Thoughts From A Random Black Guy: Lionel's Last Column!

Frank Miles

​[Editor's note: Odd Future member Lionel Boyce writes a weekly column for West Coast Sound. His archives are available here.]

For those unaware, Spin magazine did a cover story on Odd Future. I somehow managed to get interviewed by the writer, Julianne Sheppard -- given the nickname J-Rock by me, just now -- and while at the photo shoot for the cover, she asked me to step into some of the pictures. It just so happened that they ended up using one of those for the cover.

The one they chose had everyone covering their face, and in the corner you can see my forehead exposed. At the time I thought nothing of it, but it turns out I was in for a surprise. Since the issue came out, my forehead has been catapulted to superstar status.

Clockwise from 9 pm: Lionel's forehead, a bunch of other stuff

​Everywhere I go, people are stopping me to take a picture with my forehead, or asking me to strike that famous pose. I try my best to be nice about the situation, but it's very annoying when I'm at the barber shop and a person interrupts my haircut just to ask for my forehead to sign something. I even tried to disguise it by wearing headbands or bandannas, but people can still spot it from a mile away.

Don't get me wrong -- far more positives have come from this. I am now a forehead model and have been getting special privileges at all the best restaurants.

Most importantly, there is no better feeling than seeing a kid's face light up as they meet their idol. At the OF pop-up shop on Black Friday, I ran into a kid who broke into tears of joy at the sight of my forehead. He was a teenage boy who began to tell me how my forehead inspired him. He was on the brink of suicide, but when he saw my forehead on that cover, something in him changed and he had a whole new outlook on life. It was very touching and shit.