Tyler, The Creator has established himself as a versatile artist winning multiple Grammys and awards for projects like IGOR and Call Me If You Get Lost. After a three year long wait ,Tyler, The Creator dropped his latest studio album, Chromakopia.
The rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and clothes designer, had released Chromakopia on October 28th, 2024.
This album is not as quite good as IGOR, or Call Me If You Get Lost, but is able to stand on its own as an amazing body of work.
Being mostly self produced by Tyler, The Creator, this self reflective body of work pulls stylistic inspiration from military cadences, rock, and boom bap.
The varied styles of music production are all tied together by 90s style synths, his mothers voice and a much more serious tone.
St. Chroma is an absolutely stellar intro track. As you begin the song, the first thing you hear is his mother telling him, “you are the light,” and how he should never “dim his light for anyone.”
After this short sample, Tyler comes in immediately singing the term “Chromakopia,” repeatedly, as the stomping of boots is heard.
Tyler begins rapping in a hushed and raspy voice in the first verse, discussing breaking the cycle of poverty and his plentiful wealth.
Daniel Caesar provides vocals for the extremely catchy chorus, as the cadence of stomping boots serve as the only percussion driving this section of the song.
Loud and bombastic drums are then introduced and loops throughout the rest of the track as Tyler then raps about understanding how he was different or special as he grew up.
He also discusses how he has to begin searching for a better understanding of himself as he comes to a crossroads between deciding if he should retire or continue his musical career.
The rest of the album is a reflective search of self as he looks back on all the things that have affected him such as the absence of his father, parenthood, the loss of a lover, and paranoia stemming from fame.
Judge Judy is a song that is most commonly misunderstood. A sensual track about a fling with a girl that he met at a coffee shop, the track ends with a suicide note written by this woman, thanking Tyler for the good times he gave her.
The album is a journey through Tyler’s most impactful life moments and developments. He discusses everything hoping to find a better understanding of himself as he works to take off his mask.
Stylistically the album visually focuses on dark, almost vampiric themes with some military aspects.
The mask that this album’s character sports represents his disillusionment with himself and his own image.
This is most seen in the song Take Your Mask Off in which he points the finger at people for hiding who they truly are as people.
He eventually points the finger at himself as he begins to criticize himself and his work, leading to the discussion of how he has to also take off his own mask.
This album is much like Kendrick’s Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, not as good as his best work but still good nevertheless. The album has less structure than his previous works like Call Me If You Get Lost.
However, the album consists of multiple amazing tracks like St. Chroma, Noid, Rah Tah Tah, and many, many more.
This is a beautiful album and a potential contender for album of the year and another welcomed addition in Tyler’s discography.
