Unravelling the Brilliance of Tyler, The Creator

[Music] uh he is a creative powerhouse from the hip-hop world who makes music clothing and a whole lot of headlines please welcome tyler the creator the ringleader of the hip-hop collective odd future okay now what about your lyrics what about them what are you saying in your lyrics nothing [ __ ] to piss old white people off like you it's not right [Music] uh morgan freeman's son tyler the creator yes okay tyler the creator follows under many titles rapper producer songwriter designer actor anti-bullying advocate and chef all my life i've really liked syrup i just liked eating waffles all day have you ever had bacon and i'm not finished but today he's widely accepted as one of the most transformative musicians on the scene though he wasn't always revered as such you may remember a time when tyler's reputation consisted of eating cockroaches and harassing people on adult swim being routinely cast aside and written off as nothing more than a provocative troll by critics during his early days in the industry begging the question of how exactly a rebellious kid like tyler went from freestyling into a 144p webcam to hosting his own annual music festival across the street from where he accepted his first grammy i felt i never fully felt accepted in in rapping stuff so for y'all to always stand by me and get me here i really appreciate that join me as we take a deep dive into the life and career of hip-hop's favorite bastard tyler the creator what's up he draws well i say hi he's high he's high [Music] tyler gregory akoma was born on march 6 1991 in ladera heights california only a few minutes south of los angeles growing up without a father he and his sister linda were raised by a single mother in hawthorne where he spent most of his time alternating between skateboarding and teaching himself how to play piano started rhyming words at like seven and then around 12 is when i start like trying to play piano and play instruments and i taught myself drums and things like that wow so did you graduate high school yeah of course and then what did you do how did you make i'll just start professionally one i'm not a professional because i don't know what i'm doing tyler's passion for music has always been a massive part of his character leading him to create his own imaginary album covers by the age of seven complete with their own track lists and song links as he got older he made ends meet by working at fedex and starbucks while bouncing between 12 different schools in the span of about 12 years i worked at uh i worked at starbucks and fedex and oh my god horrible like they don't even want to move they're just okay with pushing a box and i'm like i i couldn't do it so i i went i remember i went to the manager dude or whatever the [ __ ] dude i was like hey i've been here for about two weeks the checks are cool but this is not for me and he said i know he said you're not you're not supposed to be here it got to a point where for one reason or another he was being routinely barred or kicked out from nearly every organization he tried to join my whole life i felt like a stepchild i tried out for drama club i got in and got kicked out within an hour because she said i was too hyper i was standing on chairs definitely but i still think that i should have stayed in there ninth grade they wouldn't let me join band class because i couldn't read music but i still had the passion and i'm on two instruments now picking up a third but when all that happened i said [ __ ] him i didn't let none of that [ __ ] stop me from doing anything that i wanted to do he was a self-described misfit finding his own kind of solace at the skate park where he hung out with other like-minded rebellious teens how you doing [ __ ] i'm doing good how's your life 2008 also happened to be the year he kicked off his first ever youtube channel which is still up today believe it or not back when he went by the pseudonym block's head or otherwise the bastard the idiot but listen on another note hold up hold up as stupid and as scuffed as these videos may have been this was the world's first real glimpse at tyler messing around with his friends making porn of his stuffed animals and rapping into the front camera of a [ __ ] dsi it looks like all you [ __ ] hate me shout out to casey veggies customized crazy customized daily actually i just had a threesome with alicia keys common kanye west and carson daly i personally hope he never deletes this channel it's such a quick but honest glance into tyler's life before fame and served as the ideal introduction to the legacy we were about to witness september 2008 17 year old tyler uploaded what appeared to be a live performance of him and his friends up on stage rapping in front of at least 12 people [ __ ] beats left brain and tyler the creator at a local talent show debuting one of their earliest songs to date bubble gum now bring the ruler out like rick the ruler paid in full i'm cooler than your cooler got these hoes now where's my garden tool tyler may have been a misfit but as the following years would go on to prove he was far from an outcast [Music] [Music] i want everybody odd future wolfgang kill them all was a loud provocative ensemble of musicians graphic designers skaters filmmakers and myspace friends here's the breakfast spearheaded by tyler himself the original odd future roster consisted of up and coming artists left brain casey veggies brandon deshay matt martians pyramid vrytra hodgie and jasper dolphin originally intended as a magazine odd future eventually started recording their own music in what they called the trap a small la house owned by a couple of tyler's friends sid the kid and taco bennett who eventually joined the collective themselves a bunch of [ __ ] teenagers who just do bad [ __ ] knowing that we can go to jail and get in trouble for it because we think it's fun so if you like live in ladera and then she got [ __ ] up it wasn't us it really wasn't not like that seriously it wasn't us there's a possible chance that we might know the people who maybe probably could have possibly did it but i mean over why the [ __ ] are we doing why why am i talking like this and i present to you to you all to our future compilation by november 2008 they would compile a multitude of their proudest work and thus the odd future tape was released into the world it's very offensive you [ __ ] defensive if you can't take the heat get the [ __ ] out the kitchen literally recorded on a computer microphone the odd future tape was gritty and profane riddled with provocative lyrics and pretty rough production but keep in mind this was a young group of new artists just working with whatever they had to create a product they were happy with they were just starting to figure out an identity making this project essential for their own individual growth this thing was purely homemade a diy project from start to finish a particular trademark of odd future that would make the group so goddamn captivating odd future wouldn't have been able to thrive as a collective without the prolific internet buzz they carried as mentioned earlier it was through myspace that brought much of the group together in the first place as they continued to recruit new members throughout 2009 somewhere along the way tyler caught wind of a mixtape titled kitchen cutlery my fellow myspace user sly tendencies or as you may know him earl sweatshirt i was sucking my daddy when i was seven years old a field of them come here candy boy oh you got so many necklaces why you got necklace it was around this time that the group made several more editions including mike g domo genesis and some other random guy i think his name was frank something they're looking for [Music] whatever you probably don't know the group was a striking embodiment of adolescence and quickly built a cult following with their violent lyrics and keen sense of branding they understood the importance of pushing an image and just how much a simple logo drawn up by tyler plastered on a t-shirt could drive their music even further oddfuture itself promoted their own work and developed a personal relationship with their audience via tumblr using online networks to the best of their abilities i had a template for my press releases with the logo at the top it made people think that our future was signed to some big marketing firm but we weren't it was just me as stated by pitchforks brianna younger they saw a head to a time when accessibility lifestyle branding and content are just as important as the music itself pioneering pop-up shops is a means to promote merch and more importantly their music becoming an icon for height beast culture practically overnight odd future was an underground success you've been revitalizing street wear in the process i make stupid shirts and people like it so i'm grateful cats and sheep and donuts like in reality this shirt is stupid as [ __ ] it's ugly it's tacky people like this [ __ ] i'm excited it was like they were beginning to develop their own micro culture by appealing to both hip-hop