Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All is a Los Angeles based collective of 20-somethings who have made music their hustle with a focus on friendship, many of them often with a blunt in hand. Crafted by rapper and multi-talented artist Tyler, The Creator, Odd Future is a growing organism; there is no definitive line for the crew's success and exploration. "It's been alive for like, 17 years," said OF member Hodgy Beats. "Tyler made it up when he was five, and it became official around high school." MellowHype is a duo project started by members Left Brain and Hodgy Beats. Domo Genesis joined the mix, and on Oct. 31, they released their debut album as MellowHigh.

Domo Genesis

"We made a couple songs, just me, Hodgy and Left on them. We were like, yo these are sick ... everybody else agreed," Domo said. "We had a little home studio so we started hanging out more, said you know what, we should just do a project, and started fucking with it." The self-titled album MellowHigh was supposed to be released as a mixtape, but turned album after receiving positive feedback, according to Domo.

"Well, I got trouble on my mind but no emotions on my sleeve,  

I heard that love'll get you killed, so who gone show some love for me?

Fucking never need it, push against the grain until my fingers bleeding. 

Smoking weed and tweaking trying to figure out a deeper meaning." 

He said the song is nearly two years old, the second oldest track on the album, next to "Nobody." He said this was a track to show the complexity of their writing. "It's something that we made, and we liked. We gotta put this on something and we finally had an album to drop it."

Mixing personal and business has every potential to backfire, but the crew seems to have it figured out. "These are just my friends. These really are my friends, you know what I'm saying?" Domo said. "Before we did music or anything we were all just hanging out, so it didn't really mean much more than just a normal friendship. These are the things we do. When it comes to money and distribution and stuff like that, we're gonna do it all fair and easy because these are my homies." When tensity comes in, they remember their bond. "We have stuff," he said. "But we all come together. And be like, 'yo, you guys are tripping.' We're homies and we're gonna stay that way."

The interview with Domo, Hodgy Beats and Left Brain clearly shows they take their business serious, but with trolls, jokes and sincere conversation, it's undeniable these guys know how to be good friends and live lightly. The phone was then passed to Hodgy, who proceeded to tell me I sounded like I like Sour Patch Kids. "I love Sour Patch Kids," I said. "You must be cool," he responded. After he asked me about which was my favorite color (I said green) he said "Aight, yeah the green and red are the best kind."

Hodgy Beats

One of the first members, from Trenton, N.J. and only 23 years old, I asked Hodgy if he ever saw himself getting to this level of fame. "Shit, I don't know what level of fame or anything I'm on. I try to keep it as normal as possible."

"There's like a chemistry or something in the air, and it just worked out. We all know each other," Hodgy said, and that he's excited to see what comes next for MellowHigh and the rest of the Wolf Gang. "I think me and Tyler are gonna work together a little bit more ... see what comes from that. Everybody works together, it's just hard to find time nowadays because people are busy."

As I heard him tell someone passing out food on the bus "the no tomato's is mine," I asked him what it's like being on tour. "It's awesome. There's not that many people at all. All the attention is on MellowHigh." For this tour, the select city's promoters arrange for the show openers. "Mhm, we have them niggas do it," Hodgy said. For future record tours, they plan on picking their own.

"Why do you love music?"
"I think it's because I've been around it for so long. My dad used to make music, some members in my family used to sing. So it's what I've gravitated towards," Hodgy said.

Odd Future has become much more than just music. In addition to record releases, cities have been hit with Odd Future Sweatshop pop-up stores, the crew gets weird in their show Loiter Squad on Adult Swim, has been featured at The Berrics for the entertaining Text Yoself Beefo Yo Wreck Yoself, ghost ride the whip for the Bay Area influenced "Hyphy" video, and apparently has an upcoming film release in the works, and that's just scratching the surface of their grind.


With a voice deeper than hell, Left Brain spoke to me last. He was playing Call of Duty: Ghosts as we talked about how he came into OF.

"Well, I had no friends," he said, as either Domo or Hodgy laughed in the background. "And we just became friends, since like, 2006."

Since the album dropped, he said he's not sure how the sales are but that the tour is doing pretty well. The best show, in his opinion, was the first show in Dallas, Texas. "There was a lot of people, it was a sold out show. It was turnt up, I was really surprised because the album wasn't out when we went and did that show ... and people still came out."

Left Brain

I asked him if he ever saw himself getting to their current level.
"Yeah, I did. Yeah I did. I know who I am. I know, who I am. People know who I am. We were on this level at first, then we bumped up to the next level. Now we've got our album. It's just levels. You can't really go down in the levels. You go down, you're moving backwards."

Left Brain had an unmovable certainty with his words. "We just wanted to know, to be out here in the industry a little bit. We got our own label, we our own bosses, so tryna get out in the industry, and just fucking take over. There's a lot of names that's hot right now, they're not bosses though. They're just working under people and shit. We doing our own thing, working your own business, tryna establish our own business, make our own money."

