I don’t think we ever reviewed the Of Tape 2 at The Passion. Long story short, man is that thing boring. The vast majority of the tracks are completely ignorable compared to their previous work and it makes you wonder who’s idea it was to turn the group into an anonymous battle-rap vehicle for Hodgy and Domo. Oldie is awesome because Earl is back. Analog 2 is great because Tyler continues to be one of the most interesting character actors in rap today and he always benefits from the ironic restrain he occasionally demonstrates. Snow White and White live and die off Frankie and Sam (is Dead) is what the whole tape SHOULD have sounded like.

Internet rap commentary is victim to weird form of polarity: you either like something or hate it and any shift in opinion is considered treason. Criticism of Odd Future suffers a particularly acute form of this syndrome as a result of the massive wave of hype the group ascended on last year, leading to a great many critics who either hate them for their success or alternately love them unconditionally because to do otherwise would be to admit that the group isn’t THE GREATEST THING EVER THAT TOTALLY WARANTED ALL THE HYPE. The reality as usual lies in the vast middle-ground between these extremes: the group was awesome at chronicling the absurdity of teenage life but where will they go now that they’ve permanently left that phase of their life? It’s an riddle that neither The Native Tongues nor The Hieroglyphics posse nor any other whip-smart ex-teenage rappers have solved. I’d like to see them succeed but it seems hypocritical to bash them if they fail.