Arts & Culture
The Long Road to Maturity of one Tyler Gregory Okonma
Tyler, The Creator has shown immense strides in his craft and his confidence, and our ears reap the benefits.
I’ve been bumping Tyler’s new album CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST since its release. I’m actually listening to it right now (put on SWEET/I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE if you want to feel the vibes). It’s no secret that I am a huge Tyler fan. His was the second to last concert I went to pre-lockdown (with my nephew, because I’m cool like that). Back then he was touring for Igor, my album of the year for 2019, and I was already in awe of his growth as not only a rapper but a producer and composer. Despite being a fan since his Goblin days and being in awe of his debut track Yonkers’s minimalist, punchy beat, it was only with Igor that I truly understood the craftsmanship behind his music. I loved the album so much that it made me revisit his critically acclaimed album Flower Boy with a renewed interest, only to come to the same conclusion. This man is a genius at his craft. With every album, he sounds so very Tyler, yet he expands and expounds familiar themes and sounds to new heights. While his earlier work could certainly be categorized as shocking for shock’s sake, and I will get into this later, he also slipped in moments of deep vulnerability and poetry while discussing themes like loneliness, jealousy, feeling abandoned by his father, and being the weird kid.
Now, for all of Tyler’s genius, he also said some extremely suss shit throughout his career, to put it lightly.
Tyler has literally been banned from entire countries for comments he’s made, some to this day. These imperialists and settlers hate Tyler (I’m looking at you, England and Australia). Yet his rise to fame has been exponential in the last few years, and now includes more than just brilliant, modern funky and jazzy retro hip-hop music with a side of Bossa Nova, but also a fashion line, writing credits, movie scores, and more. Tyler expresses the culmination of all his wins on the BLESSED interlude on his new album.
Listening back to his older stuff, it is clear that he has evolved beyond that horrorcore label he hated at the time. That is not to say that he has dulled his edge. On the contrary, it’s now so sharp that he only needs to use it lightly and at the right time for the perfect effect.
Tyler has matured, and our ears are reaping the benefits.
Of course, if I’m going to make such claims I feel the need to revisit the discography. So I just randomly decided to sit down and listen to his entire discography up until this point while folding the laundry. (This ended up spanning a few days. The basket of neglected clothes was big, but not seven albums big.)
Feel free to skip this part, but know that I did *some* due diligence before coming to my conclusion that Tyler is in his mother*cking bag right now and is only just getting started. Grab a coffee and click here if you’re into thoughts on songs. I did the whole discography, y’all. If not, skip to the next part.
After listening to his discography, I feel like I could make 4 or 5 different Tyler albums by mixing and matching his songs from each album to cover all of his cohesive yet distinct sounds. Tyler gives you clear vibes. When listening to CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, it felt so familiar, yet so new. Some songs instantly reminded me of other ones. (Lemonhead reminded me of Domo23 and Who Dat Boy, while Juggernaut brought me back to New Magic Wand and I Ain’t got Time! Meanwhile, WILSHIRE reminded me of November and RUNNING OUT OF TIME, and SAFARI gave me Droppin’ Seeds vibes. You get the idea.)
People are already saying Calling Me If You Get Lost is his best album. I’ve been listening to it constantly since it’s been released, but I still think it’s too early to call. I will gladly make that decision for myself eventually as I’m listening to his work yet again. He might have an even better album in him, if not more. Tyler is just starting to perfect his sound while merging his different personas in a much more cohesive way. He’s still discovering himself. He’s still out here saying wild shit, but he’s also looking at life through a new lens. One that is influenced by his newly acquired wealth, for sure. He’s got resources by the barrel load. But he knows he is blessed, and as he puts it, he doesn’t take anything for granted. He makes it clear he’s not the same teenager that ate a cockroach for his first official music video, but he’s not looking down sanctimoniously at the young man he used to be.
With Tyler Beaudelaire, it’s less “Kill People, Burn Shit, Fuck School,” and more “Whatever it is that gives you pleasure, do that. That’s your luxury.” Ironically enough, both messages are two sides of the same coin. He doesn’t regret anything he’s said or done, but he’s happy to have moved on.