heads and skaters alike opening up the door for a new demographic of rap fans people who weren't normally interested in the genre were suddenly inspired by the rebellious [ __ ] you attitude the group directed towards the mainstream i don't care what they say like they say anything they feel like and they get away with it and why is that appealing to you would you like to be able to do the same yeah i've heard i've had a lot worse lyrics to be honest do you think it's tongue-in-cheek or do they mean it or i don't think anything i mean they definitely don't one of the original fundamentals of hip-hop that felt so long forgotten at a time when many artists seem to uphold and preserve the status quo [Music] french was their first music video to be viewed by a million people one of which being a gentleman by the name of christian clancy as a former consultant for the game and eminem clancy found this ragtag group of edgy teens particularly intriguing i mean after all it's hard to ignore tyler holding down a shopping cart and pretending to [ __ ] it on camera clancy wanted to be a part of the madness and became their manager shortly after it was fascinating to see a group of kids that truly thought for themselves he said every decision we make is based on what's authentic to them so it makes my job easier because they're so driven to what they want and what they do and what they don't like this is a group of kids that will tell tyler loves justin bieber frank loves celine dion who says that right because they're afraid the guy next time's going to go home what the [ __ ] are you talking about they are who they are at the time odds future was still trying to find its footing nobody in the media could really pin them down as anything beyond a loose group of defiant teenagers with tyler acting as the de facto leader the latest development from a gang of los angeles rappers called odd future or as their aunties know them the odd future wolf gang kill them all exclusive expletive is slightly different they're giving away their music and charging large amounts of money for merchandise there's no marketing it's exposing it at the right place at the right time so when you have kids that are completely themselves you don't necessarily market because you just take who they are and expose it right people like clancy saw them as fearless authentic two qualities that were going to push them far beyond the limits of their own imaginations the more you pull back the string you were to see all these kind of variables these kids do everything themselves they write produce direct illustrate artwork uh create there's two types of artists there's science project artists and then there's authentic artists right if you're a science project artist then you should have science project conversations if you're an authentic artist who spills your emotion and and whether it's rage or happiness or whatever it is then you allow that artist to do what they do also i do want to give a quick trigger warning just for anyone who might be sensitive to topics like violence rape and uh homophobic slurs because a lot of tyler's older music contains a lot of those references he wasn't always the flower boy we may consider him to be today tyler was pretty edgy back in the day christmas day 2009 tyler the creator was still sleeping on his grandmother's couch when he released his first ever lp to an audience of about 46 people my father's dead why i don't know we'll never [ __ ] meet i cut my wrists and play piano cause i'm so depressed somebody caught a pass to this bastard is so possessed entirely self-produced by the 17 year old nfl studio bastard was harrowing brimming with gritty instrumentals and shocking lyrics the left mothers all over the world clutching pearls his goal was to sound as outrageous as possible and get a reaction from anyone who had ears which he achieved by seasoning his verses with violence rape unabashed homophobia and misogyny one song even being sung from the perspective of ted bundy a wealthy white girl without the facelift lord with expensive dinners and a nice bracelet leave the picture breathless but what the [ __ ] [Music] safe to say he met his goal of pissing people off but while drawing from inspirations like eminem clips and others tyler managed to maintain a hint of authenticity behind the brazen shock value see the bastard storyline centered on tyler's therapy sessions between him and the fictional dr tc a representation of tyler's conscience tyler hi i'm dr tc and um i'm guessing that your teacher sent you here to talk because you were misbehaving tell me something about yourself it was thanks to these made-up characters and dark storylines that allowed tyler to reveal some genuine feelings of teenage angst i think a lot of us have felt at some point or another on the surface a bastard may have seemed like demented and unhinged nothingness when in reality it was an outlet for tyler to explore new sounds and unpack the authentic internal issues plaguing his adolescence in the process the title track consists of an unnerving dialogue as dr tc attempts to unravel the anger tyler feels towards the world the line this is what the devil plays before he goes to sleep actually says a lot about tyler's attention to detail believe it or not the eerie piano chord we hear looping throughout the instrumental is known as the devil's tritone a melody so sinister and unsettling it's been historically associated with death and deemed the sound of satan by the catholic church hundreds of years ago with tyler's fascination of satanic symbolism along with his disdain for religion as a whole i think it's pretty unlikely he did this as an accident this meeting just begun [ __ ] i'm satan's son tyler has always been such a troll that he intentionally blurs the line between where the jokes end and his genuine feelings begin especially on bastard with tracks like pigs fly and tina being about as tongue-in-cheek as you can get but in spite of moments like these the absence of tyler's father remains a heavy underlying theme of the album with the project coming to a dramatic conclusion on the final track in glorious where tyler reflects on being raised a fatherless child a bastard in his own words unlike the bulk of bastard inglorious is heartfelt and direct in its messaging the clearest instance of tyler opening up on a track thus far with the song of finally climaxing at the end with these words she don't give a [ __ ] dealer where's the trigger i'll let this bullet play hero despite leaving his music heavily up to interpretation to me this seems to imply that tyler wishes he could rid the world of himself or maybe just the part of himself he hates yet ultimately refuses to go through with it as evident by the opening bars of his next album [Music] the more i've listened to bastard the more elements i've begun to notice with tyler's technical genius bleeding through even on songs like blow and ass milk where he used garage band default sounds to construct melodies that still sound fresh to this day a lot of these lyrics were written on a few pairs of brown pants somewhere i didn't have a phone at the time but i kept markers on me so verses would get scribbled onto anything i could find much like the odd future tape the diy feel of bastard is what made it stand out for most other projects at the time it was actually ranked number 32 on pitchfork's top 50 albums of the 2010s list slowly but surely tyler was starting to make a name of himself despite feeling like a black sheep in the industry more and more people were being forced to recognize his unique style and that's all he really seemed to care about you know people who really do it themselves like really do it themselves who aren't just like you know like yo check out my youtube page this [ __ ] is crazy like i mean like really like i made this album and i put it out and it's [ __ ] something that you can't get somewhere else and i did it on my own and i'm not shoving it down your throat i'm putting it out in the world because like i love doing it like that's the real [ __ ] like i those guys really do that over the course of that next year members of on future began releasing their own solo records each one pushing the collective further into the public sphere yellow white and black and white by the duo mellow hype rolling papers by domogenesis alley by mike g and earl by to earth to poke catholics in the ash sauce and knock blunt ashes into their caskets and laugh it off known for its depraved lyrics and noisy instrumentals earl sweatshirt's debut mixtape was released when he was just 16 years old produced almost entirely by tyler this particular mixtape is considered a cornerstone of odd futures inevitable rise and heavily contributed to the group's contentious reputation mostly thanks to the bars laid in the title track itself earl puts the ass in assassin and puts the pieces of decomposing bodies in plastic and puts them in a pan and mixes it up with scat and gobbles it like that black [ __ ] and catfish [Music] the collective of young artists became increasingly hard to overlook