Monday, October 31, 2011

A Ticket to Dystopia


            Buying a ticket to an Odd Future Wolfgang Kill Them All show is like paying seventy dollars to join a gang of the most fun bullies in the city. If you are anything like me, the price of that ticket is closer to one-hundred and fifty dollars – ninety for the ticket I haggle online to the sold out show, and sixty for the Acela Express into Boston, which is the only train running after the commuter rail I miss. The price, though abnormally steep for a typical rap show, is not a deterrent from seeing the show. I know that hyperbolic appraisals of the show will inundate my Twitter feed the next day, and I want to witness the event the group’s de facto leader, Tyler, the Creator, is publicizing online[1]. It is precisely because of the rap group Odd Future’s online presence that their shows are shrouded in such infamy – the group successfully brands their shows as once-in-a-lifetime, joyfully dystopian events not worth missing. Attendees of their shows are filled with preconceptions, few of which go unfulfilled.
            When I entered the venue, a woman handing out cardboard masks of Tyler’s face greets me, shooting me a menacing glance when I do not immediately put it on. Upon entrance to the theater, the propagation of the cultish image of the group continues; not only does the mask deify its leader, it also makes attendees feel as if they are being ushered into the fold. However, there is a strange irony in seeing a group like Odd Future, who advertises itself as a group of LA street punks, at a venue like The Royale in Boston. The concert hall is adorned with velvet curtains, crystal chandeliers, and gold molding, which feel palpably incongruous with the projected identity of the performers, rife with images of skateboards, street stunts, and fast food.
            Another aspect of what I have identified as the abstract, makeshift “crew” (consisting of both Odd Future and the audience) is the racial contrast between the crowd and the performers. Odd Future, comprised of all Black members, stands in almost direct opposition with the racial makeup of the attendees, which I would estimate is between eighty and ninety percent Caucasian. The audience is also remarkably male (probably seventy percent), with a noticeable spatial gradient within the concert hall; the majority of concertgoers at the front of the venue are men, while there is a greater female representation at the back. Most people attending the concert are between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five, generally wearing some sort of variation of the same casual outfit – loose t-shirts and jeans for men, and fitted t-shirts and jeans or shorts for women. To reduce the audience to an archetype, it resembles a crowd of partygoers at a typical college fraternity house, a characterization that is admittedly simplistic, but bolstered by the aesthetics and ages of the attendees as well as the ubiquity of beer, marijuana, and sweat in the concert hall.
            The performance is highly participatory, with a relatively homogenized dance style and emphatic recitation of lyrics. The majority of the audience dances usually with an arm in the air and hard, downward-bend motions on the one and three beats. This dance is performed throughout the entirety of the show, and it is successfully in that it intensely incorporates the body in the music and that it is heavy and somewhat sluggish, easily accomplished under alcohol- and marijuana-induced intoxication[2]. The more active form of participation in the concert is the rapping of songs along with Odd Future, as well as some moments of call and response. The performance has an intensely group-based dynamic, with the various members of the group often shouting into the microphones, a sound that invites members of the audience to easily sing along and generates a sense of closeness with Odd Future itself, the voices of the attendees converging with the distorted drone of ten people screaming into microphones. Again, it feels as if watching the show implies a welcoming into the constantly changing crew.
            The performance itself is also heavily collective, with Tyler, the Creator at the forefront. The poster child of the group has a late, dramatic entrance encouraged by audience chanting in which he crashes onstage, rowdily kicks over stage props, and makes an immediate stage dive. Additionally, many of the songs in the set list are taken from Tyler’s solo albums Goblin and Bastard, though the solo albums of the other Odd Future members do not receive such representation. The most notable element of the performance is that of bullying that pervades the show, at times brotherly, other times irate. Odd Future members act in the same manner that Tyler does in his entrance, punching each other, throwing objects into the audience, maniacally jumping around the stage, and frequently diving into the arms of the audience. The crowd responds and imitates this behavior, moshing throughout the concert. However, their behavior, though seemingly aggressive, does not always feel malicious; instead, it appears to be somewhat demonic child’s play characterized by rambunctiousness.
            The only member of Odd Future who is conspicuously stoic is the lone female, DJ Syd tha Kyd. She remains unanimated throughout the show, limited mainly to her DJ stand at the back of the stage. Interestingly, Syd is an open homosexual, and with her short hair and traditionally masculine aesthetic, she is almost indistinguishable from the group of boys. She is truly brought into focus only when Tyler starts an audience chant of “The b***h is a stripper” directed at her, to which she responds with a faint smile. The separation of Syd from the rest of the group is indicative of the dynamic within the larger venue, where, as described, the men aggressively populate the front of the room and the women generally congregate toward the back, as well as the lyrical content of the songs, which has blatant misogynist overtones. All of these elements combine to create a space within The Royale that feels like a club for boys and men – a place where males can recklessly express their masculine abandon.
            Leaving the theater marks the end of an immersive experience of collective recklessness and gleeful rage. As I board the train home, it is impossible not to question the implications of my participation in the Odd Future show, particularly regarding my whiteness and upper-middle class background, as opposed to that of the group. The concert feels like a dystopian celebration whose underlying motives remain notably vague. For most of the attendees, exiting The Royale likely means leaving behind the world that was established in those two hours. However, the creation of that world highlights the true power of Odd Future – their ability to incite rebellion in social groups that do not usually express it.

