Tyler, the Creator has evolved and matured both sonically and personally, from being a successful fashion designer, model, festival proprietor, and actor, with a role in Josh Safdie’s upcoming film “Marty Supreme”.
And now, exploding out of the monochromatic dystopia and into the latest colourful world of Tyler, the Creator lies the LA rapper’s seventh studio album, “CHROMAKOPIA”, following the self-produced “Call Me If You Get Lost”, released in 2021. Tyler chose to release the album unconventionally on a Monday, contrary to contemporary album release days. Tyler did this to encourage his fans to listen without the distractions the weekend brings with it, aiming to revive a more traditional, pre-digital way of hearing their favourite artists’ new record.
The record hones in on Tyler’s fatherhood, now aged 33, particularly with tracks such as ‘Hey Jane’, where the rapper describes a pregnancy scare, illustrating the struggling undertones and mixed emotions of the entire record. It’s raw and anxious, lyrically striking in a similar sense to the emotionally personal tracks on Kendrick Lamar’s “Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers”. Features include Daniel Caesar, Lil Wayne, Doechii, an unexpected ScHoolboy Q appearance, Sexyy Redd, Teezo Touchdown, and GloRilla, amongst others. His mother guides Tyler through voice notes that glue the record together, giving advice and wise words throughout. Yet, to a lot of fans’ disappointment, there is no Frank Ocean appearance.
It feels as though the album was a symbol of sorts for Tyler to finally turn around and look back at his previous characters (Tyler Baudelaire, Igor, Flower Boy, Chur Bum from Cherry Bomb, Wolf Haley, or Goblin), with a new masked general-uniformed character that feels like a conclusion or even a deconstruction of his previous alter-egos.
Tyler’s fixation on pushing boundaries, experimenting with new synth structures and sounds from many aspects of a multitude of genres never fails to excite fans, and the record’s opening song “St. Chroma” embodies this, with layers of soul and rock accompanied by Daniel Caesar’s uplifting vocals that dramatically crash into an explosion of colour, hype, and volume to open the album, especially after the build-up high anticipation of the song being previewed in the first trailer of the entire record.
“Balloon”, however, is my favourite track, probably because of how good Doechii’s big energy feature is, putting me onto the rapper. With “Yeezus” vibes, Tyler showcases his true lyricism onto the cartoony beat and includes a familiar sample “I Wanna Rock”, also heard in Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode”, ending the album in brilliant arrogance with “I Hope You Find Your Way Home”, leaving me wanting more.
The album is a true gem in the microwave of today, Tyler will be touring the album in 2025, stopping off for fans in three different continents.
