Seems like the name Odd Future has been on the tongue of every rap vet and industry tastemaker for the past 6 months or so. Let’s think about that word for a second — tastemaker — before reflecting on the sheer tastelessness of the subject matter that these young teens from the west coast have chosen to be their microphone M.O.
Although we can’t lie, who doesn’t enjoy some good tales of rape, pillaging, suicide, and grisly murder every now and then? Charismatic and clever as Odd Future may be — specifically the group’s frontman, Tyler the Creator — any real hip-hop head knows damn well that neither he nor his cohorts are the first to stake their claim in the shadowy terrain of the horrorcore sub-genre. Perhaps the only thing truly bothersome about Odd Future’s meteoric and seemingly overnight rise to prominence is the fact that these same tastemakers that have been showering them with praise have done so in a manner that seems to overlook the many MCs who’ve tread these dark waters years before Tyler ever created anything — or in some cases, probably before he was even born. That said, welcome to a brief audio history of some of the darkest corners of the rap universe.
[...] Their fame can in part be attributed to net-savy and free releases. Their music is considered by some to be horrorcore which the group decries through song, interviews and Twitter. I will return [...]
http://www.refinedhype.com/hyped/entry/look-at-horrorcore/
hey intern, you don’t know what the hell you’re writing about. go back to writing school, and listen to some music before you try to write about it.
raymond, give me this job, you can’t have a shit like this writing about things he has no business even speaking about. this guy left out a bunch of people, who the previous comments covered, and he used weak examples when citing lyrics of people he did mention. there are a ton of lyrics from geto boys that are much more graphic and disturbing than what he wrote.
you honestly suck as a critic how the hell did you ever get this job?!?! your first HUGE mistake was leaving brotha lynch and kool keith off of a horrorcore list wtf? thats pretty much unacceptable as a music critic that decides to make a list of horrorcore artists to let the world know that odd future didnt invent a subgenre of music that they dont fall under… wow good job. Second you wrote an article on a group of artists and musicians you clearly know nothing about. isnt that your job… to at least study the artists youre going to write an article about?? You just dove right in and wrote some false shit. Do some research before you try to misinform the public about these guys. And do some research on your hip hop history also.
on the end of “Sandwiches” Tyler says they DON’T do Horrorcore.
Mellowhype
Mike G
Super 3/Jet Age Of Tomorrow
Frank Ocean
None of the above mentioned projects contain any horrorcore references.
Jet Age of Tomorrow is damn near all instrumental,Frank Ocean does soul music.
I don’t know about y’all but I’ve never heard of any inst or soul projects “tainted” with horrorcore.
EarlWolf (Earl & Tyler) walk the line on that shit,but dude says it’s not so I tend to believe the artist or creator of the art versus the critic or reviewer.
oh yeah…
No Brotha Lynch Hung, Esham, or King Gordy on this list. but Cam’Ron is?
hella weak.
kool keith dr. doom dr octagon mr nogatco khm analog brothers…….. all keith all horrorcore!
the horror-core label is obsolete, out of date and out of touch. I don’t blame OF for dismissing the term. using words to provoke and shock has always been a huge part of rap, period. this whole instant categorization of music is a bad habit and should automatically be dismissed unless the subject IS indeed a gimmick.
Odd Future is clearly on some 100% fuck the rules shit and they do it genuinely well which is why they’re getting love. to say they shouldn’t be getting as much light because someone else tapped on a similar style before them is wrong and invalid. it’s all about timing and context, not who did a style first. respect to the author of this article for paying homage to some of the past artists who touched the style but ultimately, it has nothing to do with their “style.” the ‘quick’ rise of OF in the public demand is a direct result of the ongoing imbalance of major label “hit” driven pop rap vs. authentic music. it’s a stand against a commercial pop machine that’s been condescending and flaunting rented dollar signs in the face of a youth that’s broke, numb, and pissed off. that’s why Tyler’s “stabbing Bruno Mars” and B.O.B. references hit home with fans. if the way music is created and responded to directly reflects the times, Odd Future is ironically NOW in many ways and that’s the beauty of it. it’s not so much a style of music as it is a full on statement.
