Odd Future

2007–09: Early career

Odd Future formed around 2006-2007 in Los Angeles. The original members were founder Tyler, the Creator (Tyler Okonma), Left Brain (Vyron Turner), Hodgy Beats (Gerard Damien Long), Matt Martians (Matthew Martin), Jasper Dolphin (Davon Wilson) and Casey Veggies (Casey Jones), the latter of which appeared only on the group's debut mixtape before branching out to other projects. However Casey Veggies remains a close contributor. At some point before the release of Bastard, Chicago-based rapper brandUn DeShay collaborated with the group, and appeared on the track "Session," but Tyler and DeShay had a falling out, and his vocals on "Session" were replaced by Mike G. Much of their early music was recorded in a room of Syd the Kyd and Taco's South Central Los Angeles home, known as the Trap.

2010: Rise in popularity

2009-2010 saw several new members arrive: Domo Genesis (Domonique Cole), Earl Sweatshirt (Thebe Kgositsile), Mike G (Michael Griffin II), and Frank Ocean (Christopher Breaux). Shortly after the 2010 release of his debut album Earl, member Earl Sweatshirt was subsequently absent from the group, after being sent to a boarding school in Samoa by his mother for two years.

The group completed a two-stop tour, their first outside of Los Angeles: in London, England, on November 5, 2010, and New York City on November 8. The concert at The Drop in London sold out within 48 hours of announcement by the group. Their concerts have been compared to punk rock shows, with stagediving, moshing, and group members antagonizing the crowd.

2011–2015: Solo releases, TV show, radio station

MellowHype re-released their album BlackenedWhite through Fat Possum Records. Tyler, the Creator also signed a one album deal with XL Recordings and released his sophomore effort, Goblin, on May 10, 2011. They have collected a cult following, and have received press attention from blogs and magazines. Though they are often labeled as horrorcore, the group has universally dismissed it on Twitter, in interviews, and on tracks such as "Sandwitches". Pitchfork Media has labeled the group as indie rap. In April 2011, the group signed a deal with RED Distribution and Sony Music Entertainment to start their own label, Odd Future Records. On August 2, 2011, Odd Future announced on their website the Golf Wang Tour 2011. The tour included 27 stops, beginning on September 28, 2011 in San Diego, California at the House of Blues.

On September 8, 2011, it was announced that Odd Future would be making a television show called Loiter Squad. The show was announced to be a sketch comedy show featuring various skits and pranks and originally aired on March 25, 2012 on Adult Swim. The show features Tyler, Jasper, Taco, Earl and Lionel as main cast members with other members of Odd Future making cameo appearances. The program is produced by Dickhouse Productions, which also is the production company for Jackass.

On October 3, 2011, Tyler, The Creator tweeted a link to iTunes with a compilation album of 12 old Odd Future songs from artists within the group such as Domo Genesis, Hodgy Beats, Mike G, The Jet Age of Tomorrow, MellowHype, The Internet, and Tyler himself. The album is simply named 12 Odd Future Songs, despite having 13 tracks, including a brand new release by The Internet. On March 20, 2012, the collective released their debut album, The OF Tape Vol. 2. The album was a sequel to the original mixtape, The Odd Future Tape. On the same day, Earl Sweatshirt, who was absent from Odd Future from June 2010 until February 2012, first performed with the group at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. It was rumored that his mother sent him to an all-boys boarding school in Samoa, intended to discipline kids with drug issues and depression. Earl confirmed in an interview, after returning to the U.S., that he attended Coral Reef Academy, a therapeutic retreat school for at-risk boys situated outside the Samoan capital of Apia, because he was getting himself into trouble.

Frank Ocean released his debut studio album channel ORANGE on July 17, 2012. Other solo releases for the second half of 2012 included Domo Genesis's No Idols with The Alchemist, released on August 1, and MellowHype's Numbers, released on October 9. On December 5, 2012 it was announced Frank Ocean was nominated for six awards at the 55th Grammys, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year for "Thinkin Bout You" and Album of the Year for channel ORANGE.

On April 2, Tyler, The Creator released his second studio album, Wolf, which received positive reviews from critics and debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 selling, 89,895 copies in the United States. Earl Sweatshirt released his debut studio album Doris on August 20, 2013, which was met with critical acclaim, and MellowHigh released their self-titled debut album together on October 31, 2013.

