Why Domo Genesis is the most underrated MC in OFWGKTA
featured track: Super Market feat. Tyler, the Creator (Rolling Papers)
Yeah, another po-faced article about Odd Future. The original plan I had was to write a template called “How To Structure a Tyler, The Creator Feature Piece”, given that every interview he does turns out the same: talking about the dark lyrics, how OF are a bit good, a bit about how Earl’s good, Tyler’s influences and then mushy rhetoric about how OF are the future of hip-hop. The new Wu Tang, etc. It’s not his fault, just a trap that writers tend to fall into with the star.
But how is that constructive? Rather than catty sorta-hype for Tyler, which you can read just about anywhere (remember how quickly this blog got on ‘em), I’d rather put some spotlight on the criminally underrated Domo Genesis, whose Rolling Papers is the best summation of how clinical OF can be.
Don’t get me wrong. Tyler’s hype is more than justified - he’s incredible. But as he said on Twitter, people forget it’s a gang with other brilliant MCs. Hodgy Beats is frenetic and jumpy, a swag-centric mile-a-minute spitter. Domo, on the other hand, is slow and purposefully sloppy at times, rapping about slowing it down and smoking Js amongst the flurry of hype, and in his LP, playing it cool amongst some of the highest BPM production in the Odd Future arsenal.
He’s also a fresh alternative to the straight-edge juggernaut. While Tyler’s about blow and Earl’s on “six different liquors”, there’s a wry smile of self-aware irony there. Domo’s unashamedly hazy, without sounding like an LA rap cliche. While there’s a part of me that prefers Freddie Gibbs’ approach to talking drugs, Domo’s got a way of bringing to environment he’s rapping in, whether it’s the almost chill-wave of SteamRoller or the chopped and screwed Buzzin, it’s a versatility that few in the gang can boast.
His flow itself varies between a composed but speedy delivery, or an almost spoken-word cool, that, in hindsight, acts as introspection in a blurry of hype. No-one smokes weed in a busy environment, really, do they? It’s escapism, away from the crowd and into a cloud, if you’re into rhyming.
Then of course, there’s Super Market, where Tyler joins on a brilliant boxing match of a track, with funfair production and a frantic back-and-forth of two people arguing in a supermarket queue. It’s brilliant. The whole time, Domo lets Tyler get more and more stressed out and violent, while maintaining cool with the mildest menace. He never rises to his counterpart’s taunts and put-downs, rather he sculpts his own in a cerebral and considered way, as a flurry of curse words comes his way. It’s the best OF song yet.
It’s Tyler’s time right now, but don’t forget the gang. Odd Future got to where they are because of the collective talent, and Rolling Papers is a modern classic, a raw example of the potential amongst the wolf gang.