heavyweights in the music industry were finally starting to give them the time of day as it became popular to draw comparisons between odd future and the many rap groups to come before them when we're talking to people i describe you guys are like as like the next wu-tang oh oh well we're not the next [ __ ] [ __ ] let me explain why because i feel like i know why they're old as [ __ ] it's a [ __ ] difference that's what media does they compare [ __ ] you want to you know like when tyson first came out i remember people saying he reminds me of a young joe frazier they always got to compare something to something to uh give you a scale so to speak in your mind you know what i mean i see the similarities i guess because it's like 30 [ __ ] but we're not the next routine we're our future and all you have your own unique deals and i think business-wise it's smart the [ __ ] is he talking about if i was our future i wouldn't want to be compared to anybody but little did anyone know a much bigger project was around the corner angrier darker inarguably one of tyler's most infamous and controversial pieces yet [Laughter] [Music] a piercing instrumental lace with an array of shrieking scents yonkers was a game changer i'm a [ __ ] walking paradox no i'm not threesomes with a [ __ ] triceratops the reptile rapping as i'm mocking deaf rock stars wearing synthetic wigs made of anwar's dreadlocks tyler's self-directed video depicts him sitting alone on a stool with the tilt shift lens flickering in and out of focus as he lays the contentious bars that would soon put him on the map jesus brutally dissing popular artists by detailing how he would violently end each of their lives i'll crash that [ __ ] airplane at that [ __ ] [ __ ] bobby's in and stab bruno as far as mainstream hip-hop was concerned yonkers came completely out of left field and predictably pissed off a lot of people were you surprised [ __ ] when b.o.b came back as hard at you as he did it's hard he called that heart you see the [ __ ] i gotta deal with from these beginners i ain't circusing around with these clown ass [ __ ] it sounds like he took your [ __ ] personally nobody died he did i was actually surprised i'm not gonna front when i heard it i was like wow this [ __ ] is getting off oh my gosh i hate that airplane song me too and the fact that he made a whole diss track just because some nobody said his name made me feel like i was exactly but the song wasn't actually about pregnant golden retrievers or physically stabbing bruno mars in his esophagus it was partly tyler lashing out against everything he and odd future stood against the polished boring derivativeness of the modern music industry this wolf haley guy is the guy that i really want to be he's [ __ ] he's just wild he doesn't really he's just [ __ ] crazy he he wears those cool ass shorts and the cool ass button-ups and [ __ ] and that's me talking to him and him just taking over my [ __ ] head that whole song every line that i say is like contradicting itself green paper gold teeth and pregnant go retrievers is all i want and then i say no [ __ ] money diamonds and [ __ ] don't need them those are basically the same things in different words like a [ __ ] as a pregnant dog that's a pregnant girl retriever like i contradict myself and that's that's me saying no i don't want that but wolf haley is saying yeah you do it's just a it's just a big mind [ __ ] despite the manic character he may flaunt in public tyler very much knew what he was doing and sought to bring his creativity to the forefront of the discussion by any means necessary even if that meant eating an actual cockroach and pretending to hang himself at the end of the video yonkers was sure to leave an impression on anyone who witnessed it with its visual and lyrical shock value sending ripples throughout the musical landscape even being dubbed the best video of the year by kanye west in short this is the song that made tyler famous his deep booming voice and deadpan flow may have set him apart from the rest but it was the sheer enthusiasm he showed for his own work that seemed to resonate with his new audience the most his sound was fresh and his personality was infectious finally his many talents were being recognized by millions of people all good signs for an artist on the verge of self releasing his next highly anticipated project goblin an album tell us what we what can we expect some movie type [ __ ] uh every album is like a movie so if you listen to bastard the whole thing and then go on a goblin it's it's crazy but because we're about to be copyright claimed like you wouldn't believe by our greedy corporate overlords i want to thank the good people over at display for sponsoring this video this play offers one-of-a-kind metal posters complete with a sturdy magnet mount and a sleek matte or glossy finish durable enough to withstand a lifetime of intense staring i mean what else do you do with the poster and because they're magnetic you can collect customize and rearrange them with ease no power tools or frustration involved enjoy their 800 000 designs ranging from sports manga history comics minions movies music there's even a good amount of tyler posters i wouldn't mind owning myself i mean i got a kanye one but that's besides the point feel free to click the link in the description below to get one to two disc plates at 31 off or over three for 38 off not only does every poster you buy help the channel but also goes to plant a tree in tanzania two equally good deeds for the price of one huge thanks to display for making up for all the money umg has so cruelly robbed me off our next guests are turning heads in the hip hop world and tonight they're making their tv debut with us performing the song sandwiches with little help from the roots please welcome tyler the creator and [ __ ] beat from odd [Applause] [Music] 19 year old tyler made his television debut alongside [ __ ] beats just days after yonkers dropped on youtube battering an audience of baby boomers with a marginally noisy performance they'd never forget at the time odd future was still obscure enough that booking them on a major network like nbc was considered a highly risky move if you knew anything about tyler the last place you'd expect to see him was on stage next to jimmy fallon of all people i saw odd future on the schedule and my first thought was that there must have been some other brooklyn rock band with the same name there's no way it was that odd future side of the root's frontman quest love i knew this was either going to be our paradigm shift or the end of the fallon show but those unpredictable dangerous circumstances are what led to such a memorable performance see this was more than just a typical late night appearance this was tyler's cementing his spot in the musical space and pointing a mainstream spotlight onto the previously overlooked corners of internet culture a signal to young artists all over the world that generating enough online popularity was all you needed in order to craft a legacy for yourself at this point tyler had not only given himself enough leverage to land a set on late night tv but record a feature with rap legend pusha t and even sign a record deal with xl recordings leading to the contentious release of goblin [Music] goblin somehow managed to be even more problematic than its predecessor equipped with another myriad of questionable ethics and unmitigated vulgarity some of the major keynotes of goblin include but are not limited to satan oral sex murder decapitation rape racism asian water torture homophobia lesbians raping pregnant women freedoms of an unborn child amputation breaking and entering parkinson's disorder nazis the effler and a lot of swear words i mean truly some of tyler's crudest and most jaw-dropping material to date interspersed with him venting to a shrink about his darkest thoughts and me what's been feelings on i'm not a [ __ ] role model i'm a 19 year old [ __ ] emotional coaster with pipe dreams see this wasn't all just hollow shock value the title track was tyler grappling with his recent rise to stardom touching on the sudden intense pressure he now feels as a major public figure during the album's six-minute introduction getting these weird stairs at skateparks and airports all in the year it's weird it's clear he doesn't consider himself anyone to be looked up to he barely considers himself a real rapper despite being grateful for it the unexpected success of yonkers was still a jarring enough concept for any artist as young and inexperienced as tyler was and this album just encapsulated those feelings of trepidation while containing a lot of the same edginess as bastard with tracks like radicals repeating the rebellious mantra it was absolutely anarchist in its presentation tron cat being maybe the most deplorable sh i've heard to this day hard to believe this is the same guy who made the grinch soundtrack not even 10 years later for a casual listener of tyler the creator lyrics like these may seem wildly out of character and although many of these themes are still weird