiar with OF's already vast library of solo material is what else is on the album. The group have spent the last year saying that they're more than suicide references and violent sex rhymes. On OF Tape Vol. 2, they prove it. If The OF Tape Vol. 2 proves one thing, it's that Odd Future aren't just a product of the Internet hype machine. They're a talented group of oddballs who aren't afraid to be strange and who have a frighteningly high ceiling.

Why'd you guys opt to start your label and then get distro with Sony, rather than straight-up signing with Sony?
Hodgy Beats: We won't fuck with nobody; we've always dreamed of having our own label and shit. For us to actually have it and just be able to do what we wanna do, I believe that's the way it was supposed to happen. Otherwise, we'd be signed and just trying to make mainstream hits when, like, our new album ― this whole album knocks.

How much are you personally producing right now?
I produce when I'm on the road and I write when I'm back home. A lot of these niggas, they don't even rap over my shit; it's me that raps on my shit. It takes a while for me to showcase my production. I'm not bad ― I'm not such an amateur that I can't make a tight ass tight beat ― I just want to be comfortable enough to where I have enough tracks of my own, recorded, on my shit that I can be like, "Tyler, rap on this. Now!" LeftBrain actually rapped on some of my shit ― a song we made called "Crap." I made that beat and then just randomly released it.

Would you ever want to be a producer-for-hire?
Hell yeah! Publishing money, nigga! Pub deal! Cash! I want to be a 100-percenter, which means I'm producing, writing and rapping on it. That's a fucking big goal for me. I wanna score movies and shit.

Tell me about the TV series.
The TV series is gonna be funny as fuck. It's about to be crazy; it's about to be all those type of adjectives that lead to Odd Future and define us as young people trying to make a living. Honestly? We're just trying to have fun. I'm only on, like, two or three episodes.

How'd that come about? How'd you guys set that up?
We met this nigga named Mick. Mick's, like, the owner of Cartoon Network or Adult Swim. He hit us up. Tyler worked his little magic, gave him a hand job or whatever, and the next thing you know we have our own TV show.

Two years ago, did you imagine that you'd have your own TV show right now?
I always pictured us making our own movies. I never really thought about a TV show, but it's here, so...

You've mentioned movies twice now and you guys have videos that are unique, and the "Rella" video is almost cinematic. Where do the ideas come from?
Tyler ― if he sees a vision, he just runs with it. The "Rella" video was hands on just him. I mean, LeftBrain produced it, I was the first one on it and then I told Domo to get on it. It was really supposed to be a MellowHigh collaboration, which is me, Domo and Left, but then Tyler was like, "Wait, this has to be on the album, let me lay a verse down." The way he usually starts writing is just by fucking around and then he came up with a full-blown verse and it went from there.

How do you decide what goes on the Odd Future album, what goes on the MellowHype album and what goes on your album?
If I feel like I need a collaboration on something, I'll ask one of these niggas and after the collaboration is met that's when I make my decision on which direction I want my stuff to go. If we've got the album coming up, of course I'm going to do that for the album.

You guys also have a clothing line now. Where did that come from?
Being some creative little niggas? We planned this shit, yo. Ever since we was like, 14, we planned all of this.

You planned it? Like, "We're gonna have our own a clothing line and TV show and make records and have our own label?"
And our own magazine; it's not here yet.

What's the magazine going to be like?
Shit that we're interested in: skating, bitches, gay jokes, nice clothes, like the ones that we're selling here, a bunch of pictures of our fans. Just personal shit, things that actually come from Odd Future.

You mentioned the gay jokes, so let's talk about that. You guys get accused of being homophobic and this and that. How do you respond?
We don't really care. Gay jokes are said every day. Tyler's, like, the gay joke nigga. That's all he does, all fucking day, trolling.

Is it trolling?
It's just stupid joking. Half the shit in our raps that we talk about we're not even serious. Some of the shit of course we're fucking serious, but you can hear the difference.

So, trolling...
Trolling, that's what he be doing, he troll all day. He's probably trolling in that interview right now. Me, I just be chillin'. I mean, I troll sometimes, but I have to be in the right mood.

Your fans are some of the most obsessive I've seen in a while. What's the weirdest interaction you've ever had?
This guy offered to suck my cock; it was weird.

How did you react to that?
I just walked away. I couldn't really handle that.

Are you ever freaked out by your fans?
Yeah, there are times where I just don't feel like being bothered ― all of us. That's kind of when we turn into assholes. But, I mean, we're human. You can't be mad if we're not, like, fucking walking mascots all day. It's all right though; we're young. We just gotta channel it.

When did you know you were famous?
I still don't think I'm famous. All that famous stuff just went out the window. The only time I feel like I'm famous is when I'm at one of our pop-up shops [for Odd Future's new clothing line] and there's 500 people outside, or when we have a show and its sold-out, or sometimes I'm walking randomly and I'll see people wearing our clothing and they won't even know its me. It's still surreal, especially considering how fast everything's constantly moving.

What's all that like for you?
I don't know. I'm still trying to catch up. A lot of people probably think I'm crazy right now.

Read a review of The OF Tape Vol. 2 here.

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