The Internet has been going nuts for a few weeks now over Odd Future, L.A.’s contrarian, teenage blog-rap heroes, being booked on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (by the way, here’s the flyer announcing the gig). Forget for a minute that they may be one of the least famous musical acts to ever play on national TV — which of their bangers could possibly get by Standards and Practices? Well, last night on Late Night, they managed to find the right track: a self-censored “Sandwiches,†featuring just two members of the crew, front man Tyler the Creator and Hodgy Beats, plus a bemused Roots on support. They also managed to kill it.
The basics: ski masks; two Travelocity gnomes; a horror-movie escaped-from-the-asylum type, just sort of milling around; Mos Def, there strictly in fan capacity, screaming “swag†directly into the camera over and over again; and the kind of reckless glee that might only reside in 19-year-olds who can’t quite believe someone is letting them rap about shooting children on television. At one point, Tyler runs around the studio and ends up right behind the couch, screaming into the ears of terrified but game Felicia Day and Brandon T. Jackson, there plugging Big Momma’s House: Like Father, Like Son (too bad first guest Forest Whitaker didn’t stick around!). He ends the bit on Jimmy Fallon’s shoulders, smiling maniacally.
Nice work here by Fallon’s musical coordinator. If Odd Future does blow up, this appearance will be mentioned (“the first time that a national … †blah blah blah) in every bio of the band forever. Also, how many solicitous phone calls are the still-unsigned Odd Future fielding right now? Enjoy all those free dinners, guys!