Domo Genesis On Odd Future: “It’s Time To Step Up For Myself”

Sitting down with The Masked Gorilla, Odd Future rapper Domo Genesis described his recent entry into the industry, stepping out as a solo artist as a part of the group, and wanting a beat from Kanye West.

Joking that he began his Rap career at the age of two, Domo Genesis said he “had to hone [his] skills.” “When I was 19 I came out, I was like, ‘Yo, I’m about to do this,’” he said. “People started liking it, put out a mixtape called Rolling Papers, people was like, ‘This is sick.’ So I started doing more and more and now I ended up at here, ready to do a show.”

Referencing his first headlining show—the interview was filmed prior to his performance—Domo went on to talk more generally about remaining a member of Odd Future while also stepping out to focus on his solo career. “That’s actually really tight,” he said of the concert, “not to say I didn’t expect it to happen ‘cause I knew it was gonna happen soon, but now that it is here I feel like I’m started to focus on myself now, do more shit for me. The group is the group. Everybody knows about it. It’s time to step up for myself so I feel like this is the first step.”

During the interview, the emcee also offered his plans to release two projects by year’s end. “I wanna have a mixtape and album out this year,” he said. “My album most likely won’t come out to the end of the year maybe. But I’m trying to get a mixtape between there so I can stay relevant and shit.”

Talking about his relationship with Freddie Gibbs and Alchemist—Domo has collaborated with both artists and most recently featured on Gibbs’ Pinata—the Los Angeles rapper also touched on the possibility of rapping on an original Kanye West beat. “Gibbs and Alchemist are just my homies,” he said. “It’s not even like I’m fanned out, those are just really my homies. So when we go to the studio and do shit it’s just because we’ve been kicking it.

“Other people I wanna work with, I always wanted a beat from Kanye West,” he continued. “That’s my favorite rapper of all time. I wanna get a beat from him. I wanna get a feature from the whole Lox, the whole camp. It’s a bunch of shit I still wanna do. I don’t really like too many people, I’m not into rappers and being too friendly and shit with everybody. But there’s a couple people I really want to work with.”

Near the end of the interview, Domo Genesis broke down his sound as inspired by both East and West Coast artists. “A lot of people tell me that I sound more East, but I grew up in Inglewood,” he said. “It’s been all West Coast stuff for me, I really love the West Coast sound, all of that. The shit that I chose to be inspired by when I was younger that made me start rapping was like Nas and Mobb Deep and shit. It is East Coast influence but I still feel like I talk about West Coast things. I feel like when people have a certain Rap style, when they’re rapping about conscious shit, people are like, ‘Oh, you sound like this person.’ I just wanna talk about little shit that I think about.”

In 2012, Domo released his Alchemist produced mixtape No Idols. HipHopDX’s review, which granted the release the highest possible “Free Album” rating, called the project “a short but sweet roller coaster ride celebrating Domo Genesis and his ongoing pursuit of stardom.” “Altogether, Domo Genesis possesses a growing technical ability that has only been sharpened thanks to the chemistry with Alchemist heard here,” DX wrote.

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