So…. where to start with Tyler, The Creator.
Without boring you with wordy fluff, I’m just gonna cut straight to the point and say that nothing has piqued my interest in Hip-Hop land in recent years as much as this dude (and his OFWGKTA crew to a lesser extent). While we are constantly bombarded with cocaine rap and other general cliche rap stuff, Tyler and Odd Future rolled up outta left field.
I first started noticing the OFWGKTA (odd future wolf gang kill them all) acronym late last year, but only started really investigating earlier this year after continuing to notice a bunch of press. At first it was intimidating because the whole Odd Future thing was kind of like Wu-Tang, with a bunch of members and you didn’t know what was what or who was who. Nevertheless, it’s all pretty simple to figure out. As far as I’m concerned though, Tyler is the dude. THIS GUIDE will teach you everything you need to know.
To me, Tyler is part mysterious, part punk rock, part unfiltered teenager that has the wild lyrics and the energy to back it up. I guess all that combined is what ultimately drew me in. Originality!!!! If you think about early Eminem, than you have somewhat of an idea about what Tyler’s stuff is like. Don’t get me wrong though, Tyler’s stuff is waaaay harder. A warning, you should probably go into his music knowing that it’s tongue-in-cheek and if you are easily offended AT ALL, you should probably just listen to your Taylor Swift album instead.
GOBLIN, Tyler’s 2nd album (or first real one depending on how you look at it) falls just short of being a super-duper home run for me, but I’m still crazy about it. There’s just a few slow songs that I could personally do without, but the album is fuckin’ sick. There’s a Doctor/Psychologist theme throughout GOBLIN (similar to Tyler’s first album BASTARD) that ties it all together, and I suspect you will get something new from this album each time you listen to it. It’s not simple or status quo. I suggest downloading BASTARD first before getting into GOBLIN too. Get your Google on.
I know Tyler and O.F. are still relatively small, but I feel like they’ve gained popularity super quick. Like I mentioned before, there’s countless articles on them, they are on covers, performed on Jimmy Fallon and are on the radar of every “cool guy” out there. The music is not pop or easy to digest, which just adds to my confusion about it all. Either way, I’m stoked. Either these dudes are the greatest manufactured act of all time, or just what people need right now. I’m going with the latter.
I’m curious to hear peoples opinions on all this, let me know in the comments.
