Odd Future - OF Tape Vol. 2

It would probably be best if I avoided hip hop reviews altogether. Previous ones I've attempted have resulted in death threats (over the pointedly unfavourable take on that Bad Meets Evil album last year), cries of heresy (over Tyler the Creator's Goblin) or general nonchalance. Admittedly, it's a genre I'm relatively new to - but my brief sojourns into the hip hop fanbases of the internet have left me with a sour taste. In a genre already packed full of posturing, bravado and widespread anger and prejudice, it's a dangerous playground where, inbetween nonsense catchphrases about 'swag', 'cray' and how You Only Live Once, some of the world's biggest douchebags have hipster-offs. A fan's hero can hold the interesting position of being hailed for his early work and defended for collaborating with Nicki Minaj, but said fan will likely 'throw shade' (see: insult) at other artists for incredibly similar pursuits.

It's frustrations like these that made me embrace a lot of OFWGTKA. I might not have appreciated Goblin all that much but it did produce excellent tracks and songwriting, and that continued in Frank Ocean's Nostalgia/Ultra and was already present in Earl. But it's the kind of uncaring, funloving attitude about the collective that interests me, ahead of other rap artists. Their music videos are often ridiculous - Rella for example sees a woman being slapped and turning Asian, and others turned to kittens with dick-lazers.


Fittingly their fourth collective release begins with 'Hi', a one-and-a-half minute foul-mouthed rip-up of his collaborators from L-Boy, before 'Bitches', a Domo Genesis and Hodgy Beats track. Boasting and bragging "I'm balling like Benjamin, it's all about the Benjamins/ that's why people acknowledge me and I ain't even friends with them", it'll probably lose a couple of hipster fans but the rhymes and humour make it all the more appealing. Domo's swapped for Tyler then on 'NY (Ned Flander)', led by horror-theme pianos and an angry intruding Spanish woman, whilst Tyler claims to be clubbing with a coked-up Pope. Before it turns into comedy, though, soul duo The Internet conjure 'Ya Know', a kind-of Big Boi inspired mellow piece that, although a stand-alone here, nicely segues the rest of the tape. Mike G's first appearance then comes on 'Forest Green', whose refrain promises "this ain't as easy as it looks, I just make it look good" over an almost crunky beat and tune.

Hodgy and Domo return on 'Lean', an 8-bit sounding light track that coins phrases like "I invented swag" and ends with a roared "Monster cock!" which is lovely. The longest non-collective track comes courtesy of Tyler's production in 'Analog 2/Wheels 2', an R&B tribute to sex and modesty ("I just come off as a psycho maniac when I'm performing") with the now ubiquitous croons of Frank Ocean and Syd tha Kyd, but it's the production here that stands out. '50' then storms in and throws the soul out of the window whilst inciting us to "Sock a buster in his jaw/ Fuck the police, break the law". Wolf howls and Ocean's vocals go further in cementing their identifiers on 'Snow White', before the craziness resurfaces on aforementioned 'Rella', a loud and daft catchy track that should've performed better commercially but whatever. 'Real Bitch' then sees Taco reckoning that "If it wasn't for my cock you would have bad health" - it's a bit crude, and the cries of "swag!" and "where my bitches at?" a bit juvenile, but... no I can't defend it, it's annoying.

Evil Tyler resurfaces on 'P', where he associates himself with Casey Anthony and alludes to attacking security guards with guns, and it's a shock tactic that certainly worked on Yonkers but this lacks the production or punch to compare. Thusly a nice little wind-down comes on 'White' from Frank, with a backing so quiet that you could blink and miss it. Is it just me or is his voice not that great to warrant STAPLE-SOUL-INTERLUDE status? Nonetheless, the outro sees some nice instrumentation. And the edited deep voice almost went a whole album without inclusion until 'Hcapd', so I'm glad this happened. At risk of becoming too much of a 3 horse race with Tyler, Domo and Hodgy, 'Sam (is Dead)' sees the first 2 referencing Kurt Cobain's suicide, the Nutty Professor and Pinocchio, over trumpets and another decent beat.



'Doms', surprisingly a song only with Domo Genesis, moves along without much urgency and has the line "I'm higher than an Asian score on SATs" which is funny and stuff. A loud 'We Got Bitches' reinjects some life into the proceedings but is just...boring. There's then a ten minute opus 'Oldie' that features everyone and serves as a nice "we are a group, rather than 3 main guys and some guests" reminder.

At an hour it does drag on a bit. And there's nothing excellent here. Just nothing that bad either. It is, what critics might say, 'quite good'.

Rating: 7/10

Highlights: Analog 2/Wheels 2, Forest Green, NY (Ned Flanders), Hcapd

Avoid: Real Bitch, P, We Got Bitches


Artwork Watch: There's four different ones, all of them delightful.