Odd Future: Sordid Steps Towards Fame

Odd Future

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (or Odd Future, as they'll be referred to for the rest of this piece) performed at last night's MTV U Woodie Awards. The performance at the college music award show wasn't the teenage hip-hop crew's first appearance on television, that would be last months diabolical rendition of "Sandwiches" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, but it was their first since the they came to the attention of listeners other than obsessive music blog readers.

The rise to fame (or at least internet version of it) has been relatively quick for the Los Angeles crew and at a quick listen it's easy to understand why. They rap with fury and charisma, running their way through intricate rhymes and evocative imagery in a way that few rappers can. Whether it be leader Tyler's billion-year-old growl, Earl's adenoidal clarity, or the fact that they produce and release all of their output themselves, there's a lot to like about Odd Future, as long as you don't pay attention to their lyrics.

But lyrics are made to be listened to and Odd Future's tend to make people's skin crawl. White Americans have long had a difficult relationship with rap, but they've rarely been confronted by a group like this. Pick a random moment from any song and prepare to encounter homophobia, anti-semitism, rape, murder, mutilation, all unrepentantly delivered with a smile. "They make Eminem sound about as violent as Wolf Blitzer. They are intent on terrifying every parent and Republican in America," Esquire's Foster Kamer wrote last month. That they're all teenagers only makes it worse. These are horrible things to hear coming out of anyone's mouth, let alone America's youth.

Which leads to big question about Odd Future: is it okay to like them? Do you like them because they're really great rappers who've created something possibly special by themselves or hate them because they so readily revel in all things sordid. Oh, and throw out the "well, they're just kids" excuse, because that doesn't really apply to Tyler and his compatriots. As Bethlehem Shoals wrote in an essay for Poetry Foundation, "At the same time, OFWGKTA makes such doggedly creative and self-aware music that it sometimes feels as if they've chosen depravity not because they want to, but because they can." It takes smarts to be this articulate about such screwed up things. Young as they may be, Odd Future know what they're doing, and for that they can either be admired or abhorred.

There is one thing that cannot be denied about Odd Future: their music demands notice from the listener. Can something this rancid be art? And can it be appreciated for its craft and technical merit, when it's substance is so repulsive? These are questions that confront every listener, and Odd Future wants it that way.

YouTube

Sources:

Odd Future Bring Their Destruction Tour to MTV, Amos Barshad, Vulture

Who Is Odd Future, Foster Kamer, Esquire

Odd Futurism, Bethlehem Shoals, Poetry Foundation

Washington Post Suspends Writer for Plagiarism

Tucson Festival of Books

The Washington Post suspended Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Sari Horwitz for three months today because of plagiarism. Horwitz copied sections from two Arizona Republic stories about the Jared Loughner shooting rampage and used them in her own work. The paper first reported and apologized for the plagiarism yesterday, but didn't name Horwitz until today. It also said that no other instances of plagiarism turned up in a review of her work.

In a statement released by the Post, Horwitz apologized, saying that her mistake had come under the pressure of deadlines:

"Under the pressure of tight deadlines, I did something I have never done in my entire career. I used another newspaper’s work as if it were my own. It was wrong. It was inexcusable. And it is one of the cardinal sins in journalism. I apologize to the Arizona Republic and its reporters and editors. I accept the punishment that The Washington Post has given to me. And I am grateful the paper will allow me to return. I hope to come back a better journalist and a better person."

Horowitz, who has been with the Post since 1984, shared a Pulitzer Prize with Scott Higham in 2002 for their coverage of child welfare agencies in the capital. She was also part of two of the paper's Pulitzer-winning teams in 1998 and 2007.

Sources:

Washington Post Suspends Reporter for Plagiarizing Stories on Tucson shooting, Paul Farhi, Washington Post

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Reporter Apologizes for Plagiarizing, Mark Memmott, The Two-Way/NPR

Washington Post Suspends Pulitzer-Winning Reporter Horwitz Over Plagiarism, Chris Peterson, Bloomberg

The Politics of Cutlery

Phillip Scott Andrews/The New York Times

Thought that Democrats and Republicans couldn't find anything new to fight about? Think again, as the latest battle for the two sides is over disposable cutlery in the House cafeterias. Under Representative Nancy Pelosi, vendors were required to provide biodegradable utensils, but with Republicans back in control, disposable forks and knives have returned. And unsurprisingly Democrats aren't too pleased.

"You wonder what's next. Lead paint? Asbestos? I mean, there's lots of things that are less expensive as long as you don't care about health and other considerations," Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer told NPR last week. He, and other Democrats, see this as an attempt to undo the efforts made to make Washington more green.

Republicans on the other hand argue over the cost and effectiveness of the program. At $475,000 a year, the benefit of compostable utensils was the equivalent of taking one car off the road, according to Sally Wood, a spokesman for California Republican Dan Lungren, who moved to return to disposable tableware. Also, the cutlery just wasn't very good, with forks bending and spoons melting in soup. “They could not penetrate lettuce,” Wood said to The New York Times.

While it was Republicans who rid the cafeterias of biodegradable utensils, the move was actually recommended by a Democrat. In a letter to the Republican transition team in December, Pennsylvania Democrat Robert A. Brady, then chair of the Administration Committee, wrote that the program was not cost-efficient. Regardless of this, the battle over House cutlery is just another opportunity to widen the partisan divide, and because of this it will surely rage on.

Sources:

Fight Waged With Forks Is Rejoined in Congress, Jennifer Steinehauer, The New York Times

Tempest In A Foam Cup: Lawmakers Spar Over Plastic, Ted Robbins, NPR

Nuclear Crisis Worsens; Situation Bleak for Japanese Near Reactor

Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Time

The US government considers the nuclear crisis in Japan to be worse than we are being led to believe. Yesterday in Congressional testimony, Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that he believes that the rods at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station are exposed and bleeding into the atmosphere. “We believe that radiation levels are extremely high, which could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures,” he said.

Fresh from dealing with a catastrophic earth quake and tsunami, Japan has had to shift its focus to avoiding nuclear meltdown at the power station. The Japanese government has ordered those within a 12 mile radius of the plant to evacuate, and those between 12 and 19 miles to stay inside in hopes of limiting their exposure to possible radiation, while the US embassy has recommended that Americans stay at least 50 miles clear of the area. Japanese officials have been able to provide little aid and supplies, like food and gas, are scarce, leaving people feeling forgotten and out of options.

"The government is demanding that we don't go out, but it isn't bringing us anything," Katsunobu Sakurai, the mayor of a city close to the evacuation zone, told the Los Angeles Times. "Truck drivers don't want to enter the city. They're afraid of being exposed to radiation…. If the government says we're in a dangerous area, it should take more care of us!"

While those near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station are currently most concerned with ending the crisis and the health effects they will face, they also worry about the social cost of living close to the plant. Survivors of Hiroshima spent their lives dealing with the stigma of having been exposed to radiation, and it is not much of a leap to think that the same will happen again.

LandScan 2009 population dataset/UT-Battelle (population estimates)

Sources:

U.S. Calls Radiation ‘Extremely High;’ Sees Japan Nuclear Crisis Worsening, David E. Sanger, Matthew L. Wald, Hiroko Tabuchi, New York Times

Isolated and Angry Amid Fukushima Nuclear Crisis, Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times