and difficult to listen to today the majority of it was just [ __ ] fiction in the words of the man who wrote them and i'd say that's at least something to keep in mind when considering decade-old narratives hey don't do anything that i say in this song okay it's [ __ ] fiction if anything happens don't [ __ ] blame me white america [ __ ] bill o'reilly his liberal use of homophobic slurs is what especially infuriated audiences and quite understandably became the most polarizing aspect of his character going into his late teens now after years of hearing him rap about kissing white boys freestyling about having gay sex me and flex looking in the index for buffnet [ __ ] just for some hot butt sex what what made you go with that verse and even dedicating an entire album to a male love interest the homophobic hate speech laid out on goblin starts to feel more like a closeted teen afraid of coming to terms with a key part of his identity opening up about his suppressed sexuality as the years went on ain't no reason to pretend without dismissing the harmful effects of vile rhetoric i think it's important to acknowledge the intent behind tyler's words and realize that these lyrics in particular were more than likely coming from feelings of insecurity and self-rejection rather than a place of outright hatred tyler's first three projects all circulate around the fictional character wolf haley tyler's alter ego who embodies the darkest and most extreme corners of his psyche when tyler raps on goblin it's actually from the perspective of wolf kind of edgy but this was just a 19 year old's way of expressing himself without being too serious which really starts to paint a more three-dimensional picture of the young entertainer too commonly written off as nothing more than a horror course shock artist the track window depicts an intervention called on by members of odd future where each individual takes turns providing a window into their mental state as they seek to help tyler with his which of course just ends with him canonically murdering all of his friends in cold blood maybe we're starting to see why tyler or wolf is in therapy to begin with finally we end on the track golden where he provides yet another authentic look into his newfound fame working alongside childhood friends and coping with the absence of his best friend earl without even knowing him they're missing the new out i'm missing my only friend the track concludes with dr tc confirming that the characters ace wolf haley and tron cats were nothing more than various embodiments of tyler's subconscious dr t.c was his voice of reason for example whereas troncat was the one telling him to go out and kill people it all fits within the narrative that would later be continued on his third album wolf but as goblin debuted at number 5 on the billboard top 200s his mainstream appeal had never been stronger receiving wide critical acclaim on the album he later called horrible i don't know it's still got some merit in my eyes 10 years later and i still have yet to hear a better song name than [ __ ] suck dick this album changed like my whole everything like i remember like the first time i heard like the song goblin off of this [Music] i remember like i heard it and i just kind of like sat there for a moment i was like you know just like i just i just you know i love tyler i want to marry him by the time the second odd future tape dropped in 2012 earl had returned from samoan boarding school frank was paving the way for a new era of soul music and tyler had just won best new artist at the 2011 vmas her best new artist goes to tyler the creator odd future had become its own record label and began to expand their reach beyond music with tyler releasing his own fashion line golf wang and blasting the antics of his friends across television wavelengths with their own sketch comedy show a loiter squad i love charles and when i pass i'ma see him at the gate and i might have a little something for him if you don't have my money so thank you charles airing from 2012 to 2014 the 15-minute adult swim program gave each member of odd future a chance to show off their acting chops starring alongside the likes of johnny knoxville seth rogen and lil wayne for some reason i'm enjoying this morning oh don't enjoy it no please stop enjoying it wait here i would i'll stop resisting are you still enjoying it he's tied me up are you still enjoying it yes stop enjoying it i'm kind of enjoying it too essentially this was just a big production studio telling tyler yeah do whatever you want just make us money the booming success of loiter squad further defined the talents of odd future and proved tyler to be more than just a one-trick pony apart from making pretty good music he was also extremely likable hi tyler hi are you fighting the urge to make out with me right now not really i'm really into this future though fans were no longer just drawn to his provocative verses they were also entranced by a sense of humor and natural charisma tens of thousands were flocking to the group's music festival camp phlogna an anagram for wolfgang featuring guest appearances from the most popular artists of the day the annual festival is still hosted today in front of the dodgers stadium and was effective in making tyler out to be the visionary he was clearly more complex than the angry depraved persona he liked to play up tyler the creator soon became amongst the biggest anomalies in modern day rap things were moving rapidly for the 20 year old forcing tyler to mature faster than ever before which only meant his music was about to mature with him tyler continued the trend of releasing a new project every two years with his 2013 wolf in april of that year erupting his previous tendency of gritty unnerving production with a clean and surprisingly elegant jazz composition complemented by dainty chimes before hearing a raspy [ __ ] the lyrics seem to depict tyler speaking once again from the perspective of his alter egos with the album's main antagonist sam expressing a disdain for wolf haley involved in a love triangle with a girl named salem it's established that these characters are actually three students attending the fictional camp flog gnaw you guys have fun so you guys are in the jazz look wolf prairie dog granzel whatever the [ __ ] your name is we don't [ __ ] with you or anybody else here all right the lore of tyler's album specifically on these three is pretty convoluted i'm not gonna lie to you but it makes me wonder how anyone can stand to write him off as just another rapper without acknowledging his clear knack for storytelling being tapped to write and direct a few of his own mountain dew commercials that year though not without a fair amount of controversy of course who exactly is felicia the goat um i did this commercial i did some commercials with mountain dew and that was the main character and i just ran with it tell us your commercial idea and i was like all right so it's a [ __ ] goat right [Applause] he gonna drink the [ __ ] mountain dude and he going he gonna he gonna yell at the lady and then then the cops gonna pull him over and then he gonna be in jail and then he gonna do pcp the now banned commercials were met with boisterous claims of racism and misogyny by their critics which in turn only fueled the flame for tyler's burning creative desires so what was racist what was racist i did four commercials it was a story arc first commercial the goat has mountain dew and he likes it so much he goes crazy he pushes the lady on the ground the second commercial was the lady at the police station looking at a lineup of people saying that that was the goat that that that pushed me in the restaurant right now in the lineup i used a bunch of my friends they happen to be african-american none of these guys have records these are all good dudes who i've been working with we're playing a part you put your friends religious characters boyce watkins saw that and said this is the most racist commercial ever people start picking up this story saying is this the most racist commercial ever it got big the mountain dew guys are seeing this like whoa we don't want to have this heat on us hey we're sorry that we even put this commercial out blah blah blah no more tyler cut i was like what the [ __ ] did you see that amazing mountain dew commercial he did the one that got banned yeah oh my god it was the best thing that had happened in like the past year it was the best thing you know what should be banned stuff that's whack much like his idols tyler the creator is not one to be placed in a box and although he may have been dropped by mountain dew as a result of the hit pieces he continued to stand by his own art and wasn't about to repress his vision for anyone i'm 21 years old like excited that i could [ __ ] worry about how the orange is in contrast with the green in this commercial at the coloring session and now this turned into a big negative debate like it [ __ ] my spirit up so much wolf was the first real turning point in tyler's discography throwing the references of rape and