Wolf is the third album by Odd Future founder and, I suppose leader - Tyler, The Creator. It is a solid record that prominently develops the rapper's style and direction, not only as a lyricist but mainly as a producer. Goblin, for all its entertaining malice, wallows in darkness. Wolf expands on Tyler's off-key production style, adding more colours to his intrinsically different yet instantly recognisable track design.
Track-wise, the album begins proper with the howling "Jamba" and the lurching "Cowboy" (edit: is that an orgiastic moan in the background of "Jamba" or a girl shouting "Wolf!"? Ha!). Tyler's lyrics are still rather obtuse and somewhat disturbing, but the sonic variety of the track structures really makes Wolf an easier and more varied listen than its predecessor. Other stand outs are "Domo23" (which sounds like it was leftover from Goblin), "48", "Colossus" (which reminds me of Eminem's struggles with fame and idolisation), the three-in-one medley of "PartyIsntOver / Campfire / Bimmer", and "Rusty".
That album cover, though? We ain' gon talk 'bout that.
This has gotta be one of my favourite rap/hip hop
discoveries of the past year or so. Granted, this came out in 2011 but I’m not
exactly crawling all over the modern rap scene (because as Eminem so eloquently
put it – it’s a landfill). I heard enough episodes of Charlie Sloth on Radio 1
whilst at work to convince myself that hip hop was welllllll and truly dead and
anything post-2000 was not even worth farting at (play that “German Whip” song
ONE MORE FUCKING TIME and I might end myself). The main question about modern
hip hop for me isn’t “Who is the most vomit-inducing wigger spacktard; Charlie
Sloth or Tim Westwood?”, it’s more along the lines of why do hip hop fans stand
for the dump trucks of shit piling into their favourite genre? To paraphrase
Immortal Technique, each new song that comes out is another “candy ass nigga
with a candy ass beat”.
But then again we are looking at the same type of people who
idolize Lil Wayne but hate Death Grips, and that says it all really. With that
mind set it’s easier to appreciate why top rappers like Tyler The Creator tend
to stay in a semi-underground world; as the man himself professes, he’s selling
out shows but sleeping on couches afterward. Goblin is a dark record too, and I
guess that appeals to me even more, because I don’t want no “candy ass beats”
in my raps, yo. All throughout Goblin Tyler struggles with (possibly fictional
or otherwise) several recurring characters and alter egos, which makes the
whole thing quite confusing on the first listen, but you get used to it. I’m
still not entirely sure who or what Tron Cat is, but I’m digging it.
“Yonkers” is now one of my favourite rap songs ever. “Transylvania”
falls dangerously close to the stylings of the horrorcore genre, despite
protests from Tyler that he has nothing to do with the genre. But any song that
starts it’s chorus with “I’m Dracula, bitch / Ain’t got a problem smackin’ a
bitch” is a rap classic in my books. Hip hop seems to be the only genre of music
(other than slam death metal) that can keep getting away with extreme misogyny,
even in today’s namby pampy “you can’t say that” world.
Frank Ocean pops up a few times (most notably on “She”),
which is great, because I like the guy in small doses. To me he seems like the
Nate Dogg of the Odd Future crowd, adding a well needed sung chorus now and
then to Tyler’s dark and puzzling world. All in all though, and I know I’ve
kinda gone off topic a bit on this one, but Goblin is a brilliant rap record
that I would recommend to anyone who
likes rap music and who has an ounce of common sense. Kanye fucking West this
is not.
Every now and then it's great to hear a rapper who doesn't rely heavily on endless taboo subject matter to fill his verses. Granted, perhaps I was a little burnt out on the excess of hip hop, as I was listening to Necro's The Sexorcist a lot alongside Doris, and I'm not exactly saying that this Odd Future member's solo outfit is clean like a Will Smith album, but it is admittedly refreshing all the same.
Doris, being produced by Tyler the Creator, sounds pretty fuckin' good. Earl Sweatshirt's tracks seem to hold a stoned elegance to them, particularly "Hive" which is like what gangsta rap would have sounded like if it was invented in an Amsterdam coffeeshop. "Sunday" is also a great ode somewhat in part to weed smoking, even if Frank Ocean's contributions aren't the greatest. Vocal contributions from Tyler the Producer (see what I did there?) on "Sasquatch" are always welcome, and RZA from Wu Tang guesting on the excellent "Molasses" is a nice little suprise towards the end of the record.
