When the dust settles on Hip-Hop and the discussion of best rap groups comes to order, where will Odd Future be placed? As a rap group that was never really known for their joint projects Odd Future is arguably the most successful hip-hop group of our era. The conclusion from the general population is that it is instead A$AP mob and there group of young and successful artists led by Rocky and rounded out by the likes of Carti, Twelvyy, Nast and others, and it is hard to overlook their success to imagine another group is doing better.
Well, what about Odd Future? “Oh but they don’t do group projects and they don’t have as much depth,” but have we forgotten about the gang? I feel like in today’s day in age inactivity means irrelevance; which is everything but true. Inactivity as a group for Odd Future meant solo success, and solo names building brands for themselves to outlive the group and its branding. “But still Rocky and Carti!”, well, what about Tyler and Earl? Or even Frank Ocean? Until recently we haven’t seen much of Earl but his newest song just dropped and it was a story about the rapper who we can all relate too. In the song Earl lets the rap fan know where he has been mentally.
“Yeah, I think I spent most of my life depressed (Most of my)
Only thing on my mind was death (On my)
Didn’t know if my time was next (Next, yeah, yeah)”
As an Earl fan and a person who has gone through similar thoughts it was easy to relate to the message here. He goes on to talk about how hard it was to find a friend in this time and how it strained his creative process that we all know and love Earl for. While Earl’s been going through his shit, he promised this is not the end of the new music on twitter.
It was good to see a member of Odd Future put out a song for us (especially Earl and it’s great to have him back) and give the fans a taste of what that new Earl is gonna sound like. Aside from Earl, the music from Odd Future’s heavy hitters (Tyler, the Creator and Frank Ocean) had been absent. Tyler changed that. Just this past week Tyler dropped “Music Inspired by Illumination & Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch .” While it wasn’t the Tyler tape we expected, it was the christmas Odd Future sound we needed. While none of the tracks are deep like Earl’s one track, it was a refreshing, much needed Tyler EP that gave us Christmas with an Odd Future spin. It was true to the sound of Tyler and let us listen in to what felt like a Flower Boy extended Christmas-cut. And on top of it all Tyler just held his annual CAMPFLOGNAW festival headlined by Kanye and Cudi’s ‘Kids See Ghosts’ group title.
And lastly that leaves us with the most elusive and secretive artist not just in Odd Future but of all the Hip-Hop industry, Frank Ocean. Frank Ocean’s hit the news on Friday when his secret Insta became public and revealed a side of Ocean we hadn’t seen before, but heard many times. We got a personal look at his style, his looks and his life. Frank Ocean has been here and there doing some features for Rocky and releasing singles every once-in-a-blue-moon like “Moon River” and “Provider”.
The many other members of Odd Future like Hodgy and Martians have been under the radar, and that’s how Odd Future has operated these past few years. They don’t necessarily perform as a group but that is not what a rap group is only supposed to be. Odd Future has accomplished so hard and not many have realized it: relevancy through solo members. Tyler. Frank, and Earl have their own careers, just as Hodgy, Martians, Jasper etc. do too, but they all represent and play an important role in Odd Future. The success of this group has been understated for years and more importantly the success of its brand is being overlooked as well.
Odd Future has been on top for a while now with Tyler selling albums as a top member of the hip-hop game and Frank’s features being so elusive except for being a friend of the artist or Jay-Z, Kanye/Cudi. Odd Future has been popping, the question is, have you noticed?