Puzzling, controversial, mystifying are words that are used when discussing this week’s featured artist Tyler, The Creator. At the same time the young artist has created music that many in the industry consider very good. He has won several awards as well as two Grammy nominations. Nevertheless, other words have been used that offer an unflattering description of his artistic offerings. Words like homophobic, misogynistic, offensive all have been readily used to describe much of Tyler’s music. Interestingly, I endeavor to offer commentary on music without being opinionated. It might be difficult when speaking of Tyler. The Creator and his music, but I will accept the challenge. Perhaps learning a little about his background and his explanations will help us to individually make our own assessment of Tyler’s music.
Tyler Gregory Okonma was born on March 6, 1991 in Ladera Heights, California, the son of a Nigerian father and a mother of mixed African-American and European-Canadian descent. He spent his early life living in the communities of Ladera Heights and Hawthorne, California. At the age of seven, he would take the cover out of an album’s case and create covers for his own imaginary albums—including a track list with song lengths—before he could even make music. At the age of 14, he taught himself to play the piano. Tyler was a bright student, much like so many in the world. However, even early on he was different. “I made lists of who I wanted to torture and kill in the class. I was a really smart kid, so they didn’t understand. We had a GATE program” — gifted and talented enrichment — “there was seven kids in there, and I was one of them, it was just such a contradiction.” That list prompted authorities to provide young Tyler a therapist. For a time he was on Ritalin but went off it because it interfered with his asthma medication.
Tyler worked at FedEx for just under two weeks, and Starbucks for over two years. He adopted the stage name Tyler, The Creator from a MySpace page he used to post his creative endeavors. That MySpace page, and other social media pages would lay the groundwork for Tyler’s musical start.
As a teen Tyler, The Creator would be the driving force behind Odd Future, an American hip hop collective formed in Los Angeles in 2007. The original members were founder Tyler, the Creator (Tyler Okonma), Left Brain (Vyron Turner), Hodgy Beats (Gerard Long) and Jasper Dolphin (Davon Wilson). Tyler has rapped on and produced songs for nearly every Odd Future release. He creates all the artwork for the group’s releases and designs the group’s clothing and other merchandise.
On December 25, 2009, Tyler, The Creator self-released his first solo mixtape, Bastard. The mixtape was eventually ranked 32nd on Pitchfork Media’s list of the Top Albums of 2010. The mixtape would also prove to be an interesting concept piece. Bastard features Tyler speaking to a character named Dr. TC, who acts as Tyler’s therapist and guidance counselor. The title track contains Dr. TC hinting that Tyler will be releasing his upcoming album, called Goblin. On February 11, 2011, Tyler released the music video for “Yonkers”, the first single from his first album, Goblin, which was released May 10, 2011.
The video received a lot of attention from music critics. Kevin O’Donnell wrote about the shocking video in Spin magazine at the time. “Yonkers is one of the most unsettling, nausea-inducing videos we’ve seen in months: A black and white camera (which veers in and out of focus) captures Tyler noshing on insects, vomiting all over the place, bleeding from his nose, and ultimately throwing a noose around his neck and hanging himself. In short, the kind of thing you expect from Odd Future, who are as provocative onscreen as they are onstage”.
Provocative possibly, shocking maybe. However Tyler, The Creator and Odd Future’s music reached a large audience and began to reach more mainstream eyes and ears. Tyler and fellow Odd Future member Hodgy Beats made their television début on February 16, 2011 when they performed “Sandwitches” on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. On March 16, Tyler and Hodgy performed “Yonkers” and “Sandwitches” on the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards, being joined by other members of Odd Future during “Sandwitches”.
Many of the thoughts of Tyler, the Creator’s enigmatic nature come from the music of Bastard and Goblin. While celebrated as successful and creative on one hand, many are at the very least, concerned about the message communicated by the lyrics of the records. Tyler, The Creator has identified as an atheist and has had explicitly anti-religious lyrics in his music, especially on the albums Bastard and Goblin, and has also said some things that suggest he is an agnostic atheist. I’ve heard a few of his interviews on the subject of religion and I feel that he is just a young person still searching. Very much like a lot of young people today. Ask him the same question in five years and you may get a very different response.
Tyler, The Creator has also criticized for his use of homophobic slurs, in particular, his frequent use of the epithet “faggot” in his lyrics and on Twitter. He has denied accusations of homophobia, stating, “I’m not homophobic. I just say faggot and use gay as an adjective to describe stupid sh*t,” and, “I’m not homophobic. I just think faggot hits and hurts people.” However, he later said in an interview with MTV about the slurs, “Well, I have gay fans and they don’t really take it offensive, so I don’t know. If it offends you, it offends you. If you call me a nigger, I really don’t care, but that’s just me, personally. Some people might take it the other way; I personally don’t give a sh*t.” Tyler, the Creator was among the first to openly support fellow Odd Future member Frank Ocean after publicly revealing a past relationship with another young man.
Last year in a HipHopdx.com article, Kyle Eustice wrote about another controversy surrounding Tyler, The Creator. “Rumors are suddenly swirling around Tyler The Creator’s Flower Boy LP. After the album apparently leaked late Sunday night (July 9), fans are saying it features a confessional Tyler who admits he’s gay, or at least bi-sexual. Several subsequent social media posts claim the Odd Future rapper ‘comes out of the closet’ on the album”. Tyler further fueled the discussion when he seemingly revealed in an August 2017 interview that he had a boyfriend when he was 15 years old, though he later tweeted that it was a figure of speech. Just examining Tyler’s fan base, I don’t think anyone would care if he was gay or not. The only backlash might come from those who are critical of his music. However, that probably would not last long, as the critical words would eventually grow to indifference.
Tyler, The Creator is continuing to create music. Okra was released as a digital single on March 29, 2018. It was written and produced by Tyler, the Creator. Described by Tyler as a “throwaway song”, the single garnered media attention for its abrupt release and a lyrical reference to American actor Timothée Chalamet. “Okra” has been described as a rap song with bass, drums, snare, piano, and strings in its instrumentation, with its production complimenting Tyler’s vocal performance, which is shifted up one semitone. In the lyrics, Tyler makes references to several pop culture figures in addition to Chalamet, and also alludes to the separation of hip hop collective Odd Future, which Tyler co-founded.
The one thing for sure is that Tyler, The Creator will continue his enigmatic nature musically for at least a little while longer. However, it seems the music will continue to flow forth.