Opinion: Casey Veggies Controls His Own (Odd) Future

Casey Veggies is definitely on your radar by now. He’s coming off the release of his newest mixtape, Customized Greatly 3, and two successful tours with Mac Miller. Remember when he decided to leave the mega-popular Odd Future crew after his high school graduation? In case you don’t, Casey was a founding member of the crew, but he realized that in order to do exactly what he wanted with own career, he would have to branch out on his own.

It might seem like a questionable decision on the outside, but if you look into it a bit more, it’s easy to give Young Casey Veggies the props he deserves. We are in an era of hip-hop dominated by various cliques and crews. Many of these crews are centered on a front man who has already managed to hit it big, and then filled with up-and-comers trying to get “put on” by the man at the top. Say what you want about getting “put on,” but it often comes down to other emcees, struggling with a style of their own, trying to ride the boss’s coattails to success. Casey Veggies decided to go against the trend of getting with a crew and riding it out until they all get famous.

No disrespect to the crews who follow the above model (Odd Future is following a model truly unique to themselves), but it is nice to see an emcee take the challenge of going solo and do it for the right reasons. When asked about why he decided to split from Odd Future in a November, 2011 interview, Veggies replied,

“It’s hard to explain, really, but I just had more of a [different] vision for my own rap career. I wanted to do my own thing.”

Veggies had his own vision and he knew that sticking with Odd Future wasn’t going to make that vision materialize. Tyler, the Creator had no problems with Casey’s decision to split from Odd Future after his graduation from Inglewood High School in June of 2011, saying:

“He knows exactly where he wants to go so let that n-gga decide. But he always know if he ever needs anything: beats, a dollar, sneakers, a bag, deodorant, waffles, peas” said Tyler. “I have his back.”

Both Odd Future and Casey Veggies have released new material lately; The Odd Future Tape Volume 2, and Customized Greatly 3, respectively. When comparing the two, it is easy to see where Veggies was coming from when he said he had a different vision for his career. The dark and choppy beats from the Odd Future tape hardly compare to the more laid-back, jazzy production featured on Customized Greatly 3. That ‘s not to say that Veggies’ tape doesn’t have a few tracks that Tyler, Hodgey, Earl and the rest of the crew could find themselves at home on. In fact, one of the stand-out tracks, “PNCINTLOFWGKTA” features all of Casey’s old crew and is produced by Tyler, the Creator.

Overall, Casey Veggies is doing things the right way — his way. Moving on from Odd Future didn’t spark another unnecessary, publicity-driven beef for fanboys to blog about. He just simply realized that for him to do what he wanted to, he had to branch out.

Odd Future certainly will continue just fine without Veggies and it’s looking like Young Casey is doing just great on his own as well (he’s had tracks with the likes of Dom Kennedy, Chip tha Ripper and Juicy J as well as a successful tour). Casey is currently managed by Peas and Carrots International, a Los Angeles based clothing, promotion/creative and management company and they are doing some good things over there. Also, rumors have been swirling around for some months now linking Veggies to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label. He has dismissed the notion, but if it ends up happening, Casey Veggies will have done it on his own, with his own style that has been Customized Greatly.