"Slow motion's better than no motion," he said.

"Why do you love music?"
"Because, it makes me move, my body. I want to move my body. I don't know anything else, I want to move my body. It's a source of energy. When music turns on, people start moving. When you turn the light on, the fucking room is bright. It's like a source of energy. And I like it."

I heard one of the guys yell in the background "I'm going in on this burrito" and Left Brain abruptly hung up after trolling that they were headed to Nevada and said "What is there to do out there in Reno, Nevada. I hope something out here is fun, we've never been out here. Pretty random."

MellowHigh will make a tour stop in Buffalo at The Waiting Room on Saturday, Dec. 7 presented by After Dark Entertainment. Odd Future was here last September and Tyler, The Creator soon followed in March. "Buffalo, N.Y.? Yeah I was there, it was so cold," Hodgy said. "As long as I'm not freezing my ass off, we're gonna have a great show."

Domo, Hodgy and Left Brain: if you thought that was cold, get ready for a December night in Buffalo.

Tyler, The Creator, Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis & Earl Sweatshirt - "Look"

I'll stop writing about them when they stop rapping like this. On three, everyone say who they think has the best verse.

Act like you ain't know it's Earl.



Schoolboy Q - "Banger (MOSHPIT)"

I wish Sample Clearance Issues was an actual person so someone could run a drive-by on this dude. He'd be smugly strolling out of some rich asshole restaurant with a three million dollar wine cellar like he owned the whole block. And you just know he ordered his steak well-done. The valet would be all, "Here's your Maybach, Mr. Issues," and then Q (or Q's homie, more likely) would roll up in a late-model Cadillac (like they did Pac) and just light that whole shit up.

Confident the job was done, Schoolboy would come over to my house with a factory sealed copy of Oxymoron and we would take drugs and stay up all night listening to it while he slept with my girlfriend and I listened to it alone with no drugs at all.

Oxymoron still has no release date. Have this instead.



Pusha T ft. Kendrick Lamar - "Nosetalgia"

Apt title for a track by a dude who absolutely can't stop talking about selling that powder. But here we have entered the dangerous waters of Best New Music territory. We've got two emcees on top of their shit reminiscing about the way their lives were touched by drugs in extremely different ways. It's just goddamn fantastic to see Pusha's glamorization of the life juxtaposed with Kendrick watching his family members sink into addiction.

The music video itself is a hell of a thing, a minimalist evening stroll through a black and white Compton. If you pick one track to put on your playlist today, this is the one.

And, hey, Kendrick Lamar! Every song he's featured on since "Control" has felt like the next leg of his victory parade which I expect to continue all the way up until Thanksgiving Day when he hijacks the Sesame Street float and goes in on Big Bird for being soft as hell.

It was a wild Wednesday at Town Ballroom when Tyler, The Creator from Los Angeles based crew Odd Future came through the 716. I had a hunch that the crowd was going to be just as rowdy as when they visited in September for the Camp Flog Gnaw tour; after immediately reaching the top of the walk-way into the venue and seeing the entire floor and tiers filled with people I found my intuition was spot on once again.

Thursday morning, I woke up with sore abs, arms and legs. OF member Taco opened the show with an incredible trap song which I actually tweeted at him, hopeful he'd share. I won't hold my breath. The moment Taco went on it was like a hand reached into shallow water and hundreds of minnows suddenly gathered in a clump and darted to a rock. Tyler finally came on the stage that was adorned with statues of baby-doll heads.

For the remainder of Tyler's set, it was utter madness. People were diving over the gate, hopping on stage only to stand next to Tyler for less than 10 seconds before the strong hand of security removed them. The amount of moshing was out of control. Mind you, I am 5' 2'' and less than 115 lbs. For the entire night, I was being tossed around, hitting people like the metallic ball in a Pinball game. There's something beautifully violent about that show; everyone releases their inner-animal. Besides my light-weight and short stature, I would use all my strength to push people off of me, laughing and screaming the words along with Tyler. No wonder trying to put my coat on the past couple of days has been a struggle. My friend was moshed away from me and we didn't reunite until the very end of the show. While separated from her, I stood on the right hand side of the stage in front of the speaker when out of nowhere, a fight broke out. After the man got about four hard punches in and I had already scooted as far away from it as I could (less than a foot) so not to be dragged in, security came over and dragged them out. Serious big ups to the security and bouncers at Town Ballroom for not being dicks and keeping that place semi-contained.

I wish I could tell you more, but honestly it was so insane I was afraid that my phone would get knocked from my hands the minute I took it out so I didn't get to jot down notes as per usual. His set was fantastic. Jasper and Taco were the only other two on stage with him. At one point, Tyler jumped and stood on top of the tall speaker on the right hand side of the stage, he hovered over the crowd and everyone went ballistic.

I did manage to get a nice video for you all so if you're at home kicking yourself that you didn't go, you can abuse yourself a little more and watch this. It's a little shaky and not at the ideal height; just think of it as seeing the world through my eyes for 32 seconds.

