He’s been called brilliant and is said to be saving the music industry from itself by some. Others label him a blatant misogynist and homophobe. Love him or hate him, if you’re looking for some controversial music to be offended by, look no further than hip-hop artist Tyler, The Creator and his artistic collective “OFWGKTA” (“Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All,” also known simply as “Odd Future”).
He’s been called brilliant and is said to be saving the music industry from itself by some. Others label him a blatant misogynist and homophobe. Love him or hate him, if you’re looking for some controversial music to be offended by, look no further than hip-hop artist Tyler, The Creator and his artistic collective “OFWGKTA” (“Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All,” also known simply as “Odd Future”).
The group played their first Oregon show Sunday, Oct. 2 at Portland’s very own Roseland Theater. While the booking agent responsible for the show was unavailable for comment, Robert Ham, a special correspondent for The Oregonian, wrote on OregonLive.com
that the group, known for their energetic and sometimes violent live shows, was more subdued on this particular night, owing to the fact that they had already played four live shows in various cities the
previous week.
According to Ham, the crowd didn’t need Tyler and his crew of troublemakers to be lively in order to have fun. In his review, Ham stated, “There was furious head banging, angry shoving and lots of giddy pogoing by the young men, while far too many young women were lifted up on the shoulders of their friends to flash the band.”
Indeed, as the show came to an end around 9:30 in the evening, hoards of young adults, most of them appearing to be under 18, came flooding out of the Roseland waiting to be picked up by parents or traveling home via public transit. While their flushed faces and big smiles gave the impression that they had just had a great experience, one familiar with Tyler, The Creator and Odd Future’s music has to ask oneself, “Do these kids actually listen to the lyrics?”
Since his 2009 debut album Bastard, Tyler, The Creator has reigned supreme in the debate over verbal depictions of violence towards women, misogyny in general and homophobia in rap music. In May of 2011, Tyler released his second album, Goblin, to high praise. In a counted tally, British magazine NME said that over the album’s 73 minutes, Tyler uses “bitch” to describe various women 204 times. In his popular song “She,” Tyler raps about wanting a girl, but threatens to kill her if she rejects him: “Eight is the bullets if you say no after all this…I just wanna drag your lifeless body to the forest.” The song is riddled with various derogatory slurs towards women, other men and plenty of violence to go around.
Tyler is completely aware of how offensive his music is. “It hurts me when people can’t see beyond the first layer. They don’t listen to the word play, or the patterns we use in the song or the vocabulary we use…A lot of people take stuff too seriously. So some of the time it’s actually for them, my subconscious doing it on purpose, just to piss them off,” he said in an interview with NME. “I want people to take that stuff too seriously, especially shit like that. But, just, whatever. I try to preach be yourself and do what you want. It’s not our fault if they’re fucking dumb enough to believe this shit…I just turned 20. I’m just living life and having as much fun as I can. I don’t think about shit like that.”
While being young and reckless is one thing, using it as an excuse to be purposely offensive is a whole different can of worms.
In his book Decoded, artist Jay-Z, arguably the king of contemporary rap and hip-hop, stated, “The rapper’s character is essentially a conceit, a first-person literary creation.” If Jay-Z’s words ring true, then is this violent and misogynist character that Tyler has crafted himself into just a ploy, a persona created for the sole purpose of “pissing people off?”
If so, Tyler, the Creator should find more constructive ways of dually expressing himself and getting under people’s skin. With his violent and hateful lyrics, Tyler has succeeded in stepping forward in the musical industry by bringing the controversy back to rap music, but has taken three steps back socially. And brilliant or not, that’s cause for concern. ?
