Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide

After years of mixtapes, erstwhile Odd Future rapper and MellowHype MC releases his debut album. He sounds completely unmoored, stuck somewhere between punchline rapper, storyteller, and moralist.

At this point, the idea of an Odd Future member growing up isn’t necessarily newsworthy. Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt—the two best-known members of the hip-hop collective outside of Frank Ocean—have both managed to build careers that move beyond the controversy of their earlier lyrics. That’s not to say…

Out of all the active MCs who were instrumental in forming Odd Future, Hodgy (formerly Hodgy Beats) was the first to deliver a project with...