also: OFWGKTA Live in London
and a thoughtful recap of the nyc performance from s. fennessy
Tyler, who screams and wheezes and raps incredibly well and with a bizarre confidence for someone who is 19 and untested, is going to be famous. Maybe not Eminem famous. Maybe not even El-P famous. Though if he’s not, he failed.
Tyler stagedives, fearlessly.
When he spit A cappella he won the night.
Mike G already seems like the dark horse of the group—Mellowhype didn’t exactly have their shit together and people don’t yet know the BLACKENDWHITE songs yet. But when Mike was up there he had that head-hung-low, detached Fabolous flow working.
It’s true, there were a lot of writers, label executives, managers, bloggers, and even some aspiring groupies there. Who cares.
Tyler’s eyes are going to get stuck like that.
I thought “French” would be the song that tore the house down, but it was actually “Tina.” Surprising.
Earl Sweatshirt continues to be absent. Ben Detrick, a friend and fellow writer, rightly observed that his presence might have made the night somehow more important. Tyler is easy to intellectualize, but Earl is the rapper’s rapper.
Mos Def was in the building and he looked like he was enjoying himself.
Another friend bragged that he didn’t look at his phone once during the entire performance, which is obviously the new way to grade any performance forever more. 0 PHONE GLANCES. 0 TEXTS. 0 TWEETS. 0 ROUNDS OF SCRABBLE.
Mellowhype’s “Fuck The Police” went over big.
“Swag” has become a solid go-to when any conversation hits an awkward lull.Swag.
Catchdubs played a lot of Waka Flocka Flame before OFWGKTA came onstage. Smart.
Probably the first time the word “faggot” has been screamed with such clarity at that collection of people and received cheers. Still no way to rationalize or reconcile this.
Lots of kids knew the words. Tyler didn’t hesitate to aim his mic at the audience. They rarely slipped.
Swag.
