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“Everything is regular in Los Angeles, except us.”
But to answer who “us” is in the case of Domo Genesis and the rap and hip-hop family he shares, well, that’s another matter. Collectively called “Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All,” (aka Odd Future aka OFWGKTA), the 14-person group mixes members into multiple side projects. Mellow High, the trio consisting of Domo Genesis, Left Brain, and Hodgy Beats, is one incarnation, and they are coming to Velvet Jones Saturday.
Domo Genesis (real name Dominique Cole) joined the Odd Future crew when he met up with Tyler the Creator at Westchester High School in Los Angeles. Tyler was the unspoken head through force of personality, but according to Domo, “It wasn’t a music thing at first. We were cool as friends first, before music came into it.”
Domo attended Arizona State University for a while, leaving Odd Future — and the tracks he had recorded with them — behind.
“I wasn’t really big on telling people I was a rapper,” he says. “I didn’t know if I was going to do it. And then I was starting to hear from a bunch of people, ‘is this you? You’re really good.’ So I started to think about it a little bit more. Then I asked my mom in my second year of college, like, how do you feel about me dropping out of college and taking this seriously? I can’t stop thinking about it. When I’m in class, I’m not writing notes. I’m not paying attention. I’m just thinking about getting out and going into the studio.”
His mom relented, and he returned to find a lot of the groundwork already done. He started guesting on his friends’ records, and then released his own mixtapes, “Rolling Papers” in 2010 and “Under the Influence” in 2011.
Left Brain and Hodgy Beats already had their own sub-group called Mellow Hype, but once Domo started guesting with them, they all decided a sub-sub-group should be called Mellow High. Behind all these tracks, Left Brain brings the weird loops and beats found throughout Odd Future’s discography for what Domo calls a unique sound.
“His new sound is a great step up from where he was,” Domo says. “Even back then, the beats were super tight. But now they sound bigger. It’s just him. I don’t know what he’s influenced by. I don’t hear any other producers that sound like him. He does the high-hat thing, but it doesn’t sound like the trap movement that’s going on. He has a distinct sound.”
Mellow High
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Velvet Jones, 423 State St.
Cost: $10
Information: 965-8676, or www.velvet-jones.com