Shock value was everything for Odd Future when they were getting started. Whether donning ski masks and performing alongside possessed-looking girls on Jimmy Fallon, detailing ridiculously violent sexual encounters, or mixing seemingly-lethal drug cocktails in their music videos, the L.A. crew first got attention for their antics, in addition to their considerable talents.
Although they've mellowed out a little in recent years-- with Earl Sweatshirt no longer rapping about "Mrs. Claus tripping balls" and Tyler, The Creator releasing his happiest album to date with Wolf -- Earl's new video proves that a horror film-inspired darkness still lurks underneath a lot of their music. While more light-hearted members like Mike G, Frank Ocean, Domo Genesis and Syd The Kid never really got into that darker space with their music, pretty much everyone else in the crew did, at one point or another.
Leading off with Earl's "Grief" visuals, here are their most skin-crawlingly disturbing music videos.
Earl Sweatshirt - "Grief"
While Earl's latest video pales (pun intended) in comparison to many of his earlier one's, if it were any other rapper putting this out, it'd probably be their darkest video to date. Shot in what appears to be night vision, "Grief" gives us a spectral, spooky look at a minimal scene featuring Earl and some friends smoking up. Oh yeah, there's that creepy girl in it too.
Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis & Tyler, The Creator - "Rella"
While nothing in this video is scary per se, it falls more into the category of "things you do not want to watch while on drugs." It's not hallucinatory, but it presents scenes that are fucked up and downright unnerving at times. Somehow, it's also kind of fun.
Earl Sweatshirt - "Chum"
Another dark Earl video, "Chum" features very subtle distortions of reality, such as the mask that appears on the dog's face and some unnaturally large toads.
Hodgy Beats & Tyler, The Creator - "NY (Ned Flander)"
Alright, the rest of this video is disturbing, but nothing tops Tyler as a baby. Dude makes the most bizarre looking child since the one in "Rosemary's Baby."
Tyler, The Creator & Frank Ocean - "She"
Lots of Tyler's music deals with his awkwardness towards girls, and he usually deals with it in sociopathic ways. In this case, he creeps on a girl while she's sleeping and ends up getting arrested for it. Don't try this at home, kids.
Mellowhype - "64"
In this sacrilegious masterpiece, Left Brain rolls a huge joint with Bible pages and Hodgy Beats' casket is filled with a writhing pile of snakes. A chaotic clip that the duo will probably never top again.
Earl Sweatshirt - "Earl"
When my friend's little brother turned 16, we showed him this video and said, "You're the same age as this guy was when he made this. Your turn." Obviously, we were joking, as spazzing out on a lethal mixture of drugs isn't ideal, but we thought these visuals (which also depict skating accidents, a dude ripping off his fingernail, etc.) would put hair on his chest.
Tyler, The Creator - "Yonkers"
Of all the videos on this list, "Yonkers" is by far the most minimal. But it's even creepier because of that. Here, we see Tyler with blacked-out eyes, puking, producing cockroaches out of his mouth, and eventually hanging himself. I mean... fuck!