Word Count: 1144


[1] October 21, 2001, Twitter – @f**ktyler: LAST BOSTON SHOW, A COP WAS INJURED AND SOME 13 YEAR OLD GIRL WAS ARRESTED...AFTER THE RIOT AT THAT COMIC STORE. F**KING BOSTON N****R!!!!
[2] I deduce these forms of intoxication based on the visible presence of beer and in observations of my peers (I notice many bleary eyes, and at point I hear someone behind me yell to his friend, “I’m blazing bro!”)

Monday, October 17, 2011

Critical Review 4 - Andes' “Growing Up Punk: Meaning and Commitment Careers in a Contemporary Youth Subculture"


In her article “Growing Up Punk: Meaning and Commitment Careers in a Conemporary Youth Subculture,” Linda Andes begins her discussion by attacking the constrictive nature of the pre-disposed notion of commitment to a subculture. She argues that commitment implies the pursuit of a single ideal specific to the particular subculture, with commitment measured by the individual proximity to this ideal. She goes on to suggest that commitment allows for much greater diversity, as members of subcultures often express themselves uniquely.
            My contention with her article is that Andes seems to contradict her postulation of diversity within subcultures. She outlines a three-step process by which people become punks, and while she admits the subjectivity of what it is to be a punk vs. a poseur, the fact that she has a graph of the punk timeline seems to go against her argument that subcultural members should not be confined to the likes of a graph. How much generalization and reduction is implicit in the study of subcultures that more often than not are heterogeneous?

