As we were reporting it Saturday, the Odd Future gang has just opened an OF/GolfWang pop-up store for the holidays on Fairfax avenue in Los Angeles, and the line of hundred of kids around the block on black Friday was impressive but not at all unexpected. Still, it is funny to think this was the result of the following blurb posted on their website just a few days ago:
‘OF/GOLFWANG Pop Up Shop Will Be Open On Black Friday! OF Merch, The GOLF Line, And Other Cool Bull Shit Will Be In The Store (and only the store, some stuff will not see the online store, and every week we add some new shit) For A Month. Come Spend Your Fucking Money And You Never Know, You Might Meet Someone! 410 North Fairfax, Los Angeles CA 90036. Monday Threw Sunday, 12pm Till 5pm. GOLF WANG.’
There was a ‘No fucking photo’ sign at the entrance, which I hadn’t seen first, and when I began to take some pictures I was immediately yelled at by a menacing security guard standing at the front door. What? No pictures? ‘It’s for a website’ I told him, but he couldn’t care less,… ‘You don’t want any publicity?’ I continued. Publicity? They just don’t need any at this point, they have become a real phenomenon and, right now, they could try anything with the same success.
I could not enter the store without lining up behind all these kids, and since waiting on line for 5 hours was not really my idea of spending my afternoon, I just got a glimpse at what was sold inside before the security guard screamed at me again…. ‘What did I tell you?’ he said visibly irritated by my presence as I was just looking through the window of the store. Is it a way to sell some merchandize? I just wanted to look at the multi-color OFWGKTA t-shirts and hoodies they were selling inside,… honestly even if some of these things are not available at their online store as they have advertised it, they looked quite the same to me, certainly full of cat heads, inverted crosses printed on golf wear shirts.
But there was another big attraction: Odd Future had just announced via Twitter a pre-Christmas show at the Roxy on December 22nd, with promises to give out ‘free shit’, and the tickets were only available at their pop-up shop, a very smart way to attract even more people.
The two pink and yellow letters ‘OF’ in front of the store looked like something coming from a Matt Groening’s cartoon, and I saw someone in the crowd carrying a kitten on his shoulder, probably named Tron after Tyler’s song. People were waiting very patiently, as they were letting just a few persons in the store at the same time.
Tyler the creator, made a very brief appearance outside when I was there, and when I took a picture, I got another of this nasty look from the security guard,… Tyler looked happy, nothing like his devilish-anti-Christ-of-his-generation-Goblin image, almost amazed, and smiling while looking at the crowd outside… yeah a real fucking success, he seemed to think.
Fairfax is a strange neighborhood, still filled with traditional Jewish businesses, and the center of Los Angeles Jewish community, but it has recently been invaded by skateboard-hip-hop clothing retail stores. As a matter of fact, when I was there, people across the street were filming a rap video with some fake Barack and Michelle Obama and black limos, which had nothing to do with OF. And when I saw some kippah-and-tzitzit-wearing Jewish men passing by, I couldn’t stop laughing at the idea that the band which invents the most controversial, horrific and hate-rape-murder-filled lyrics of the moment, has installed its shop in the middle of the most conservative LA neighborhood.
But what was the deal with that tough security? I though Odd Future was all about rebellion, not about acting like a fucking rock star!
As I was driving home, I saw an add for Goblin with the Yonkers’ lyrics ‘Success is the best revenge’,… Indeed.