serial killing out the window wolff embodied tyler's growing maturity both narratively and on a musical level for example this was his first project to be recorded and mixed in an actual studio instead of his laptop leading to an overall more polished and lush appearance frankly tyler was sick of the violent themes he previously exhibited on goblin even straight up denouncing parts of them in later interviews he was in a completely new stage of his life he was hanging out with his childhood idols and making tons of money working day and night to create all kinds of new content for his fans being the huge music nerd he is he finally let the edgy schtick take a back seat and focus more on the actual sound of his work basically this whole album is just me emulating the music i listen to so like when you hear [ __ ] tree home 95 like i know some people hated that [ __ ] on jimmy fallon but i [ __ ] i i listen i love i listen to stevie wonder and isaac hayes like that's all i listen to so when you see me on the piano playing [ __ ] chords and [ __ ] like i'm just trying to emulate what i grew up listening to and [ __ ] having the roots watching the roots play my bass lines and my [ __ ] bells and [ __ ] was the tightest [ __ ] in the [ __ ] world but drifting away from his past self meant coming to terms with the reality of not being able to please the entirety of his growing fan base he knew that no matter what direction he took he would always receive disdain from half his audience ultimately he wanted to stay true to himself while climbing out of the hole he dug with his previous work it wasn't going to be easy but it was a risk he needed to take if he ever wanted to reach new heights must think i'm a [ __ ] dummy because i just bummy [ __ ] think i'm broke [ __ ] i ate one roach and i made a lot of money in many ways wolf was like the perfect middle ground between the roughness of goblin and the softer mellow chords we'd later hear on 2017's flower boy with anthems like tamales still reminiscent of his early odd future days hy and domo 23 might have been certified bangers tyler also took more of a genuine approach on the song colossus where he describes a real interaction with a supposed crazed fan he met at six flags can't we get a pic i said no and they said oh it's wolfgang yonkers goblin is my [ __ ] though now tyler is finally being forced to come to terms with his status as an icon caught between wanting to enjoy his life as a normal person while not being perceived as a jerk in front of the ones who support his work just like most of the other instrumentals on here this beat is surprisingly grandiose and celestial citing stevie wonder and tame impala as major inspirations their influences can be heard everywhere across the album's hour-long run time specifically on the track answer answer puts a microscope on several previous relationships tyler still longs for each verse focusing on a different individual a past crush his late grandmother and of course his absentee father are you mad at him did he desert the family nah dude i'm stoked i think if i had a dad i would have went the normal college route and like like a lot of other people you're not angry i'm so stoked my life panned out how it was dad is nowhere to be seen or found nah i'm my own father yeah that's that's the theme that's whatever i got over it it kind of sucked lying to friends after a couple years like oh my dad's on a business trip and [ __ ] but it's like whatever i don't give a [ __ ] i got over it after previously lambasting his dad on bastard and goblin tyler seems to hold a whole new attitude towards the father he once cursed and is now ruminating on how his abandonment shaped his career as one of the world's biggest performers hey dad it's me um oh i'm tyler i think i beat your son tyler is grappling between the reality of being rejected while still feeling weirdly grateful that everything turned out okay in spite of the trauma it's a complicated mixture of emotions that he wants us to sympathize with even momentarily it's instances like these that separate wolf from its abrasive predecessors instead of lashing out against the world tyler is looking into himself for answers as to why he feels the way he does in hopes that someone out there may be able to relate to his pain the final track alone is a vulnerable testimony of his grandmother's recent passing as tyler expresses feelings of grief and opens up to his therapist about wanting to disappear from the spotlight even if that means quitting music all together wolfe ended up charting at number two on the billboard hot 200 receiving immense critical praise for a level of emotional depth we hadn't previously seen pitchfork's craig jenkins writing tyler the creator displays a radical growth as a producer a composer and a ranger even if as a rapper he's still up to some of the same antics if you ask me the summer camp setting of wolf is a testament to where tyler must have been mentally by the time the album dropped and where the setting of wolf is a lakeside camp tyler's previous work was more like a dungeon from dark minimalistic beats to single-minded isolated songwriting based in anger and sadness tyler's early music came from a place of suffering on wolf that anger and sadness is still there but it's dissipating like fog over a lake in early morning by opening up the way he did on a wolf tyler appeared to have finally reached a level of peace and self-acceptance he so desperately deserved so tell me are you kind of shocked and amazed at what kind of a buzz you've created sure sure that's that's that's the question i don't know in the meantime the rest of odd future was hard at work perfecting their own respected careers frank ocean's soulful channel orange undeniably added to the group's surmounting credibility by being nominated for album of the year in 2012. not to mention it allowed frank's friends tyler and earl sweatshirt to showcase their profound skills on a much grander scale leading up to earl's 2013 commercial debut doris [Music] partially produced by frank and tyler themselves doris was a fascinating first look at earl since his controversial mixtape pre-boarding school and featured a lot more retrospection than we had ever seen from the 19 year old while other groups like melo hype and the internet saw a good amount of acclaim on their own it seemed nearly all of odd future was demonstrating a new sense of growing maturity everyone was excited to finally explore the sounds they had always wanted to produce and going into the mid-2010s tyler was more confident than ever before leading to perhaps his most dynamic and colorful venture to date i had a show new years 2015 and i haven't came out with music in a while [Music] that show [ __ ] sucked dick that [ __ ] was trash well none of these kids knew that i was halfway done with a brand new album um cherry bomb was a shocking explosive journey of experimental rap bright sounds and unpredictable glory [Music] borrowing from the abrasive style of death griffs and kanye west's yeezus tyler cited a slew of major inspirations from pharrell's former band nerd right down to the album's avant-garde intro death camp [Music] weirdly enough this is the first time the opening track name doesn't correspond with the album itself which just goes to represent cherry bomb's overwhelming deviation from tyler's past work see tyler knows he's reached a point where he can no longer expect to please all of his fans so cherry bomb is just him throwing all caution to the wind and not caring so much about the outcome exchanging his commercial appeal for the more abstract sounds that actually interested him as a music lover despite being panned by critics on its initial release cherry bomb was revered by tyler as his personal favorite album the following three tracks buffalo pilot and run all encapsulated the unique feel tyler was aiming for songs that most hip-hop heads were not fully accustomed to by 2015. god goodness graces i can't wait to see the look of y'all [ __ ] faces that poor t-net surprises thoughts isn't shaping their [ __ ] brackets racist with figures like drake young thug and future smashing records in their own respected circles of hip-hop the nostalgic pop punk atmosphere of cherry bomb was nowhere near the expectations people had for rap at the time it set tyler apart from the rest just maybe not in the way he he had hoped everyone hated it except for like real music level he cares about drums like i opened a rap album with a a rock song yeah most [ __ ] is like uh and then buffalo comes you can barely hear what i'm saying the pilot coming it's this 80s music so they're out because they won't rap then run comes they don't know and then find your wings come and it's like okay this is chill then cherry bomb just punches them so they're out and a lot of people didn't know how to take it this album was a new type of polarizing although his subject matter was no longer as controversial his sounds definitely were dividing music fans with songs that contain tyler's almost incomprehensible vocals drowned out almost completely