Tyler the Creator is a Rapper, Singer, Record Producer, Actor and Visual Artist. Tyler the Creator has five studio albums including Goblin, Yonkers, Wolf, Flower Boy and his most recent Igor. Tyler is considered to be a “Cultural Phenomenon”, he brings a new element into the hip-hop scene with his take on a unique and different kind of music. His style uses a multitude of different electric pianos and Tyler has created a space for alternative rap that is unlike any other.
Early Life
Tyler Gregory Okonoma was born on March 6th in 1991 in Ladera Heights, California. His father was Nigerian and his mother was Canadian and African American. However, he was only raised by his mother after his father abandoned their family after his birth. While growing up in the Sacramento and Los Angeles area, Tyler attended a multitude of schools. One different school per year, until he graduated grade school. This led to Tyler being a shy and awkward child growing up. However, later when he turned fourteen Tyler began to get into music where he would teach himself how to play the piano. Later once people found out that Tyler was musically inclined during his senior year of high school, he became very popular. After graduating high school Tyler would work odd jobs like FedEx and Starbucks for about two years, but later quitting to pursue his music career.
Early Career`
On December 25, 2009, Tyler released his first mixtape called Bastard. His debut album would then reach 32 on the list of top 100 albums of 2010. Tyler would then release the music video to the song “Yonkers” which would garner attention from several different media outlets on February 11, 2011. Later Tyler released his second album Goblin on May 10, 2011.
The Birth of Flower Boy
Flower Boy released on July 21, 2017. Previously, he was known for margialnizing and upsetting people with his heavy homophobic lyrics and jokes about women. While this was all a joke in the end, it cost Tyler his fan base as his music was banned in some countries. The album Flower Boy stood to correct his actions and truly become loved by the public again. Flower Boy was a collection of meditative songs, full of memories as he truly pours his heart out on these fourteen songs. Tyler talks about loneliness, isolation, outgrowing friendships and personal growth within himself, ultimately offsetting the bad guy image that he was so famously known for. Specifically in his song, Forward he talks about sexuality and how he lead on girls and then later comes out as homosexual. This turn in his career offered a new space within the LGBTQ community because he was known for spewing out homophobic slurs.
Interviews
Conclusion
Tyler, The Creator is a rapper, musician, songwriter, producer, actor and visual artist. Tyler rose to fame in the early 2010’s with the group odd future. He later set off to begin his solo journey with his debut mixtape Bastard. Although Tyler was often criticized for using homophobic and misogynistic lyrics in his raps he was able to clean up his image with the release of Flower Boy. Tyler was able to get more in tuned with his emotions and perform a 180, where he was loved by the public once again. Not only was Tyler known for his music, but his fashion, art and style as well. Tyler created the cover art for all of Odd Futures releases, he designed the groups clothing and merchandise and in 2011 Tyler started his own clothing company Golf Wang. Tyler started off his career as a bag guy with horrible lyrics but was able to clean up his image by finding himself and putting his emotions in his lyrics.
Discography
Sources
- Nnadi, Chioma, and Photography by Grace Pickering. “Tyler, the Creator Is the Fashion Rebel the World Needs Right Now.” Vogue, 22 Nov. 2019, www.vogue.com/vogueworld/article/tyler-the-creator-interview-golf-wang-converse-camp-flog-gnaw.
- Scarano , Ross. Tyler, The Creator Is the Artist of the Decade, 6 Nov. 2019, www.vice.com/en_us/article/7x5abb/tyler-the-creator-is-the-artist-of-the-decade.
- Frost , Kerwin, director. Kerwin Frost Talks to Tyler the Creator (Episode 13). Youtube.com, 20 Dec. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Y8sXeoYrE.
- Vollero, Lexi. “From Odd Future to ‘Igor’: Breaking down Every Era of Tyler, the Creator’s Career.” EW.com, Entertainment , 5 June 2019, ew.com/music/2019/06/05/tyler-the-creator-in-every-era/.
- Lendrum, Alex. “Not Your Usual Entrepreneur: The Business and Success of Tyler, The Creator.” HYPEBEAST, HYPEBEAST, 12 May 2016, hypebeast.com/2016/5/picking-tyler-the-creators-brain-on-his-businesses-and-success.
- Balderrama, Kaylin. “The Evolution of Tyler, the Creator.” BLEND, BLEND, 28 Oct. 2019, blendmag.online/new-blog/2019/10/28/the-evolution-of-tyler-the-creator