Review Summary: Goblin is enjoyable on some parts but for the most part it's dull, uninspired, and it's just Tyler going through the motions
Odd Future are hyped a lot. Everybody who’s anybody knows who they are, despite whether they listen to them or not. Still, there is a wealth of talent among the crew members. Domo Genesis is a modern day weed rapper who’s not sloppy as ***, Hodgy raps among the best of L.A.’s blog rap scene, Mike G is a great lyricist, and Tyler and Earl are just, Tyler and Earl. The producers are also great too. However, Tyler’s recent fame has ultimately become his downfall. There’s not as much hunger to the music anymore, and it all seems like it was made to appeal to the fans rather than to themselves. By them, I mostly mean Tyler. As much as Tyler wants to sell out in a good way,
Goblin is a bit of a sell out in the bad way.
I mean, yeah Tyler’s still an interesting lyricist and his beats are grimy as ***, but there’s a huge lack of hunger. Tyler doesn’t sound angry because he’s angry, he sounds angry because it appeals to people. In essence, it’s like he’s become the reincarnation of Eminem. It’s not exactly a bad thing, but it’s not the best thing either. His sell out attempts really show during the tracks. “Radicals” is pretty much seven straight minutes of hyping Odd Future, “Bitch Suck” is pretty much something for Jasper to shout nothing over for quite an amount of time. Oh yeah, and Goblin is too freaking long. 74 minutes of slow, pulsating rap that starts to drone in your head.
Yeah, so quite a bit of this sucks, but it has its high points as well. “Tron Cat” slams hard with dirty synths and snappy drums, “Yonkers” has Tyler rapping at his best over the sound of a stuttering engine, and “Sandwitches” has some of the fiercest rapping on the whole album. The only problem is its slow, minimalist beat that doesn’t match the track at all. Tyler still raps well, his beats only keep improving and he’s still awesome overall. Goblin just feels lazy though. Oh and the OF crew spots are pretty good, ranging from Hodgy’s excellent rapping to Frank Ocean’s beautiful, inspired singing.
Basically, this is Tyler going through the motions. He still has a lot of slow songs, He still experiments with the same styles, and he still borrows a lot from Eminem and The Neptunes. Basically, everything is still the same. Overall, I enjoyed Goblin, just not as much as I wanted to.
