By February, Tyler Okonma’s 2011 had already kicked the shit out of yours. And since then, not much has changed. Read our Odd Future Survival Guide if you don’t know what we’re talking about.
As LA-based rap collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All’s designated demigod, Okonma (Or, as he’s alternatively known: Tyler, the Creator; Ace; Dr. TC; Wolf Haley; Young Nigga; Tron Cat) has pretty much single-handedly led the Wolf Gang assault on modern hip-hop. And, in the process, he’s lit the blogosphere on fire, garnering a Jimmy Fallon appearance; a shout-out from Kanye West (who in February proclaimed “Yonkers,” Tyler’s single-shot, black and white, obscenely artistic, suicidal saga, as “video of the year”); collaborations with artists up and down the spectrum; and oh—did we mention a VMA? Yeah. Not for Video of the Year, as ‘Ye predicted, but instead for Best New Artist. To say the least, Tyler was stoked.
Released in October, “Bitch Suck Dick” is the fourth and most recent single from Goblin, Tyler’s May 2011 release from XL Records and the followup to his self-released 2009 Bastard. Where “Yonkers” was brutally, beautifully dramatic, “Bitch Suck Dick” is—how do we say this—comically misogynistic? Directed by Tyler under his Wolf Haley guise, it features a parade of plus-sized video girls, yoga mat stop drop and rolling, censored dick-wagging, and even a mock cooking show featuring fellow Odd Future member Taco’s specialty: ass-rubbed steak. Mmm, delicious. In sum, it’s a kaleidoscopic, ADHD-soaked look inside the brain of Tyler, the Creator.
The track also features fellow Odd Future members Jasper Dolphin and the aforementioned Taco, who appear, it would seem, for nothing more than a taste of crude comedic relief. Not that this song really needs any help in that arena. If the delightfully catchy chants of, “My bitch suck dick like she suck dick,” weren’t enough to stir most normal people into an uproar (they were), Jasper’s intro of, “By the way, we do punch bitches,” and Taco’s, “Swag on my dick, 30 thousand million, nigga,” most certainly did the trick. Before we even begin to question what any of this actually means and whether we should be immediately offended, we need to first understand where Tyler is coming from.
He is not a role model. Nor is he trying to become a role model, a fact that he makes blatantly clear on Goblin’s title track, rapping, “I’m not a fucking role model. I know this. I’m a 19-year-old fucking emotional coaster with pipe dreams.”
Nor is he, at least far as we know, a Satan-worshiping Hitler reincarnate, as many mass media outlets like to believe. What we do know is this: he’s a punk. He’s a skater kid from LA with lofty ambitions and an affinity for tie-dye, cats and the excessive use of four-letter words. He also has a softer side: Tyler is a self-proclaimed Justin Bieber fan and would like nothing more than to produce a track for him, although he acknowledges that this video has likely thrown away any chance he might have previously had of working with Biebs.
Additionally, it seems he is nearly impossible to offend. In fact, the only thing that might do the trick would be to ask him who—or where—Earl is, Tyler’s best friend and fellow Odd Future-mate who disappeared (reportedly to a Samoan boarding school) sometime after the release of his own epithet-filled album last year. Beyond that, it would appear that nothing, and we mean nothing, bothers him. Not the N-word, not the numerous homophobic and misogynistic references he constantly hurls. Nothing. And as far as he’s concerned, if Tyler ain’t offended, ain’t nobody offended. And, well, if you are—he clearly couldn’t care less. Unless, just maybe, you’re Justin Bieber. Swag.
