It was always difficult to figure out where exactly Domo Genesis fit in with Odd Future. Earl Sweatshirt was its teen prodigy, Frank Ocean its silent genius, and Tyler, the Creator its radical leader. In the beginning, Domo seemed like merely another warm body to justify the "collective" tag; his lethargic, professional weed carrier raps never really complementing the anarchist shouts of his teen rebel cohorts. But eventually he carved out space for himself on sheer tenacity, becoming more technically proficient and simply rapping harder. As the collective dissolved around him, he continued to be its steadiest member.
His Odd Future Records debut, Genesis, is the culmination of his years of consistency, the result of existing on the fringes of his friends’ fame and trying to earn his keep. "If you don’t like this song they gon’ turn my lights off," Domo Genesis painfully reminds listeners on "All Night," and throughout Genesis he raps like it, spitting coiling phrases densely populated with slant rhymes. He spends much of its time searching for answers, trying to piece together a sensible reason to keep rapping. Over the course of the album’s running time, he finds one: he’s logged way too many hours to just quit now.
It’d be easy to discount Domo Genesis strictly as a stoner rapper, especially since his second single, "Go (Gas)," featuring smokers of note Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J, is packed with references to the drug (many from vocal straightedge rapper Tyler, in the vein of his appearance on "Rolling Papers"). But that’d be reductive. Domo Genesis can be a thoughtful writer. His paranoia starts to get the better of him on "Questions," which is a rabbit hole of internal doubt, and he communicates much of the internal conflict with his voice alone, which is cutting and combative. The flute-driven "One Below," a song prefaced by words from his mother, delves into how industry politics have reframed his outlook, rapping jarring lines like "I’ma take all of mine if they’ve got nothing to give/ The lack of inspiration had me chasing broken ideas" and "my life story gotta be worth somebody’s time." If anything, Domo seems to be sobering up.
The subtle, soulful production, from Christian Rich, Sha Money XL, Sap, and Cam O’bi, gives him mellow headspace from which to unspool his musings. When he raps over the elegant vocal chop on "Coming Back," with one of his most tightly wound verses, his bars snap into the pockets left by the sweet, retreating voice. But there are kinks: Sometimes the hooks on Genesis get wonky, there are portions of the record that feel unfinished (like the second half of "Wanderer"), and every now and then Domo will sneak in a groaner. But for the most part, Genesis is a revelation. "I got knowledge for every dollar made, so look at me now/ I'm scared of none of my flaws, they got 'em shook of me now/ So if you ever had a doubt about it, it shouldn’t be now," he raps on "Awkward Groove." Now that the Odd Future bubble has burst, Domo Genesis is finally figuring out his worth.
