Intern’s Corner
Tyler, The Creator is an American rapper, producer, and designer known for his eclectic musical style and descriptive lyricism. He gained fame as the leader of the alternative hip-hop collective Odd Future, which influenced an entire generation of artists. Beyond music, he is also recognized for his fashion line, Golf Wang, and his creative ventures in television and film.
Tyler, The Creator made his big return on Monday morning, October 28th, with his new album Chromakopia. “Noid,” the single for this album, left fans perplexed but excited to see what direction Tyler would take this album. The song included an electric guitar lead, gritty production, and was coupled with a music video that put Tyler’s creative vision on display.
The vision for the album seemed dark from the promotional material and the single. The music video and other videos preceding the album were black and white featuring grungier sounds and instruments and vocal performances from Tyler. There were splashes of color in the promotion, and that vibrance of color was what was actually reflected the most in this project.
The album starts off with “St. Chroma” and “Rah Tah Tah” which both function as introductions to different facets of this album. “St. Chroma” shows off the production that this album will contain, with marching drums and a menacing instrumental that transforms into a beautiful eruption of sound, while “Rah Tah Tah” is Tyler once again proving that he is one of the most talented rappers alive on an explosively energetic instrumental.
“Darling, I” is the most likely track to be a hit on this project, containing a beautifully composed r&b instrumental with a chorus that you could not pull out of your skull if you tried. Teezo Touchdown’s vocals on this track tie it all together, making it hard to not leave this track in a better mood after listening to it no matter what mood you were in previously.
The tracklist pivots after this track into “Hey Jane,” which is one of Tyler’s most important tracks to date. The mellow, smooth instrumental lets you focus on the story that Tyler is telling. He raps from the perspective of himself and a woman that he got pregnant as they are contemplating an abortion.
The track is full of raw emotion. Tyler is trying to be as supportive as possible, but knows that he will never truly understand the emotions the woman is feeling. As he raps from the woman’s perspective, he is showing the thought process behind both paths they could choose. Tyler does a fantastic job of conveying the emotions to the listener in a way that most people can connect with.
This track comes at a very important time, when there are people in the government who want to take bodily autonomy away from women. Tyler shows in this track that abortion is not an easy decision. He does a great job of attempting to destigmatize the situation, and humanize it for those who have the perspective that women should not have the right to choose.
The next three tracks make for an incredible run on the album. “I Killed You” has an inventive, unique beat in the first half of the song with slapping drums and guitar plucks formulated into a hip hop beat, followed by a beautiful transition into the back half of the song with an instrumental that feels like you are sitting in a garden, with heavenly Childish Gambino vocals to top it all off.
“Judge Judy” comes next, which features Tyler taking some massive risks vocally and on the production side; all of which pay off. Childish Gambino appears again, harmonizing with other vocalists in-between Tyler verses which makes for a one-of-one Tyler, The Creator track.
Following that is one of the most fun tracks on the album. “Sticky” sees features from Glorilla, Sexyy Red, and Lil Wayne, which are all short but pack a punch in this song. The instrumental is grand and hard hitting, and the chorus is another one that is sure to stick with you for a long time after you hear it just once.
There are plenty of great moments in the back half of this album, but the biggest one has to be “Like Him.” The song opens with a monologue from his mom, talking about how Tyler has all of his father’s physical features (legs, hands, etc.). The song centers around Tyler expressing how not having his father in his life has affected his well-being, and how having some of his personality traits have made him do things in life that maybe he wouldn’t have done otherwise.
The mark of a generational artist is when their storytelling is unrelatable to the listener, but the way they craft their lyrics puts the listener in their shoes emotionally, and makes them feel everything they want them to feel. That is exactly what Tyler does in this song. Although it is not his most graphic song, it may be his most emotionally open, which makes for an absolute heart-wrencher. This one is a must listen.
Whether or not this album will age into Tyler’s best is yet to be seen. What has been seen so far is the impact this album has had in just one week. It is projected to sell almost 300k units in the first week with every song on it occupying the top 14 spots on the Billboard charts, and placed Tyler as the #1 most listened to artist on Spotify, dethroning Taylor Swift. The only other artists to dethrone Taylor this year have been Kanye West, Beyonce, and Eminem, putting Tyler in some pretty elite company (which has caused “Swifties” to try everything to cancel Tyler and remove him from the top spot with no success, but that’s a conversation for another day).
We are extremely fortunate to witness the progression of Tyler, The Creator as an artist in real-time. He has grown into an undeniable top 3 hip hop artist of our generation. He is unique, inventive, and proved himself once again on Chromakopia. Hopefully he doesn’t make us wait too long for his return.