under an array of heavily distorted guitar riffs some loved it others couldn't stand it regardless it was all part of his vision he still knew how to mix and produce beautiful instrumentals just as he did on wolf he just didn't always want to be seen as predictable or trite but the wailing synths of keep the o's for example juxtaposed next to the angelic jazzy tones of [ __ ] young may have been a testament to tyler's duality as an artist find your wings as one of the most graceful tracks he's ever made with sid and caliucci's smooth mesmerizing vocals working to illustrate the main theme of cherry bomb finding what you're good at taking control of your life and flourishing i think what i admire most about tyler how dedicated he is how much he really wants to make something meaningful that's going to be lasting rather than make something that you know we'll get to radio or will be something that people listen to right now and then maybe goes away later i don't think he's ever really cared about trends or um he just kind of follows what he wants to do and he works really hard [Music] it's 8 p.m i'm about to record at hans zimmer studio i'm a little nervous because this is my first time with an actual string section but i know it's going to be tight as [ __ ] trust me a lot of thought was put in there from pharrell and charlie wilson to schoolboy q and lil wayne cherry bomb was also a massive collaborative project featuring impressive guest appearances on all but one track smucker's quickly becoming a cult favorite and alexa like like what what's up is that bad [ __ ] you suck i'm stopping i gotta figure that [ __ ] out they gotta see you trying to figure it out tyler was finally at a level where he could easily work alongside some of his biggest inspirations mostly because he had since become amongst their biggest inspirations first of all try to change the game maybe i probably had a line that i knew i wouldn't say because people might think it was too gross to put in the rapper it didn't go with the whole the vibe of the song but i think about man tyler said this [ __ ] also he really be spitting though if [ __ ] not listening to him and only hearing him they need to do that they need to listen because you know hearing and listening is two different things but that's your that's one of your jobs in hip-hop i won't i don't think it would have been a jesus if it wasn't for you i don't think it would have been like this verse right here if it wasn't for you it's like or the [ __ ] that wayne just did so tyler inspired the album that later inspired him to make cherry bomb in a weird sort of way tyler the creator artist and um a good mentor he helped me out with some of the merch you know he came in and was like okay these are the principles because he's so talented and understands things because he went to film school and uh that i i don't i literally would like email them be like man can you teach me how to make videos tyler also developed an unlikely friendship with east coast rapper asap rocky despite the previous tension between the up and coming asap mob and odd future during the early 2010s tyler and rocky took a brotherly liking to each other and planned a joint tour following the release of cherry bomb if only tyler hadn't been barred from entering the united kingdom as per request of the home secretary and future prime minister theresa may you know because i guess this guy was a [ __ ] terrorist theresa may supposedly cited lyrics from tyler's early album bastard as part of the reason for his ban saying that it encouraged violence and intolerance of homosexuality and fosters hatred with views that seek to provoke terrorist acts well that's this video demonetized tyler had no choice but to cancel tour dates after being retroactively banned from the uk new zealand and australia for his questionable lyrics of years past being quick to acknowledge the hypocrisy of these governmental decisions by questioning how an artist is problematic as eminem receives no travel bans whatsoever not that he should of course but the double standard was glaring as if there were more sinister motives at play behind the scenes tyler has always been understandably frustrated with the older generation's misinformed view of the narratives played out in his songwriting okay now what about your lyrics what about them what are you saying in your lyrics nothing [ __ ] to piss all white people off like you my lyrics aren't offensive aren't they no some people find them offensive don't they yeah some people find everything offensive okay but the fact that this decision came four years and two albums after the contemptible lyrics were ever spewed made even less sense to tyler no artist likes their work being stifled or misinterpreted he wanted to stick it to everyone who hated his guts whether that was through his music on cherry bomb or a lengthy tumblr post reclaiming a white power hate symbol while mocking both racists and homophobes in the process tyler has always sought to push boundaries even if his intent wasn't always received the way he wanted later claiming his entire career was put on the line for the experimental and brash sounds the project contained in his own words everyone hated it and if he wanted to stay afloat in the industry he needed to craft his own path to success once more going against the grain and staying true to his values in a way mass audiences could enjoy which is right where flower boy bloomed if anyone thought they had tyler the creator figured out after cherry bomb they quickly realized they were wrong throwing his audience for a loop once more tyler dropped his fourth studio album over the summer of 2017. alternatively titled scum flower boy this one blew his previous projects out of the water is his most intimate yet an emotionally charged roller coaster from start to finish with its thoughtful characteristics serving as a stark contrast from the abrasiveness of cherry bomb it's like gut wrenching it's both beautiful it's very beautiful but it's like parts that hurt a little bit yeah it's man i was like because for cherry bomb my i purposely was like i don't want to get personal at all like i'm gonna just make songs yeah it's just all just this is a song and in this one i was like all right let me write down every feeling this was far from the first time tyler had poured his emotions out on a record but this was the first time he had done it so brazenly it seemed he was no longer shrouding parts of his personality in fictional alter egos and instead he had finally found a way to liberate his inner self and simultaneously redeem a faltering reputation with the lush chords and thoughtful lyrics peppered throughout the track list and considering all the accolades it later garnered it's not unreasonable to say flowerboy may have single-handedly revived tyler's career the album kicks off with a bassy introduction as tyler begins to ruminate on all the material items available to him now that he's rich and famous how many cars can i buy till i run out of drive how much drive can i have until i run out of roads and what it will take for them to all become tired and useless complimented by a feature from indie artist rex orange county forward sets the tone for an introspective exploration into the costly sacrifices of tyler's passion for success what's the point of even having all these things if they're just gonna leave him feeling incomplete in the end more importantly what will it take for tyler to finally lose the inspiration he has to make music if he's self-conscious enough to realize the emptiness of diamonds and riches then what's going to stop him from ending this unfulfilling cycle all together tyler's vulnerability becomes pretty apparent right off the bat with the following track reminiscing on his life pre-fame featuring a fitting performance from frank ocean one of tyler's earliest friends in the industry let's take it back to the date counting sheep on say the hannah flow as the next two verses shift away from the nostalgia we hear tyler focusing more on his growth and development as an artist once dismissed by the industry he now dominates ice [Music] not to mention his bravery for showcasing a sense of femininity breaking the very stigmas he was once accused of perpetuating run it run it run it run it tyler is well aware of the conventional expectations children place on one another but here he's telling black kids to do whatever they want and disregard anyone who says otherwise nobody should have to put up a front and bury their true passions for the sake of appeasing others tell these black kids they can be who they are dude were you saying that to you you're saying that to like well i'm saying that to you i'm saying that to me too but like it's a it's uh it's no one saying that to these to to kids that look like me or to anyone that looks like me we've had this conversation just wanting to snowboard when i was 12. but someone's saying oh that's white people [ __ ] black people don't do that yeah no you don't do that don't put a damper on me and tell me what i can and can't be