Meh...Looks like my self-imposed deadline system has come undone after one week. My bad, my bad. I had to do some surprise homework for my "real" job.
Bear witness to the the new hotness: a sixth ratings category! Yes, the category is meh..., as in I can hear effort behind the album, but either it's difficult to understand, and/or not suited for a cuts only rating, and/or it just didn't leaving me wanting to listen to it again.
With that, Odd Future (ok, ok ... Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) in its new album, The OF Tape, Vol. 2, has a little bit of all those attributes I listed above. Observing these L.A. hip-hop skate punks in their natural habitat is like subjecting yourself to a bad acid trip — some elements are what you've been expecting, while others are just an unintelligible and sometimes frightening mix that makes you want to cower in a corner.
I place a lot of the culpability on Tyler, The Creator as well as Left Brain, who were in charge of producing the album and strive for their beats to be weird for the sake of weird. There are times when the eccentrics of these beats lend themselves to some tracks like on "Lean," on which the production doesn't overpower Hodgy Beats's wordplay. But, in this case, whatever momentum is gained through a good track is soon lost. The next song, "Analog 2," has a beat that's entirely too distracting for the listener. Jumping from a Tyler's deliberate delivery to a ballad from Frank Ocean, adding a sound effect in the background (something like an atonal "YEEUAH YEEUAH") puts the brakes on quickly ... then it moves into some kind of slow jam with who I guess is Tyler singing in a low bass expanding on Frank Ocean's chorus. Does that seem like a lot of verbiage to describe one song? F^ck yeah, it does. That painfully long sentence still doesn't do the song its beautifully confusing justice.
For all the experimenting with the production, I also expected the lyricism to be a little better. For example, while Tyler is clearly the master of the group, he goes to the pederast well a few too many times. OK, fine. Great MCs like Eminem and Ice Cube used pedophilia in their rhymes regularly — it's a pretty common trope. Still, I'm offended, and not for the obvious reason. I say it because these two rappers only used it once or maybe twice on one album. I think Tyler played this card at least three times on The OF Tape, Vol. 2 before I stopped counting. If you have the opportunity to put out a whole album to showcase your talent, be fresh with it. Don't use the same metaphors. With these missteps, Hodgy Beats steps up his game as the best MC on this album; however, with his quiet delivery, his voice unfortunately cannot carry over the din of the production at times.
The saving grace of this album is the group dynamic. The final track, "Oldie," shows the group dynamic is still stronger than individual egos. It's simplicity in that almost everyone in the OFWGKTA phalanx raps a only few bars shows that, when everything is taken away, these guys are just a bunch of young dudes who want to rhyme.
But, besides this good collaboration at the end, this hodgepodge of an album is difficult to decipher. Maybe what it lacked was a real producer to get a sense of everyone's flow and make music that accompanies each member's characteristics. Maybe the guys needed to have less fun and concentrate on creating a good rap record instead of acting like Andy Kaufman if he wore a fitted. While certainly not a failure, this effort leaves a lukewarm impression.
For Your Consideration: "Oldie."
For Next Time: Looks like Jack White's album isn't coming out until April. What a shame ... Ja guys want the Hunger Games soundtrack?
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