Tyler, The Creator’s Latest Album Is One Big Flex
When Tyler Gregory Okonma, better known as Tyler, The Creator, announced that he would be releasing Call Me If You Get Lost (CMIYGL), the music world spun on its head.
It had been two years and one month since the release of IGOR (2019), his fifth studio album that won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
When CMIYGL was released on June 25, there were many questions.
Would it live up to the hype? Could it top IGOR? Where does it rank among his other works?
The 16-track album is his longest since WOLF (2013) and the similarities don’t stop there.
CMIYGL brings back Tyler’s’ ‘bangers” while mixing them with his new and matured instrumentals. The album is grimy, and that griminess is exemplified through his features with 42 Dugg (LEMONHEAD), Lil Wayne (HOT WIND BLOWS), and NBA Youngboy (WUSYANAME).
He even brings back Domo Genesis in MANIFESTO, as sort of a tribute to his Odd Future days.
The entire album feels like a throwback to his WOLF and GOBLIN (20011) days, with the twist being in the new and evolved artistic style we know from IGOR and Flower Boy (2017).
Narrative is something we saw prevalent within IGOR, and it was one of the main components that made it so captivating. The love triangle dynamic we saw in IGOR drove it home, and here we see a similar narrative, except that it reflects Tyler’s success, not his love interests.
Don’t get me wrong, tracks like WILSHIRE and WUSYANAME still reflect that same “love triangle” theme, but in terms of the album as a whole, the album feels like one big flex.
In the spoken verse track BLESSED, Tyler is being grateful for his success and blessedness—all his businesses and Camp Flog Gnaw doing amazing, his collaborations with companies, his skincare being good, and just about every other way he is blessed in life.
LEMONHEAD, features Tyler, 42 Dugg, and Frank Ocean showing their bravado by flaunting their opulence.
CORSO, is about Tyler’s social life and influence on people around him. With a corso being a social promenade or walkway where events and festivals often happen.
On LUMBERJACK, Tyler boasts about his material wealth and addresses his haters over an abrasive beat that contrasts much of his more melodic production.
I’m concerned for this album’s longevity among common listeners.
Diehard Tyler, The Creator fans (me included) will have no problem playing this over and over on their phones until the battery dies.
However, to the common listener, it might be difficult to listen to this album again in five years, because of the lack of solid narrative and theme.
Flexing about your successes isn’t anything new, but when put to the test of time, records that do so tend to fall out of style.
Other than that, I believe CMIYGL is incredibly sound sonically, and I wouldn’t be surprised if It gets consideration for album of the year.
