Odd Future Gives Pitchfork an Interview Guaranteed to Make You Feel Old

No act since Odd Future has gotten audiences this legitimately excited–in awe of their music as well as their stage antics and Internet popularity–in a really long time. Music journalists love them because their songs are well-crafted, flow-driven, hook-laden hits. They're incredibly prolific; their stage antics are unpredictable and fun (chickens and zombies onstage!); they have a great origin story (where the hell did they come from?); they're fearless (f-bombs everywhere, from lyrics to interview) and have created their own mythology even in the age of Twitter.
Plus, being teenagers means they're armed with the audacity of youth, thereby satisfying media's infatuation with, you know, being young. All that just means it's cool to like Odd Future.

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For the most part, distilled into what matters most (the music, natch), the hype is pretty much deserved. (No, this is not Rebecca Black's “Friday.”) It's sophisticated, edgy hip-hop. (The fact that most of their work is free online, accessible to everyone, doesn't hurt.) The fact that they're not dissing Justin Bieber and still get excited by their growing fame is pretty cute.

It's all good–until they start talking about age, like they do in this Pitchfork interview. One of Odd Future's members, Tyler the Creator, talked about turning 20 like he was getting gray hairs in his ears; there's also mentions of juvy book series Goosebumps. It was slightly depressing.

Pitchfork: I've seen some stickers and flyers of the Goblin cover with Buffalo Bill on it all around SXSW.

Tyler the Creator: Yeah, I have two covers–that's the first one; you'll have to
wait to see the other one. When Buffalo Bill took that photo, he was
19. And I finished the album and made that cover when I was 19. It's a
crazy age–a couple of years before you're a legit adult. Buffalo was a
real nigga. When I do all my covers, I'll read up on dictators or serial
killers, then I came across old Western-gangsta niggas. He was cool
because he wasn't all negative or positive; he had traits from each
side. I turned 20 last week, but I feel 15 at heart. I probably won't
ever feel like I'm 20.

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