The ODD Conundrum Of OFWGKTA

By Kim Bellware in Arts & Entertainment on May 6, 2011 6:00PM

When the first round of names for the 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival were announced in March, tucked among more predictable acts like Fleet Foxes, Animal Collective and Destroyer was a band with the thorny-looking acronym OFWGKTA. Long-form the band is known as Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, a rap collective based out of Los Angeles led by a noodle-y looking 20 year-old named Tyler the Creator. Tyler (nèe Okonma) smiles a lot and geeks out about skating and bacon during interviews; onstage, he raps about gruesome decapitations and murdering pregnant women.

Bands that boast violent and misogynistic are nothing new, not even at Pitchfork’s annual mecca of alternative music--acts like Big Boi, Clipse and Raekwon have all performed at Union Park to a minimum of tsk tsks. Something about Odd Future seems a lot more problematic, though we’re hardly the only ones to have noticed. Locally, no one seems more troubled about what message Odd Future’s presence at the normally benign, community-oriented Pitchfork Fest sends than WBEZ's Jim DeRogatis. DeRogatis brought our attention to the matter when he posed the provocative question on his blog Monday: is Odd Future’s presence at Pitchfork “Endorsing Rape or Showcasing Art?”

For regular Pitchfork readers, the inclusion of Odd Future wasn’t much of a surprise: since late last year the magazine has devoted no fewer than 27 news items that either focus on or mention the band (that’s not even taking into account features, videos and track reviews). When Pitchfork spills considerable ink on a band it digs (not necessarily the the most well-known or acclaimed artists, either) those acts tend to land a spot on the fest’s bill much more often (see: Cut Copy, James Blake, Clipse).

As part of his inquiry about Odd Future and their presence at the Pitchfork Music Fest, DeRogatis tapped Pitchfork Founder and CEO, Ryan Schreiber and President, Chris Kaskie, ultimately opting to run the entire transcript of their interview citing the impossible thorniness of the issue. Schreiber, who concedes that he and Kaskie were the driving forces behind getting Odd Future booked, explains how they met his criteria: “We think that they are creating interesting music, they have an engaging live presence and we thought they made sense on the bill.”

Publishing the interview in full was a fairness-oriented move on DeRogatis’ part that gave Schreiber and Kaskie plenty of space to defend their choice. Understandably, the pair can’t waffle too much on the band they handpicked to star in their annual show. But when it came to confronting--or simply addressing--the rape culture, homophobia and violent misogyny to which Odd Future’s lyrics contribute, they may as well have summed it up with one of Tyler’s most-used lines:

I don’t give a fuck.

“I’m Not A Fuckin’ Role Model” (off “Goblin")

For every person who decries Tyler the Creator and his group for their violent, misogynistic, homophobic and/or otherwise anti-social lyrics, there’s another who rushes to his defense:

He’s just a kid. He’s brilliant. The music is genius. It’s just a persona. He’s making art. Odd Future don’t actually do the stuff they rap about.

By now most folks in the industry’s core (producers, labels, promoters, critics) won’t argue against Odd Future being allowed to say what they do; they’ve been worn down by the Marilyn Mansons, the Eminems, the Insane Clown Posses of the game. But with no one to deny Odd Future the right to say what they want, what exactly do they want to say?

The simple answer is whatever is most shocking and grotesque. Odd Future has a fascination with serial killers and delight in creating stomach-turning narratives that target mostly women, but occasionally gays and the random, hapless joe who inhabits their sphere. When called out for their anti-social aggression, Tyler and company have seemed almost incredulous that people would take them seriously.

But that reaction is nothing if not a little disingenuous: Odd Future is proactively courting attention, that itself an implicit admission that they have something they want you to hear. We don’t buy that Odd Future doesn’t take themselves seriously and therefore, neither should we when we’re offended by their words.

Still, Odd Future has plenty of people lauding their talents (and where the production and beat making is concerned, their talent is impressive). What about Odd Future does a kingmaker like Ryan Schreiber find so alluring and relevant that others find unnecessary and repellent? With rap admittedly not our main game, we reached out to our friends at the Chicago-based Hip Hop Democrat to offer another perspective.

Todd Walton, HHD’s founder stated outright that he finds the misogyny in Odd Future’s lyrics problematic and doesn’t condone those messages. Walton also pointed out that several members of the group have described their families on the record as single parent homes, many members, like Tyler, absent a father. It’s what makes the wave of vitriol against women in Odd Future’s lyrics especially confounding.

“How can we degrade these strong women that raise and bring us up?” Walton said via email. “That’s a whole other conversation. But, from that universal aspect it gets carried over to our mainstream media and entertainment. Whether in music, TV, visual art, creativity is a double edge sword and the by-product is made up of not only talent, but the millions of images and ideas that are burned into us on a daily basis. We can't crucify artists for delivering the messages that are fed to us everyday by the same people that want it to stop.”

Tyler, who inked a deal with XL Recordings for his solo record, Goblin, is starting to show some signs of frustration. The title track, “Goblin,” recently leaked in advance of the May 10th release date. In the track, Tyler’s smoked-two-packs-a-day craggy voice that belies his 20 years is heard arguing with what we can assume is his alter-ego.

“I’m not a fuckin’ role model,” Tyler raps. “I’m a 19 year-old fucking emotional coaster with pipe dreams.”

“These motherfuckers think I’m supposed to live up to something?” he asks.

Walton said he doesn’t think Odd Future should take all the flak alone. “There’s nothing to blame but the world itself--the suits behind it, corporations, and the people that allow it to continue for profitable reasons.”

As DeRogatis noted in his interview, people in positions like Ryan Schreiber’s are the ones profiting from Odd Future’s tour-de-gore of anger and violence. Though we strongly disagree with the message Odd Future is transmitting, it's only consistent that we defend their right to do it. As for whether this correspondent will support it with her attendance at Pitchfork, that's another question all together.