Tyler, the Creator wrestles with the idea of becoming Tyler, the Procreator.
Tyler has
been slacking. We used to get an album from him every two years. But it’s been
three years since Call Me If You Get Lost. Bloody disgraceful. Has he run
out of things to rap about? As this album reveals, clearly not. This might be
Tyler’s most confessional record to date. As guest rapper Doechii poetically
describes on track 14, he’s airing it all out ‘like a queef’.
In usual
Tyler the Creator fashion, Chromakopia opens with a completely bombastic-but-brilliant intro track – this time with marching feet, menacing
whisper-rapping and a grimy beat change towards the end. We then dive into
second track ‘Rah Tah Tah’ in which Tyler is bragging about his wealth. Not my
favourite type of Tyler track. In fact, my one gripe with Call Me As You Get
Lost is that it had a bit too much braggadocio on it. But it’s okay,
because the beat is enjoyably nuts, and we largely leave behind the braggadocio
from this point on.
‘Noid’ is the
first glimpse that grammy-winning rapper is not entirely content beneath the
fortune and fame. Even an extra-extroverted guy like Tyler needs his privacy, and
being constantly photographed and filmed is making him paranoid. Made up of
stuttering synths and Black-Sabbath-esque guitars (they’re actually sampled
from this 70s zamrock band), the instrumental feels fittingly frantic.
After this we
get ‘Darling, I’, which explores Tyler’s inability to settle down in a
relationship. I’m still not entirely convinced by his hammy singing on this one,
but he graciously lets Teezo Touchdown take over at the end. This song leads
nicely into ‘Hey Jane’, at which point this album starts to touch on the really
heavy shit. It sees Tyler exploring an accidental pregnancy from the
perspective of both partners. 15 years ago, I would have never imagined I’d
hear Tyler declare ‘You just hope to God I get a period again’ in a
serious context. He delicately and maturely navigates the feelings of each
partner as they decide whether to go through with having a baby. It ends on a
cliffhanger, however the choice to name the track after an abortion service
makes me think Tyler and his partner ultimately didn’t go through with it (if
the track is in fact describing a real life situation that happened to Tyler).
I hoped ‘I
Killed You’ wasn’t going to be a distasteful continuation of the same theme,
and I’m happy to report it’s in fact a completely unrelated track about killing
his hair with products. In fact, this and the next two tracks take a break into
lighter subject matter. ‘Judge Judy’ is an ode to a past fuckbuddy with some backing
vocals that sound almost like Frank Ocean (he’s not credited, so I’m not sure
if it’s actually him). ‘Sticky’ meanwhile is a banger with a positively disgusting
beat and lively guest rapping from Glorilla, Lil Wayne and Sexyy Red (I
expected her verse to be trash, but it’s not).
This last half
of the album is where Tyler really pours his heart out and turns this into an
AOTY contender. ‘Take Your Mask Off’ is a creative track about exposing the
mask of various people, which in the last verse transforms into a diss track
aimed at himself. And he doesn’t hold back either – he goes all in as if he's Kendrick dissing Drake. It certainly counterbalances the braggadocio at
the beginning of this album.
Among his
many caustic self-criticisms, he claims ‘you selfish as fuck, that’s why you
scared of being a parent’ – which ends up being the topic of the next track
‘Tomorrow’. Along with Charli XCX’s ‘I think about it all the time’, it’s the
second track I’ve heard in 2024 that deals with parental anxiety in one’s 30s. I’m
impressed again by the maturity Tyler shows in this track, and it’s very
touching stuff. However, the most powerful song on the album is yet to come…
No, I’m not
talking about ‘Thought I Was Dead’. This banger features Schoolboy Q and some
nasty trumpets, and it provides some much-needed levity before Tyler hits us
with ‘Like Him’. This track continues the album’s theme of reluctant fatherhood,
but centres around his own estranged dad. Tyler already wrote a heavy song
about this topic 10 years ago called ‘Answer’. This song hits even harder –
exchanging bitterness for a desperation to know what his father is/was like. The
production is heavenly and it’s delivered in such a heartfelt manner that I
don’t even mind Tyler’s amateurish singing.
Finally, we
get ‘Balloon’ and ‘I Hope You Find Your Way Home’. After emotionally ruining us
with ‘Like Him’, these songs end the album on a positive and hopeful note. ‘Baloon’
has a soaring energy to it with a potty-mouthed verse from Doechii that feels
like a throwback to Tyler’s roots. And ‘I Hope You Find You Way Home’ closes
the album with a fantastic synth solo from Tyler that shows how far he’s come
as a producer.
Up until now,
I’ve been waiting for Tyler to drop a masterpiece, and it feels like every
album has fallen just short. However, Chromakopia feels like its truly
reached that bar. There isn’t a single song on this album that isn’t impressive.
Even on the tracks where I don’t really care for the lyrics such as ‘Rah Tah
Tah’ and ‘Judge Judy’, the production is fun and detailed enough that it makes
up for it. The album features some of Tyler’s most mature songs and also some
ridiculous bangers. It’s also worth noting that his vocals are incredibly
dynamic on this record, with moments where he almost sounds like a completely different
singer or rapper. And yet as sonically messy as it feels, he manages to tie it altogether with the themes of distrust and fatherhood. It’s enough to make you question whether it should be the 'big
four' and not the 'big three'.
★★★★★
TRACK TASTER: