One day you’re an outspoken, angry teenager with the world at his feet, and before you know it, your friends have kids and your mantle is filled with accolades as the walls close in. Tyler, The Creator has undoubtedly cemented himself as a visionary in recent years. Among his chart hits, those of 2019 IGOR and 2021 Call me if you get lostand establishing itself as a fashion brand with Golf Wang and Golf Le Fleur, the tides have changed. So, where to go next? It looks like, further in.

The shipping container that has been whistling in the promotional explosion ever since CHROMAKOPIA‘s announcement on October 16 becomes clearer. Luggage comes in all shapes and sizes, and for Tyler it’s a militant green container. One that contains his emotional world – a world he quickly destroys in the first teaser video.

From the start, we are introduced to the overarching narrator – Tyler’s mother – who discusses the issue in his seventh album. “St Chroma” – said to be the masked protagonist who adorns the artwork – is depicted on the front with a marching chant from the title. Ultimately, he comes to terms with himself as an artist, which plays out in Tyler’s verse, as his mother’s words crackle to life. Fueling any semblance of vulnerability, the boastful chapter of “Rah Tah Tah” is short, lasting all of 2:45 – it will keep the old-headed ragers at bay – with Tyler also loudly proclaiming that he is “the biggest in town after Kenny.” After a powerful transition to “NOID,” Tyler is doing his level best to be consistently candid about his relationship with fandom. In a year when the likes of Chappell Roan called out appalling behavior by fanatics – the footage (with Ayo Edebiri) comparing phones to guns – a bit back to a line from ‘Massa’ in which he claimed: ‘I’m paranoid, I sleep with a gun”, – the perils of fame/infamy play out with urgency. Although they are a minimal aspect of the album, they provide an impressive frontload, while the rest plays like a range of heavy introspection.

The majority of the album is largely spent on the idea and/or possibility of raising a child. “Hey Jane” hints at Tyler possibly being a father through a storyline in which he adopts an empathetic feminist stance alongside the unknown, apparently London-based Jane. During this section he reaches back to the IGOR pocket, the bombast flow is far away and in its wake smokes sultry RNB with a Tyler–twist. ‘Sticky’, which brings together Lil Wayne, Sexy Red and Glorilla, amps things up with a rousing proverbial dick move, before picking up momentum after the low point of the meandering ‘Judge Judy’ which, although featuring Childish Gambino, has little to offer. seriously to the Tyler erasing trip.

The Schoolboy Q with “Thought I Was Dead” brings back the military motif. Getting out of the inner focus and back into the reality that exists outside of the fears. In its last part,
CHROMAKOPIA digs deep as Tyler’s relationship with his father – and how it will in turn affect every future spawn – concludes. A therapeutic spill that shimmers in the levity of “Balloon” that takes Tyler, The Creator outside his shipping container. Like Doechii – who herself turned in a recent mixtape that digs deep into the stickiness of her own life, Alligator Bites never heal – finds an unhinged moment to properly return to reality. The closing moments of “I Hope You Find Your Way Home” turn that levity and reality into a heartwarming finale that pulls the pins out of the container and falls to the ground as his mother expresses her pride and returns to his sincerity. to himself.

CHROMAKOPIAIts execution is well thought out and refined – the internet pages are packed with unpacking and unpacking of every little element – ​​but like life, it is messy and truthful. The sepia-toned art and authoritative aesthetic may not be everywhere, but apparently this is an introduction to the bigger picture. Instead, the color exists within, beneath the mask.

With the potential to become a divisive record among its fandom ranks, it draws on Tyler’s cachet of sounds and themes, but often doubles down while introducing new ones (“I Killed You”). Overall, it’s as free as it’s ever sounded. Where he was previously a cultural antagonist, he’s now a grown-up rapper and entrepreneur with bigger visions and bigger fears – everything here lives up to those expectations; CHROMAKOPIA continues to piece together the Tyler, The Creator puzzle without clearing up the picture.