Oh Tyler, where do I begin?

When I went through all that break-up from a first-love nonsense, I didn't sleep for about 48 hours straight. I'd be lying if I said that the Bastard album wasn't the first thing that felt cathartic enough to get me to sleep. The summertime rain poured down on my friend's car as she drove me back to my Syracuse home, I finally rested comfortably as the title track played through the speakers. The album was then on repeat for the remainder of the summer, so for this I owe you a thank you Tyler.

Lyrical depression and disturbia, Tyler's solo stuff is dark and provocative. This is not to say that the remainder of the Los Angeles based Odd Future crew lacks poetry, but there is something so undeniably magnetic about leader of the pack, Tyler, The Creator.

I nearly lost my mind seeing him and the rest of Odd Future when they came to Buffalo last September. Scratch that, I definitely did. It makes me curious to see how his performance will differ and if the crowd will amount to the chaos of the Septermber show.

Side-note, his sense of humor is on point.

Depending on who you ask, the emergence of the controversial rap collective Odd Future over the last couple years has either been one of the best things or worst things to happen in music in some time.  On one hand, the edgy group, led by wild front man Tyler, the Creator, has breathed some new life into the genre of rap, spawning a handful of stars including the aforementioned Tyler, Earl Sweatshirt, and current music darling Frank Ocean.  On the other hand, the groups frequent homophobic and misogynistic lyrics, not to mention sometimes violent shows, have turned some people off.  No matter which camp you are in, Tyler and his band of misfits are fascinating.  Next month, Tyler will be leaving the crew at home for his first ever solo tour in support of this upcoming album Wolf,  and Buffalo will be one of the stops on Wednesday, March 20th.  After an absolute bonkers show with the entire Odd Future collective last year, it will be interesting to see how Tyler does solo.  Only one way to find out.  Tickets go on sale this Friday at noon for $25.

Radical Los Angeles hip-hop collective, Odd Future, is in Buffalo tonight.  This group of friends began by releasing their music for free over the internet, and after a quick rise they now have a sketch comedy show on Adult Swim, clothing brand, a nationwide tour and their friendship remains unmoved.  Since their start in 2007, the group has grown immensely.  Members have partnered up to form groups within the group, including MellowHype, The Internet, The Jet Age of Tomorrow, EarlWolf, and MellowHigh. 

This week is all about surprises. In addition to new music from Menomena, Blood Diamonds, and Marie Minerva, there are unexpected but exciting collaborations between rappers and producers/electronic artists. These specific songs are great pairings and highlight each's unique talents and style well. Meanwhile, established act, Menomena, who I originally thought had broken up some time ago, returns as a duo with an incredibly powerful new song. Blood Diamonds and Marie Minerva continue a year of consistently great electronic music filled with newcomers. Please take some time and close out your week with a new Listener's Digest.

Menomena - "Heavy Is As Heavy Does:" When reports of the band not getting along surfaced a few years ago, I had, sadly, assumed that Menomena was over. However, now a duo, they are back with powerful new single. "Heavy Is As Heavy Does" begins simply, with vocals and piano, and then builds into a powerful dirge by the end with overpowering feedback laden guitars and drums. The crescendo is classic Menomena and only enhances the emotion evident in the song's beginning. Menomena seems to have lost none of their power in the shift in lineup and the time  between releases.



Danny Brown & AraabMuzik - "Molly Ringwald:" One of two excellent collaborations between a rapper and popular producer this week. This track features the hyped up and over the top qualities of both parties. Brown raps fiercely over AraabMuzik's tightly wound beats, which seem on the brink of exploding at every point. They do not and the track has a overall tense feeling to it. A great coming together of two very talented individuals.




Blood Diamonds - "Ritual:" This is partially my own self imposed attempt at penance for forgetting to post the amazing single from Blood Diamonds and Grimes, "Phone Sex," a few weeks ago. If you have a few moments, please also check that single out. This is the B-side and no less worth your time. A bright mid tempo dance track featuring a chopped and alternating slowed down female vocal sample, "Ritual" is extremely infectious. The single comes out next week, featuring artwork, resembling the packaging to some sort of recently rediscovered Sega Genesis game, by Elite Gymnastics.

Toro Y Moi and Tyler the Creator - "Hey You:" The Odd Future camp had a rather productive week with new music from DomoGenesis, MellowHype, and Tyler the Creator as well as the announcement of a full tour (making a stop in Buffalo). A surprising and exciting collaboration that was accidently leaked before being finished, this track combines the strengths of both artists into something that seems like a natural fit. A smooth nocturnal track, Toro Y Moi's production is evident throughout. Tyler's own voice, more even than normal, sounds natural and well placed.

Marie Minerva - "The Sound:" A spacey dance track from the Not Not Fun artist, with an effectively used sample of a talk on transcendental meditation that sets the tone for the rest of the song. This hazy and entrancing song will be on her new album, to be released September 4.