Tyler, The Creator Essentials

Ever since co-founding the Odd Future collective with fellow iconoclasts Earl Sweatshirt and Frank Ocean, California polymath Tyler, The Creator has had no trouble getting attention. Observe his gatecrashing final verse on Odd Future’s 2012 track “Rella” or the previous year’s solo single “Yonkers”, both duelling showcases of glowering angst and lyrical ingenuity. His 2011 Ocean collab “She” was equally spiky, giving violent voice to an obsessive stalker. Tyler honed his gruff swagger on 2013’s “Domo23” and by 2015 he was lining up guests as big as Lil Wayne and Kanye West on layered tracks like “SMUCKERS”. In 2017, he released Flower Boy, an album whose vulnerability and eclecticism represented a maturation from young punk to complex young man. It later made it onto Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums list, thanks to such lasting artistic statements (and platinum-selling singles) as “911 / Mr. Lonely” and “Who Dat Boy”. From there, it’s been increasingly difficult to pin Tyler down for very long. His soul-baring 2019 album IGOR yielded surprisingly intimate romantic entreaties like “EARFQUAKE” and “I THINK”, while 2021’s “LUMBERJACK” and “JUGGERNAUT” circled back around to a harder-hitting rap persona. By contrast, his 2024 single “Noid” sampled a crunchy, vintage Zamrock track while also making dreamy detours into neo-soul and cosmic jazz. It’s classic Tyler, sounding like a spontaneous venting session that’s been curated and corralled into something much more nuanced and sophisticated.