just because of the way everyone else was that's my same color do what you want and [ __ ] everyone else as long as something makes you fulfilled that's ultimately all that matters [Music] the overall message of flower boys is to encourage others to accept themselves no matter the circumstances or consequences tyler leading by example on garden shed a song which i would argue is his most vulnerable to date of [ __ ] for the goddess [Music] some ethereal chords infused with estelle's mellow vocals garden shed is a dreamy listen with a heavy message [Music] the garden [ __ ] he talks about seems to represent a hiding place in which tyler was concealing his suppressed sexuality all these years with the infamous closet metaphor seemingly exchanged for a garden shed tyler is hinting at his authentic identity without openly saying it using a derogatory term for a gay man and garcons being the french word for boys it's an especially intimate verse that seems to carry a lot more weight when you consider all the jokes tyler has made regarding his sexuality in the past the hints were always there we just never took him seriously as we all know by now a tyler very much plays by his own rules and his indirect approach to coming out on flowerboy directly reflects those rebellious values there's never a right or wrong way to share such an intimate and defining trait about yourself which is exactly the message tyler seems to be sending by only subtly alluding to his sexuality rather than outright declaring it it's not like he owes us anything either he doesn't need to explain himself he only wants to express himself do you think we'll ever have a gay rap artist maybe one day that would be that's like why does that [ __ ] matter i know like if he want to [ __ ] dudes or whatever why does that matter like why do we care i've never i think that's so [ __ ] crazy right it's these kinds of intimate testimonies that make flower boys so special for so many people literally every track is a new invitation into tyler's headspace pothole with jaden smith warns of the obstacles and fake individuals to avoid while boredom with rex focuses on isolation and 911 mr lonely is all about just about what the title implies [Music] continuing tyler's trend of the tenth song on every album being split in two the first half of the track is noticeably more upbeat than the latter half when we hear his lyrics suddenly shift to a more depressingly honest tone he asserts that the public hardly ever gets a real glance into his real self because of all the dancing he does to throw us off i'm the loneliest man alive but i keep on dancing and throwing them off a gut-wrenching reminder that there's still a deeper side of tyler we rarely get to see as fans one that may not match the attitude he plays up when the cameras are rolling the 911 refers to how tyler only feels people call him when they have an emergency or when they need something from him further underlining the theme of isolation woven throughout the track list perhaps the most famous song of the project see you again depicting tyler as a hopeless romantic who longs for an individual he only gets to visit in his dreams and i can only see [Music] what is see you again like what is that about is it just is that still speaking to loneliness is it speaking to like the people that's always supposed to literally be about just the dream person like you literally i only see you in my sleeping in your dreams when i could never find you i've been where are you and that's what all those those things are and i the can i get a kiss can you make it last forever i'm about to go to war i don't know if you could go into war that's just i'm gonna wake up yeah wake up and go to the real world november being a sentimental journey involving tyler's concerns for his legacy whether or not he's being screwed by the people he trusts and longing for a simpler less fearful time it's the kind of nostalgia trip everyone can relate to in one way or another with the 45 minute album finally drawing to a conclusion on the instrumental track enjoy right now today tyler uses simple joyful sounds to end his magnum opus on a positive note the lack of lyrics putting more of an emphasis on the message delivered right there in the title which also happens to match the theme of the project as a whole flowerboy debuted at number two on billboard and sold over a hundred thousand copies its first week which not only marked a new record for tyler but a new era as well the grammy goes to damn kendrick lamar he may not have won this time but by the late 2010s it was beyond clear tyler was on a path towards nothing but success dropping a few singles on his youtube channel in 2018 where he continued opening up on beats he borrowed from fellow artists it was snakes in the grass but i couldn't grab him focus on the enough focus on a green and a tree with binoculars what's the point of being rich when you wake up alone what's the point of going home when it ain't nobody there his commercial success was reaching in new heights surprisingly being asked to produce the soundtrack for illumination's 2018 remake of the grinch [Music] yeah yeah this guy working on that movie yeah i don't know either wow so tell us how you got involved so honestly i don't remember how he got involved i also got a pretty sick christmas ep to go along with everything else safe to say he was no longer the black sheep he once considered himself um [Music] whoa tyler the creator no i would love to meet i've not met him oh my god i would explode if i met him i met him i met him and it was great tyler fans from all over were now anxiously wondering what could possibly be in store next for the blossoming artist do you ever plan to expand you ever want to do things musically other than rap that's the thing i like i really want to sing but my my tone of voice is too deep to do what i want so now i'm just listening to like isaac hayes and barry white and things like that just to see how they use their voice but i hate rapping only because it puts you in this like in this box you don't want to rap anymore i don't i don't i just want to compose so you got famous rapping yeah but you're leaving the world of rap but you've been successful in other areas yeah i mean you don't need right i'm talented enough to do other things sometimes you gotta close the door tyler's long-awaited fifth studio album was announced via twitter on may 6 2019. accompanied by some cryptic youtube uploads of tyler adorned in a blonde wig and shiny suit none of us could have prepared for the raw heartfelt experience we were about to get by the time it drops tyler had one simple request that we give this project our full undivided attention no skips no distractions no playing songs out of order showcasing an incredible three-act structure the synth-heavy neo-soul journey bore more similarities to a musical or even feature-length film than it did a rap album beginning with a dramatic 20-second long synth notes before propelling us into the twisted world of eagles as far as the metaphors go the character igor is mostly depicted in gothic media as the loyal deformed lab assistant to dr frankenstein here we see tyler using that archetype to portray himself in a way that may seem relatively unclear at the project's surface after all this is a story about a love triangle between tyler and a boy who happens to be seeing both him and a woman at the same time igor encapsulates the feelings of grief happiness and frustration that come with such a confusing dynamic not knowing where the relationship is headed tyler longs for a man who refuses to commit to him the bouncing keys at the end of igor's theme transition us beautifully into the album's second track earthquake featuring a beautifully illegible appearance from playboy cardi placed delicately atop tyler's dreamy piano chords and distorted drums earthquake's heavenly sound can be attributed to its impressive [Music] layering all the songs he wanted them to be brighter you know to really have that dynamic and to be right coming right at you now when i put the eq's in [Music] see how it brightens it up now if i take that brightness off it's dull see it doesn't affect you the same way with so much happening at once it's easy to see how earthquake is tyler's most successful song at the time of me recording this just like flower boy igor was entirely produced by tyler himself giving the record a stronger sense of cohesion and working to elevate the narrative's impact overall i wanted to just write pop songs for people so i kind of did that but sometimes you got to just write songs with how you feel or whatever so i just wrote that and um it's like it came out really cool earthquakes like a love song it's like a to me it's like an out and out straight up love song and it's the first first statement on the record that says like oh this album is going to be it's kind of there's a lot of open-heartedness to this record yeah very 80s pop i don't know what i was going idealistic love and idealistic heartbreak yeah i guess it's good justin bieber and rihanna both