Tyler, The Creator - Scum F**K Flower Boy

    

Overview
Tyler, The Creator is a rapper and producer from Ladera Heights California. Lil Wayne embraced rock and comedy, Wiz Khalifa targeted skaters with Taylor Gang, and Tyler came and created the first predominantly suburban hip hop audience. For that reason, he's basically like the Tupac of suburban rap. What people have to understand about the "golf" context is, they are without a doubt some of the most mercenary artists in the game. They will stoop to any low or embrace any high for money. However, that's a part of not caring which they are all about. Goblin (his widespread debut) was very demonic themed. Cherry Bomb (his last album) was suburban credit recovery. This album has a little of both. It's got a jazz sound and there are no pitch-altered vocals, but it's a little down beat. These aren't skater montage songs, they're more like get high or fit into upper class sophistication songs, so they're not for everyone.
Defining Track
"Who Dat Boy" is the single and it's got a nice build-up introduction for live performances. The main concept of the song is to satire the ignorance of the people not young or intelligent enough to respect him for his talent. He's using rural slang instead of hood slang which is very clever.
Final Thoughts
This album has some high points, a fantastic piano solo, some introspective thoughts on the emptiness of solitary fame, and some social success wisdom; but it's not breathtakingly impressive sonically. There are better lyricists, and there are genres that handle relaxing/sophisticated music better than hip hop can. However, as an artist overall, he has very little competition.

Tyler, the Creator - Wolf (R.I. Review)

Overview Tyler, the Creator is a rapper from Ladera Heights who after a massive new-age horror-core discography began to gain unbelievable hype despite creating obscenely politically incorrect music. His previous Goblin album was released at a time when conscious rap was a considerably new innovation and the ground he covered in indie hip hop had been nearly uncharted territory. With that said, "Wolf" had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, due to legality issues and changes in trends, this album feels like a poor attempt at re-kindling former glory. Odd Future's previously disturbing image has been replaced by a hip hop version of "Jackass". This album has very little cohesive message. Tyler's had problems, Tyler's made money, Tyler's loosing fans... Wolf's saving attribute is a very natural, live instrumentation sound.  Other than that, it's more of the same with much less of the overall experience Odd Future was made famous for. Another interesting note about this album is that Tyler spends a large portion of it trying to abandon a lot of his previously established image for the sake of preserving his personal life and reputation. What happened to Golf Wang? Defining Track Even the single, "Domo 23" seems a little off. It's not that it's bad, it's just completely misleading to the rest of the album. There is very little appeal to this song besides the rhythmic flow pattern, and once again he tries to repair his image by explaining that he isn't homophobic. Other than that, the song has the staple Odd Future rebellion but it's sloppier than Tyler's previous releases and seems to be targeted to a very young demographic. Final Thoughts The album seems like a cry for help and an appeal to emotion from a fan-base that supported him merely because he aligned with trends in indie music. The lack of dependence on mindless disrespect is a step forward in someways, but the release feels hollow because so much of Tyler's image has been built around it. This is by no means a bad album, but it's the first attempt he's made to succeed based on artistry rather than shock value, and he's still got to work out the kinks. Tyler's fallen into the common trap of abandoning an image before creating a new one.

Earl Sweatshirt - Earl (R.I. Review)

Overview
Earl Sweatshirt is a rapper from Los Angeles California who is arguably the most lyrically innovative hip hop artist to ever be discovered by a mass audience. After joining the rap collective: Odd Future, lots of controversy arose regarding his disappearance to a Samoan reform school his mother had sent him to due to his erratic behavior. Earl Sweatshirt's Father was a poet so its only fitting that he should bring so many previously poetry-exclusive techniques into hip hop. The album is content-wise, the story of his initiation and role in Odd Future. There are standard horror-core style ideas thrown around with so much skill that every audience should be far more impressed than offended.
Defining Track
"Earl" is the definitive release of the LP. It's intricate, well-composed, and offers one of Earl's most prominent staples: tongue-twisters. His delivery is laid back yet his voice allows his vocals to effortlessly stand-out against the highly simplistic instrumental. There is a memorable quality to Earl's lyricism that's rarely seen at his level of complexity. Artistically, this song has very little competition in any era of hip-hop and it's success has had a lasting impact on the genre's exploration.
Final Thoughts
The album is short and not every song is as memorable as "Earl" but, at the age of 16, he was writing hip hop lines like, "its so happens that I'm so hap-hazardous.." Listening to this release a few times makes it challenging to transition back to the attempts of other artists to appear deep or intelligent. There was an overwhelming reception of Earl's career, but he is still under-valued due to his lack of widespread appeal. Earl has a musical integrity, creativity, and depth that makes him one of the best hip hop lyricists...period.

Odd Future - OF Tape 2 (R.I. Review)

    

Overview
You would never be able to appreciate a release like this without understanding what Odd Future essentially is: the embodiment of rebellion and youth. Filter the album through that and it will be tolerable. If you forget that, you will probably be disappointed. At times, it is lyrically impressive, at others the only objective is to say, "Hey, we can get away with anything." Essentially, they can. The only thing that holds this album back is that in the light of their growing fame, their image has become a lot less shock value dependent while lacking any new content equally as interesting. It is far more difficult to create collective releases like this and so it isn't fair to compare the quality of it to solo hip hop releases and unnecessary because the point of the album is not to prove anything but merely to celebrate their almost family-like bond and massive success.
Defining Track
Rella is the premier track and has the purpose of summarizing the rebelliousness of the group and explaining odd future's currently pseudo-glamorous lifestyle. There is very little that is impressive about this song except Odd Future's previously established poetry focused conscious rap style. One interesting note about the track is that it's the first time Tyler experimented with a faster flow scheme and abandoned the group's otherwise exclusively conscious rap lineage.
Final Thoughts
There is a sincerity in this album that is far more important than its actual content. Their offensiveness has been exchanged with the joy of unity during success.

Origin of Indie Hip Hop

Now I know what you're thinking.. But before you argue that indie hip hop has had a long established history, think about this, there are several bands with millions of fans worldwide that never make it to television. Where as within the waters of hip hop, even the slightest amount of fame sends the most obscene acts in hip hop to super stardom. Hip hop has previously had absolutely no underground presence or support. Odd Future is the first of many acts in hip hop to attain the ability to fill venues with screaming fans without any mainstream support. This of course, has led to Tyler and his "compadres" becoming the mold of what it takes to achieve an independent hip hop presence. The clothing line, "Supreme" has become the premier supplier to every successful indie hip hop act to emerge between 2011 and 2012 and no one can deny the unbelievably sky rocketing amount of shock value that commenced after their success. But what makes them so successful where so many hip hop acts have failed? That's something you could have a blast discussing with one of their many eerily obsessive fans.