Kill Them All: The 15 Best Odd Future Songs

Tyler, The Creator released his second commercially-released record, Wolf, today. In anticipation of the release, he's recently embarked on a solo tour, and while it'll likely be a tamer event without his OF cohorts, it'll still be a mosh-pitting shit show, and knowing Tyler he'll probably bring out a slew of guests to help impress his diverse audience.

Though the majority of the rest of the Odd Future crew has been silent in recent months - aside from Frank's breakout Grammy performance in a cool yellow suit - it's wild to look back at the last three years of OF's raucous global domination.

As with any focus group, XXL's office is divided in their opinions on Tyler and the rest of the OF crew's music, but looking back at Golfwang's discography, there's some obvious gems and moments that are worth checking out if you're unfamiliar with the group's origins and deeper cuts. - Compiled by Dan Buyanovsky, with additional reporting by Abrea Armstrong and Nick Molina

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Earl Sweatshirt - "Earl"

It's amazing to think this video came out three years ago. This Harmony Korine-ish clip was what put OF on the map and looks like an awesome time with your friends, if you have an awesome time drinking drug cocktails, sitting in barber shops by yourself, and skating around suburban Southern California with your friends.

Tyler, The Creator - "Yonkers"

There's really no way to describe the way you felt the first time you saw the black and white, soft-focused video of a schizophrenic and suicidal young Tyler eat a roach, throw it up, then kill himself, all while rapping some ridiculously dark raps. It's off-putting, it's in-your-face, it's gross. It's everything that Odd Future is, or was.

Mellowhype ft. Frank Ocean - "Hell"

Left Brain's production is so weird - on "Hell," he mixes a loop of Tyler's voice with a looped guitar riff over live drums - but so bumping. He's an obvious descendant of master looper Reggie Watts, only a little less funny. Frank shines too, giving OF fans an early peek at the depth of his very-deep smoothness.

Tyler, The Creator & Hodgy Beats - "Sandwitches"

If "Earl" was the gang's public introduction, their live performance of "Sandwitches" on Jimmy Fallon is the moment that got young white America extra-wet about Golfwang and scared the shit out of old white America, much in the same way Eminem did when he first came out. Also, keep an eye out for Mos Def yelling "swag" into the camera at the end of the performance.

Domo ft. Tyler, The Creator - "No Idols"

OF's honorary weedhead Domo hooked up with Alchemist for No Idols, and the two are really a perfect match. The 11 track tape has a ridiculous lineup of features (Prodigy, Action Bronson, SpaceGhostPurrp), but this in-house banger best showcases Domo and Tyler's perfect chemistry. And of course, Alchemist is just fucking great at sampling.

MellowHype - "La Bonita"

Left Brain and Hodgy got some flack for this poppy single from their Numbers album, but it might be the best song in OF's catalogue. If not the best, by far the most accessible. Brain's always been the unheralded rapper in the crew, but luckily he takes on first verse of "Bonita" with a boasty, slowed-down approach that works perfectly with the beat, which sounds like it was produced by a Uruguayan Pharrell.

Tyler, The Creator - "Bastard"

There are a lot of fucked-up, emotional moments in Tyler's music, but the title track on his debut solo project is truly his most affecting work, soundtracked by a discomforting piano loop and randomly-appearing synth sounds. "Bastard" starts with the line, "This is what the devil plays before he goes to sleep," and continues as a disturbed therapy session in which Tyler explores every single one of his insecurities, and sounds like he's really trying to get to the bottom of something in his psyche. He doesn't get there on this song, but he does by the end of the album, which is comforting.

Mike G & Earl Sweatshirt - "Cool"

This is pre-trap rap. Earl doesn't sound like he doesn't know how to handle the beat so he competes with it and tries to get his shine (which he does). Mike G shows up for a guest verse where he raps in his typical drawl that sounds like he's sitting back in a lawn chair and smoking blunts. What else is there to be doing, though?

The Internet - "Cocaine"

The Internet's Syd and Matt Martians as The Internet were the sleeper indie stars of OF, and this debut single served as their mission statement. "Cocaine" is a groovy, left-field dance hit that's as chill-wave as it is hip-hop, and Syd sounds like a young Erykah Badu. A YouTube commenter asks, "is this an ad for coke?" Yes, it is, and coke's never sounded so good.

Tyler, The Creator & Frank Ocean - "She"

I feel like this is the one song where Frank really embraces the OF lifestyle, appearing in the weird suburban crime saga video and gently rap-singing the catchiest hook ever about being being a creeper. Tyler sounds like he's looking for a girlfriend on this one, and I'm sure this is the one that gets him the most OF lady love at shows.

MellowHype & Bass Drum of Death - "64" Live 

FuelTV brings together two like-minded groups in SoCal aggro-rappers MellowHype and Mississippi dirty-garage rockers Bass Drum of Death for this live performance of Mellow's "64." Hodgy's grizzly-voiced wordplay never sounded better.

Frank Ocean - "We All Try"

This is by far the most optimistic track from Frank's debut Nostalgia/ULTRA mixtape, but also the most heartbreaking. It's the type of song you can listen to a hundred times and feel differently about every single time. As Frank encourages us all to believe in something, he does, but what we're led to believe in most is our collective emotional frailty.

Little Dragon - "Seconds (Syd Tha Kid Remix)"

Syd takes the Swedish group Little Dragon's "Seconds" and gives it a late-90s chopped-and-screwed Timbaland vibe. She stays in her Internet niche by turning this track into ambient noise while still maintaining a distinct hip-hop aesthetic. It's as smooth as it is dance-ready.

Odd Future - "Oldie"

The closer from the OF Vol. 2 mixtape is really just a boom-bap cypher for the entire crew, even non-rapper Jasper, who comes through for a "9 bar, for the bitches." Frank Ocean pops up midway for a swaggy 16, and Tyler wraps up the song with the heartfelt rumination, "OF, shit that's all I got/From my bigger brother Frankie to my little brother Tac/From that father figure Clancy, to that skatey nigga Nak/Shredding down 'Fax, Wolfgang run the fucking block." We are family.

BONUS: 

Earl Sweatshirt & Tyler, The Creator - AssMilk

One of the most enjoyably immature, senseless tracks of the early OF days, containing probably the coolest pre-wilderness Earl line: "Your grind's feeble I'm regal, really, I'm Willie Smith." This track would be perfect, if only there wasn't that obnoxious, flow-stopping cut-away halfway through the track.