No, Odd Future Don’t Hate Each Other

Late last night, Tyler, the Creator let off a series of tweets that many interpreted as announcing the break-up of his Odd Future collective. "although its no more, those 7 letters are forever," he shared, seeming to refer to the acronym OFWGKTA.

Several outlets (including The FADER) quickly reported on the tweets, speculating as to whether they were an indication of in-fighting (or worse) within the Los Angeles-based crew. The FADER reached out to Odd Future's PR team for comment, and while the group declined to speak, they pointed us to a later reply from Tyler that added some useful context.

But Odd Future don't hate each other, and they haven't formally broken up—at least, as far as we can tell. When The FADER spoke with him for our December/January cover story, Tyler spoke at length on the changing state of the sprawling group, mainly suggesting that as individual members continue to develop their own careers and aesthetics—album rollouts, merch designs—the nature of their working relationship has shifted.

"Everyone's on their own island," Tyler told The FADER. "I want everyone to win, because everyone's path isn't mine. And that's what made me and my friends come together. Because we didn't have the same path. Everyone's path was different—that's why it was sick. You had all these different personalities, bro. That's what made everything tight."

"But there's no beef with anyone," he continued. "Just everyone's on their island. You know, I'm focusing on Golf Wang and shooting editorials, and geeking out on the fucking zipper of jackets. That's where I'm at, and then everyone else is on what they're doing. I just miss being at the studio and everyone there. That was fun. I talk to Syd here and there. Syd's tight. Syd's the best. You know, it's still me and Jasper. He slept over the other night—no homo. I was with Taco two nights ago—still my nigga. Nothing's really changed, just everyone be on their own shit now."

Producer/singer Syd Tha Kid housed the first Odd Future sessions in her home studio, and compared the bond to blood: "With us it's a little bit more like a family," she told The FADER for the story, "because you're not always going to like your cousin or your brother. You can beef and fight, but you can never split up, because you're family. We don't always get along with one another, but you know you can come back."

Manager Christian Clancy was more cautious with his words, but he told a similar story, pointing to OF radio as a recent collaborative project that's kept the crew tight. "The hardest part is all the different personalities. Not implying that they're at each other's throats. It's probably better that they aren't [together more], for that reason."

Overall, it's seems clear that the tight-knit crew of rappers and skate rats fans first fell for have outgrown the fraternal spirit of their early days, but we may be remiss to get too caught up on one tweet. Unless it's this one:

Read Tyler, the Creator's cover story in full.