This is a story about meeting the hype before the hype, the famous rapper before the fame. This post details my first interaction with Odd Future leader, Tyler the Creator, before he and his crew were catapulted to the stardom they enjoy now.
The story centers on the Hypebeast forum, which was pretty popular at the time. I use to visit the site to converse, debate, and drop opinion on upcoming artists. I built quite a following on Hypebeast because of my ability to provide a critical review with no extra BS.
On May 5th, 2008, I happened to be browsing aimlessly through the forums until noticed a thread by a member named “bloxheads.” He posted a new beat that he had created, and I replied with some praise and constructive criticism. I really liked the beat, but I just thought it was a bit choppy.
Well, “bloxheads” was actually a name that Tyler The Creator was using at the time, and he didn’t take too kindly to my comments. I had said it had a Neptunes sound but it wasn’t smooth. In real Odd Future fashion, he tried to attack me for my POV.
We went back and forth for a bit, exchanging attacks with each reply. I had said that the reason I liked it was only because it sounded like Neptunes and he was unoriginal, his response was “being original doesn’t matter” and so on.
I ultimately said “good luck with your career as a bandwagon jumper,” which is hilarious in hindsight seeing that his career has exploded. He definitely had to be original to get to this level. Tyler & Odd Future are definitely not a typical group nor do they share similarities with any other groups out there.
Maybe I sparked their originality. Ha, no. But it’s an interesting story nonetheless.
Read the whole thread here.
