Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All set to play O2 ABC gig
1. We might find out what they are
Are they an ironic comedy hip hop troupe? Or are they a wilfully nasty, relentlessly violent, misogynistic and homophobic throwback whose goofy nonsense just happens to distil the finest styles of rap created in the past 20 years as its soundtrack? The clues might be here.
2. We might find out what to call them
Do we really have to use their ludicrous but eye-catching full title Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, or OFWGKTA, as it’s reduced to in print? Or will just Odd Future do? Get a chant going and find out.
3. We might find out if Tyler, the Creator, is a screen superstar in waiting
The upcoming Odd Future-affiliated sketch show Loiter Squad, produced for grown-up Cartoon Network alter-ego Adult Swim, has been pitched as a blend of Jackass’ blokey goofiness and the relentless iconoclasm of Dave Chappelle’s Chappelle’s Show, and you can find Tyler mugging it up in preview clips online. It might bomb, it might blow up, but there’s no doubting the guy has presence.
4. We’ll discover what everyone thinks of the new material
Sony-released The Odd Future Tape Vol.2 has just dropped, and Tyler told The Guardian before its launch that everyone ‘might hate’ it and that he doesn’t care how many copies it shifts. Do we believe him?
5. We might get to Tyler’s heart of darkness
‘I’ve got love for my mother / none of you other fuckers,’ he murmurs on his album Bastard’s title track, a dark Wu-Tang style beat which hints at barely-buried family disharmony as a reason for the bitter-tasting attitudes of, for example, 2 Live Crew-aping horror ‘Bitch Suck Dick’ or West Coast slow jam ‘She’. Impossible to pigeonhole, these songs speak with the disturbing, untempered voice of youth gone wrong, and they reflect their audience more accurately than any number of arena guitar-janglers.
OFWGKTA play the ABC, Glasgow, Sun 1 Apr.