The /b/ Boys: Odd Future and the Swag Generation
In spite of the cuteness of the title, this is a great article from Sean Fennessey about the rise of Odd Future and their internet-underground ilk. Fennessey articulates something I’ve been thinking deeply about recently; the fact that the underground is mutating into something completely different than we saw 10 or even 5 years ago. Very much in the same vein as our Cloud Rap compilation, there seems to be a conscientious shift in sound and marketing going on that is diverse and varied, yet nevertheless linked in some indescribable way. Certain artists are embracing the internet in a way we haven’t really seen before, and in response there has developed a certain critical circle that has embraced that set of artists back. It appears, at first glance, to just be a blog circle jerk, with sites (like this one) covering the same set of artists deemed “cool” by trendsetters like Noz or Fader or whatever. Sometimes it can feel a bit stale and hypedriven. But what is great about this new circle is how, now and again, someone new slips into the cycle. I think the last dude we saw do that was Danny Brown, and there will always be someone next. Does that necessarily translate into any tangible success? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. What it does mean is the development of a new scene. Not just artists, but an entire subset of people devoted to listening to, covering, and spreading the word about these artists. And sometimes, that results in one of those acts (Odd Future, or Lil B), breaking more fully into mainstream consciousness. There is something of a vanguard identity developing with this internet-underground scene, which sometimes leaves it disconnected from the way this music is actually received in the streets, but I feel like at its core it’s driven by goodwill in an attempt to help these artists break out, instead of just claiming “FIRST” on every new artist.
-Flex