Monday, October 10, 2011

Field Note 1 - Digital Ethnography, Odd Future Study through Tumblr and Twitter



·      These fieldnotes will be exclusively web-based. The goal of this digital research is to study the digital self-branding the group, primarily through the group’s blog and individual members’ Twtitter accounts. Initial research about general group information has given me the following:
o   Odd Future consists of over 14 members, some of whom are rappers, producers, or general “hype men”
o   Within the group, there are multiple sub-groups (MellowHype, The Jet Age of Tomorrow, EarlWolf, and the Internet) made up of different members of Odd Future
o   Because of the many different members in the group, each of whom plays a very different role within it, it is hard to always point out a universal tone in their Twitters
o   Tyler, the Creator will usually be referenced as the lead member of the group, as he produces many of the beats, is featured heavily in the rapping, and is generally regarded as the poster child of Odd Future
·      Group Tumblr (http://oddfuture.tumblr.com)
o   “Bitch Suck Dick” motif
o   Promotion of individual members’ albums/singles/videos
o   Upside-down cross à demonic imagery
o   Skater videos
o   Los Angeles iconography – skaters, Amoeba, Venice, etc.
o   Videos of the boys fooling around and being rambunctious on tour
o   MTV Video Music Awards – comparison and connectedness with other celebrities raises one’s notoriety and legitimacy
o   Appeal to marijuana consumers
o   Still very much feels like the group Tumblr of a group of young teenage boys, using Tumblr as a social platform mainly used for propogating their jokes and musings
·      Individual member Twitter accounts
o   @fucktyler (Tyler, the Creator)
§   Hypersexualized (Irony? Humor?)
§  MY FEMALE GIVES ORAL LIKE SHE GIVES ORAL MY FEMALE GIVES ORAL LIKE SHE GIVES ORAL MY FEMALE GIVES ORAL LIKE SHE GIVES ORAL. TOMRROW AT 8
§  FUCK I DONT WANNA GET OLD. BEING 30 IS LIKE, YOU CANT REALLY DO FUN SHIT LIKE YOU DID WHEN YOU WERE 20. FUCK.
§  [Feels like he is lost in a celebrity world] Whole Foods Is The Gayest Store
§  Dark Skinned Dykes. Top 10 Porn Titles
o   @DamierGenesis (Domo Genisis)
§  depicted as the stoner of the group
§  blazed.
o   @oddfuckingtaco (Taco)
§  Relatively misogynistic, but still in a very bully, teenage way
§  I'm a fat bitch, i'm crying cause this hamburger is so good
§  Awwwww Jennas mom is a bitch! #Awkward. What the fuck? That skank!
·      I will get more information, particularly in the individual member Twitters, as there are many more members in the group that I have not yet studied. My general perception thus far is that Odd Future as a cohesive group, represents/brands itself (primarily through their group Tumblr) using various repeating motifs (antichrist, skater, LA crew, hypersexualization). The individuals of the group, who differ in projected personalities and very much satisfy different niches in the group, while pulling on these same group-ascribed themes, each emphasize different aspects. Frankie Ocean, usually seen as the songcrafter of the group, puts on a romantic persona. Tyler projects himself in a blatantly, questionably ironic, misogynistic and nihilistic voice. 

Monday, October 3, 2011

Critical Review 3 - Cohen's "Men Making a Scene"


            In her article “Men Making a Scene,” Sara Cohen analyzes the performance of masculinity in the Liverpool rock scene. The scene is often characterized by an antagonism towards women as threats to an established culture, lust towards women as objects of sexual desire, and disrespect towards women as token musical commodities. Cohen gives a few examples of women in music, most notably the female lead singer of Space, as well as the women who are employed as music journalists. The latter example seemed indicative of the greater plight of the woman who years to be involved in the music industry – only welcome in ways that celebrate the boys in the game but stay completely out of the game itself. Unsurprisingly, however, the scene has generated a social landscape that not only discourages women from participating, but also completely eliminates their desire to.
            After reading the article, I began to question whether the machismo of the rock scene described in Liverpool at the time is genre-specific, time-specific, or a combination. Cohen writes that even within the explored scene, there are varying classes of masculinity, describing “a masculinity that is rather soft, vulnerable and less macho, aggressive and assertive . . . suggesting a fragile masculinity” (Cohen 29). If a strong assertion of masculinity is integral to the Liverpool rock scene discussed in “Men Making a Scene,” then does a subdued masculinity (displayed by bands like Cast, Space, and the Lightning Seeds) represent a departure from the genre, or simply exemplify another performative aspect of the genre?
            Another comparison we can draw is to the archetypical lead singer of a current indie-rock band. (Usually) He is a thin, shabby-looking male who almost looks almost boyish. The emphasis is not placed on a display of chauvinism, but almost an emasculated showing of emotion and vulnerability. I would also argue that in musical subcultures that celebrate such characters are more welcoming for female participants in all senses. Is the comparison between this type of singer and the typical “macho” singer in Liverpool one that already existed within the scene described in the article, is the typical Liverpool singer one indicative of the greater rock world, is it genre specific (indie-rock as opposed to rock), or has the role of gender in rock really evolved over the last fifteen years?