PS: i know it’s been addressed by some of the others here but referring to past artists who crafted the ‘horror-core’ style and not mentioning Brotha Lynch Hung and Kool Keith’s Dr. Dooom character is a huge slip. shame.
PPS: fuck horror-core (RIP)
1. you should have mentioned kool keith. 2. odd future has some pretty cool shit. 3. who really cares if it is horrorcore or not? 4. if you use the word swag, chances are you have no swag.
Talking about Horrorcore without mentioning Brotha Lynch Hung??? Fail!
for some reason i knew they won’t but i clicked through the article hoping to find mention of Brotha Lynch, “guess what daddies bringing home for supper, nigga nuts and guts and human meat mothafukka…” epic fail here.
Talking about Horrorcore and you forgot to put Brotha Lynch Hung on the list??? Ultimate fail!!!
Kool Keith invented this shit, Dr Doom!
It doesn’t matter since they pretty much suck balls
How was Cage left off this list? Eminem bit his entire horrorcore style from Cage, though Em was lyrically light years better. And as far as OF is concerned, they definitely have music that wouldn’t be considered, especially some of the artists other than Tyler and Earl, such as MellowHype. That being said though, they definitely know what they’re doing and playing the horrorcore card for all it’s worth.
That has become their \MO\, because people like yourself have not listened to Odd Future, you have listened to only a few songs by tyler. Yes, tyler does have songs and Bastard is an album with dark subject matters. And tyler himself has said on record that he doesn’t make horrorcore (I won’t tell you what song, cause you should already know that). But the singles have exposure because that is what people want to listen to, or the majority. Odd Future is much more than what you like to call them, but then again it is cool to write about how a group is not actually inovative. They use humor and deeper lyricism than just horrorcore, cause name me one song that is specifically horrorcore? And oooooooo, Jay Elect, though he is an amazing rapper. I have to say that not all is positive, there is a lot of shit music being made. And you can even think Odd Future is shit, just they actually speak their truth, so speak the truth from the start. – FUCKBRUNOMARS
P.S.
And Yonkers would be better compared to an Eminem song like, \Role Model\.
I agree with WOLFGANG, Dan V. Although they have elements of horrorcore, they do waaaay more than that! We should stop limiting artists by a specific niche or gimmick, and look deeper by way of their music. I know this is supposed to be about other artists that sound like OFWGKTA’s horrific lyrics, but to just call them horrorcore doesn’t give the artists much credit AND keeps the readers out of the loop as to why everyone’s truly going crazy for these guys.
And by the way, horrorcore is way more than talking about killing babies, taking drugs and nosediving into hell (if we wanna be real).
Overall, good article on the integration of hiphop and horrorcore!
Ok… if Odd Future is more than just horrorcore , why has that so quickly become their MO without any resistance from their camp? To be honest, I have not listened to any of their ENTIRE projects. But again… WHY is this what continues to be conveyed as their MO? Seems to me like they ‘re doing nothing to counteract this, so I assume they must be cool with this categorization.
Now lets say that ONLY their singles are so-called “horrorcore”; why are those the only songs that they allow to have exposure? Just for the record, I don’t buy into that “you-havent-listened-to-their-entire-catalogue” cop-out bullshit.
If you have important shit to say, than say it. Don’t hide it or disguise it. Take a page from the homie Jay Electronica’s book — come positive from the start.
could you be more wrong about Odd Future, cool you listened to yonkers and french and the songs that have gotten play by tyler. odd future as a collective covers more ground then any of these groups and artists (other than eminem). and to boil their sound down to horrorcore, just shows that you are not listening to their lyrics. so good job. and more than half the rappers in existence have written horrorcore type songs. they have invented a new sound. and maybe you are just too much of a snob to realize it. so i feel sorry for you. – SWAG