Megan Hayes | Editor-in-Chief
Tyler, the Creator is a bodacious, eccentric, innovative and bold artist that has taken the music world by storm with his eclectic style of rap. His albums serve as stories, telling the reader a multifaceted story through his many different songs that are accompanied by an almost gaudy professionalism. Up to this point, Tyler has released seven albums -- some of the most popular being Goblin (2011), Wolf (2013), Cherry Bomb (2015), Flower Boy (2017), Igor (2019), and Call Me If You Get Lost (2021).
Tyler Okonma, originally from Ladera Heights, California, started his music career in 2007 by co-founding a rap collective called Odd Future, with other notable artists like Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt, Syd the Kid, and more. His first song, called "Reverse", was released in 2004 and gave a preview into his unique style of composition. Through the beginning years of Tyler's music career, he has gained a lot of attention through his harsher, angrier lyrics, showcased on his earlier albums. His album Goblin received critical attention from many due to the darker themes and introspective lyrics, talking about his struggles and storytelling about characters, most seen in the songs "She", "Tron Cat", and "Yonkers". There was a turning point in Tyler's career in 2017 with the release of his album Flower Boy, which contained lighter themes such as falling in love, sexuality, loneliness, self-acceptance, and friendship. It received critical acclaim, and set Tyler into a new branch of his music, allowing him to expand even further through the world of rap and hip-hop into more categories like R&B, soul, jazz, psychedelic, and indie.
Fast forward almost seven years, with several releases in between, and Tyler has once again surprised everyone with a sudden album release of his eighth studio album, CHROMAKOPIA. CHROMAKOPIA was originally teased with clip posted on Tyler's social media platform on October 16th, with a clip of the song "St. Chroma", and visuals of a line of Tyler look-alike's marching into a shipping container with the name of the album written on it, which the "real" Tyler eventually blows up with a button when he comes on screen. He has always been a magician lyrically, but the visuals for his songs are equally as impressive.
The album, to talk logistically, is a huge extension of Tyler's style and lyrical mastery. There is such a wide variety of topics covered by this album, including paranoia, fame, aging, love, and more. It is hard to differentiate the "best" songs on the album, as all of the songs on CHROMAKOPIA have their own unique style. He differs in style with a light and airy "Balloon" to a more somber "Judge Judy", back to a hopping, infectious "Sticky", to the almost heavenly vocals of "St. Chroma", all the way across the spectrum to an angry, passionate "Rah Tah Tah". He also has a wide range of features on this new album, incorporating other artist's styles as well. Some of the most notable are Sexyy Red, Lil Wayne, Glorilla, Doechii, Daniel Caesar, and Teezo Touchdown. Stylistically, in this album Tyler branches further into unfamiliar styles, but he also incorporates similar synth tones and melodic patterns from previous albums.
As he continues to dive deeper into his musical talents, he continues to also serve as a role model (despite disregarding this notion in the beginning of his career) to younger people involved in music. Boundary-pushing is one of the most crucial parts of making one's way in the music industry, and Tyler is a prime example of the success of pushing through status-quo's and stigmas of what music "should" be.
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