Hip-hop group Odd Future has been withdrawn from the line-up at New Zealand’s Big Day Out music festival in Auckland after the city’s council intervened following criticism over the group’s “homophobic, misogynistic and hateful lyrics”.
Odd Future, whose full name is Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, was set to appear at the festival in the Mt Smart Stadium, but the council has acted to ban the group after receiving a letter from an outraged local.
Calum Bennachie, a gay resident of Wellington, wrote an email to the organisers of the festival and to Auckland City Council’s Parks and Heritage Forum head Sandra Coney, expressing his concerns over lyrics used by the hip-hop collective.
As reported by GayNZ, Bennachie wrote: “I understand that the group Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (Odd Future) is to perform at the Big Day Out, despite the fact their songs contain extremely homophobic, misogynistic and hateful lyrics.”
He added: “Lyrics such as those played by Odd Future increase the societal discourse against LGBT people, a discourse that encourages bullying and violence.”
The row follows a similar debate last year when Beenie Man was due to appear at the festival, but was also withdrawn over concerns about the homophobic nature of his lyrics.
“People like Beenie Man and groups like Odd Future that promote hatred and discrimination against groups encourage violence against those groups. If it is acceptable to say something similar to 'Gays are a cancer on society that deserves to be eliminated?' then what group would be next?” Bennachie argued.
“Therefore, by allowing Odd Future to play at BDO, you are proving that you have little concern for the lives and welfare of LGBT people, that you are willing to endanger their lives, and seek to encourage stigmatisation against them. I find this disappointing in an organisation that could do so much to enhance the self esteem of youth, reduce stigma, and discourage violence.”
Coney confirmed the Los Angeles-based group would not now appear in the festival line-up. “After a discussion with BDO organisers this group will no longer be appearing in BDO in NZ,” she said.
Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, often abbreviated OFWGKTA and also known simply as Odd Future, is an alternative hip hop collective from Los Angeles, California. The group is led by rapper/producer Tyler, The Creator, and includes rappers Hodgy Beats, Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis and Mike G, singer Frank Ocean, producers Left Brain, Syd tha Kyd and Matt Martians, and other non-musical members, notably Jasper Dolphin and Taco. They are not rappers, but they do have features on group's mixtapes and Tyler's albums.
There are multiple groups inside the collective: MellowHype (Hodgy Beats and Left Brain), The Jet Age of Tomorrow (Matt Martian and Hal Williams, also known as the Super 3), EarlWolf (Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, The Creator) and The Internet (Syd tha Kyd and Matt Martian).
Check em out here
Eminems even heard of them.....Just...... they have a buzzz going. Getting them kicked of the tour probably makes people like me want to check them out to see what the fuss is all about.
So to sum things up. I´d never heard of these guys untill this happened. The moral of the story is.....complaining about art and letting it push your buttons just makes the artist more famous than they would have been if you had just ignored them. I wonder if Calum Bennachie would be bothered if he realised they were just little skater bratts with an attitude problem trying to shock people with their crass lyrics. Food for thought.
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