In a recent appearance on “Art Official Intelligence Radio” with De La Soul, Tyler, the Creator discussed the inspirations behind his former group, Odd Future.
Highlighting the impact of prominent rap crews in the early 2000s, Tyler named Eminem’s Shady Records, Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records, and Nas’ focus on Queensbridge artists as key influences:
I grew up in the year 2000, I was eight turning nine, So I’m looking at like eight, turning nine. So let’s say it’s 2002, 10 turning 11. You’ve got Jay with the whole Roc-A-Fella, you’ve got Eminem’s Shady, Aftermath, you have all these different crews that felt like family. Nas was bringing Queensbridge group like Jungle and them out. Niggas had this thing. So in my formative years, I’m just watching these crews.
He elaborated on how the concept of a tight-knit group resonated with him and Odd Future, particularly given their outsider status. He explained:
I’m from Los Angeles, so gang culture is already a prevalent thing, but I feel like just the main layer of that is a family-knitted thing like, no, these are my boys, you come with me. When I was making Odd Future, outside of the magazine thing, it just actually felt like family for a bunch of outcasts. Everyone in Odd Future was the black sheep of their family. So us coming together and just like, nah, fuck y’all.
Tyler went on to credit this sense of camaraderie as a driving force behind Odd Future’s creative direction. He acknowledged missing the era of crews like Native Tongues but expressed how witnessing the unity within Roc-A-Fella shaped his own vision. He said:
Seeing people get Roc-A-Fella chains was like, oh, you’re part of the family. So I think just subconsciously emulating the sentiment that they held was easy.