rejected this song because earthquake effectively introduces us to igor's situation with tyler singing rather than rapping about a boy he feels he can't live without a lover who just rocked his world much like an earthquake he's lacking closure though and without warning tyler throws us into the 80s inspired track i think whose uneven drum patterns accurately personify that very unclear headspace despite feelings of uncertainty and the fear of the unknown one thing is obvious tyler is falling in love i don't know where i'm going but i know what i'm showing feelings that's what i'm pulling what the [ __ ] is your motive i don't know how he does it but somehow tyler manages to accurately capture the exact feelings associated with falling in love in how a new relationship on the horizon can cloud your judgment either for the better or for the worse deep down tyler knows this relationship is doomed to fail on account of the woman his lover is still involved with but because his feelings for this person are so strong it's like he doesn't even care tyler is willing to face the inevitable consequences as long as what he's feeling in this moment is real this is where we see the theme of love first developed on the album he's so attached to this individual that he's gonna risk everything if it means just the possibility of having a future with them with the track followed up by the short interlude exactly what you run from you end up chasing is possible this could also be tyler reconciling his homosexual thoughts now chasing the lifestyle he was once accused of hating he's tired of running from his identity and is finally ready to embrace the ethereal highs and earth-shattering lows of love but he knows he's running out of time and if this guy is ever going to choose tyler over his girlfriend he better make up his mind fast [Applause] a new magic wand tyler has had enough of his crush leading him on and needs him to hurry up and make a decision or else igor will be forced to take matters into his own hands sometimes you gotta close the door to open a window by this point tyler is literally begging his lover not to leave insisting this is all somehow his own fault and that he promises to fix things as long as he chooses to stay tyler is finally coming to terms with the reality of the situation and vows to get her out of the picture if it means getting to stay with the boy he loves even if he has to kill them both in the process hence the term new magic wand and possibly being a metaphor for a gun [Music] [Music] igor was definitely like all filling woke up in the morning that's how i felt made that song did that for like two weeks and then i was like oh [ __ ] i have something it was like six songs six seven something like oh my gosh this is and that's kind of why it goes into this weird chronological order because yeah that was how i felt that morning it was like over a span of like two weeks almost every time like album i put in a playlist on my phone yeah just to see how it flows and stuff and uh i was like oh [ __ ] this this uh this flows and i was subconscious like i didn't even notice i was drawing a circle it was just all filling me down being one of the slower cuts off igor a boy as a gun feature is one of the most reflective verses we've heard from tyler up until this point he's had time to calm down since the outburst of emotion we heard on the previous track and accept that the relationship he desires is slowly slipping out from his fingers still pleading with this mysterious love interest not to shoot him down referencing the famous phrase a girl is a gun tyler's a lover may be worse for him than he initially thought playing on the idea that love can be just as dangerous and volatile as a loaded gun but on puppet he makes it clear that despite being aware of this harsh reality he still remains at his lover's disposal helplessly at the whim of the person he thinks he wants but so desperately needs to leave behind which is when he finally chooses to free himself from this mental prison what's good is the ninth track on the album and features the first semblance of a hip-hop verse we've heard so far with tyler's manic lyrics plastered over a kanye-esque beat personifying his attempt to let loose and move on from a toxic situation now that he knows there's no way to rebuild a relationship with his crush igor attempts to distract himself and cope with the loss anyway he knows how which ranges from intense screaming to soft delicate sentiments woven on gone gone thank you an open thank you note to his former lover for at least allowing him to experience those brief feelings of euphoria [Music] wishing him and his new girlfriend the best of luck moving forward it's a difficult conclusion for tyler to reach but he knows it's the most mature thing to do and ultimately it's better to have felt something than nothing at all despite the heartfelt pain he still feels as evident by it [Music] after an emotionally driven journey that grabbed audience members by the heartstrings igor finally comes to a conclusion on the fitting final track are we still friends where tyler attempts to salvage any remaining connection he could still have with the person he loves perhaps in hopes that something will still materialize later are we still friends he isn't able to completely move on just yet and is hoping to remain in this boy's life even if it means reducing himself to nothing more than a friend in the eyes of his past lover an acquaintance a sidekick or even igor [Music] the album received an insurmountable level of critical acclaim peaking at number one on the billboard top 200s and was considered by many as the best album of 2019. later winning tyler his first ever grammy for best rap album it's not not exactly a rap album but it sucks that whenever we and i mean guys that look like me do anything that's genre bending or that's anything they always put it in a rapper urban category which is and i don't like that urban word it's just a politically correct way to say the n word to me why can't we just be in pop why can't you know what i mean so i felt like a half of me feels like the the rap nomination was a backhanded compliment like oh uh my little cousin wants to play the game let's give him the unplug controller so he could shut up and feel good about it that that's what it felt like a bit but another half of me is very grateful that the art that i made could be acknowledged on a level like this when i don't do the radio stuff i'm not played in target i'm in a whole different world than what a lot of people here listen to so i'm grateful and like when it comes to tyler you can say he's evolved in a way a lot of artists haven't bursting onto the scene with an unapologetically demented and brash aura completely different from the music he produces now tyler has managed to effortlessly guide himself across the musical landscape without jeopardizing his core values a message to younger generations that being yourself is ultimately superior than being imprisoned by the conventional expectations you or others may set for yourself this theme has always stayed the same he's just undergone new ways of expressing it keeping his content fresh and consistent over the years despite how different a lot of his projects may be sonically expressing a major growth in his ever-changing sounds and a profound level of emotional bravery by opening up and subjecting his sexuality to public scrutiny after years of being slammed for homophobia tyler is now paving the way for other lgbtq artists to thrive in the same genre he did changing the world of rap forever despite the massive commercial success he's obtained tyler has and always wills stay true to that same 15 year old kid we saw skateboarding after school back in la it's the fusion between brazen authenticity and impressive creative skills that have made tyler the creator one of the most significant figures in all of modern culture and i'm not just saying all this because he retweeted me once okay that's not why i made this video can't promise [Music] uh [Music] you

Channel: j aubrey

Views: 742,898

Rating: 4.9708662 out of 5

Keywords: tyler the creator, tyler, the, creator, story, of, odd future, documentary, goblin, wolf, haley, wolf haley, cherry bomb, cherry, bomb, flower boy, flower, boy, frank ocean, earl sweatshirt, tyler the creator interview, tyler the creator documentary, igor, tyler the creator igor, tyler the creator freestyle, tyler the creator funny, comedy, funny, satire, video essay, j aubrey

Id: _U19pkdV48Q

Length: 83min 55sec (5035 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 31 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/IAmPuzzlr]

As a relatively new fan who started listening around IGOR, this is really informative.

[u/Xiaochen0]

Just finished it it’s amazing

[u/Yeez24]

I liked J Aubrey's Kanye doc so I'll definitely be checking this out.

[u/invadergold123]

This was an amazing documentary and I hope that people on this subreddit watch this.

[u/DefinetlyNotSmokie]

gotta watch this tommorow, feel like ive seen one of his videos before