On September 12, the Odd Future station premiered on the online 24/7 radio, Dash Radio, which was released the month before by DJ Skee. The station features a live playlist, special links such as "Taco Tuesday" (also repeated on Sundays) and coverage of live events, such as the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, also hosted by Odd Future.

2015-present: Supposed Disbandment and Reunion

On January 18, 2015, Hodgy Beats confirmed that MellowHype will no longer exist. Although he and Left Brain will continue to make music together, just no longer under the name MellowHype. Hodgy states in the interview, "Nah, we ain't breaking up. Nah, this ain't no weirdo shit. It's just some real shit. It's a refocus. Going from boys to men this is what it is. So it's either understand it, 'cause it will be explained–cry about it, talk shit, applaud us–we still moving." However, MellowHigh continues to make music as trio, releasing a new song in November 2015.

In May 2015, Tyler posted a photo on Twitter from 2010 which contained the entire Odd Future collective. He added "although it's no more, those 7 letters [OFWGKTA] are forever." This was widely believed to be a confirmation of the collective's dissolution. However, the next day he explained that his tweet was misinterpreted and was merely "looking at old photos with friends and thinking about how time flies." The next day, member Earl Sweatshirt wrote: "No sympathy for male virgins who're in their feelings about Tyler pointing out and solidifying the obvious." This caused an Internet debate over whether "the obvious" was referring to Tyler's first statement or his second. On June 30, Matt Martians seemingly confirmed to AllHipHop that Odd Future had indeed broken up, but that there were "no hard feelings among the members of OFWGKTA."

"OFWGKTA" was listed on the bill for Tyler, the Creator's 4th Annual Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. The line-up that performed included Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis, Mike G and Left Brain. Tyler and Earl were not a part of the set due to Tyler already having a solo show and Earl having amicably distanced himself from Odd Future around the release of his third album I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside: An Album by Earl Sweatshirt.

During the Odd Future set at the 4th Annual Camp Flog Gnaw Carinval, Hodgy Beats called out Tyler, The Creator onstage about his dissatisfaction with Tyler, and remarking how he "stayed broke", and was also visibly irritated when other Odd Future members thanked Tyler for the invite to the carnival. Tyler responded to Hodgy in the middle of his solo set, saying "Niggas got me fucked up. I put too many niggas on. I helped too many of my motherfucking friends out, and niggas gonna come foul? You know who the fuck I'm talking about, nigga. And yes, this is real." Hodgy responded to these remarks on Twitter by saying "If it wasn't for Odd Future, where would Tyler be?" and "Think about who built the name OF together as a unit. Now think about who took the first initial shit on OF." However, one day later, a humorous Instagram video, uploaded by Hodgy, featured him and Tyler attempting to perform handstands; possibly suggesting that the feud had been dissolved.

On December 7, 2015 The Internet, sub group of Odd Future, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Urban Contemporary Album Category for their most recent album, Ego Death

Members

Former members

Current Groups

Former Groups

Controversy

Odd Future were scheduled to appear at the February, 2014 Rapture Festival in Auckland, New Zealand, as a supporting act to Eminem. The group were not on the original bill, but were substituting for Kendrick Lamar after the concert had been sold out. A campaign was launched by an anti-violence group to prevent Odd Future performing, based partly on prior occurrences of the group supposedly inciting violence by their fans towards members of the public, and by the group's lyrics allegedly supporting rape and violence towards women. Immigration New Zealand canceled the visa of some group members because of prior acts of inciting violence, including one where the group allegedly encouraged fans to attack members of the police.

Albums

Mixtapes

Compilations

Tyler, The Creator

Hodgy Beats

Pyramid Vitra

Domo Genesis

Mike G

Chopped and Screwed Mixtapes

Frank Ocean

Earl Sweatshirt

The Internet

MellowHype

MellowHigh

BrandUn DeShay

Albums

Mixtapes

Compilations

Tyler, The Creator

Hodgy Beats

Pyramid Vitra

Domo Genesis

Mike G

Chopped and Screwed Mixtapes

Frank Ocean

Earl Sweatshirt

The Internet

MellowHype

MellowHigh

BrandUn DeShay