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6. Authenticity: Tyler's Coherent Image As Challenging Tropes Of Black Masculinity During The "Old Tyler" Period

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6. Authenticity: Tyler's Coherent Image As Challenging Tropes Of Black Masculinity During The "Old Tyler" Period

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Tyler's early music, both what he created as part of Odd Future and when he was out on his own and made Bastard, Goblin and Wolf, all had a punky, aggressive, raw, and DIY feel to it, making the counter-cultural Tyler, The Creator a sharp contrast to the excessive, luxe aesthetics of hip-hop at the time.

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Tyler, The Creator, whose real name is Tyler Okonma, was born on March 6, 1991, in Hawthorne, California.

It can be seen that Tyler's tough childhood experience had an impact on his later star image and already shows some part of it, such as he has tough and fatherless childhood, being a "problematic" student at school with eccentric characteristics, having strong passion to music, and always stay true to himself

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Tyler's career began when he founded Odd Future in 2007, a raucous hip-hop collective hailing from Los Angeles, CA. Tyler, The Creator is the de facto leader of this youthful and energetic group.

During this period, Tyler's star image is perceived as deviating from the norm, being labelled as an activist. But he is also a cool, funny and rebellious rapper, especially attractive to teenagers. Tyler also showed his creativity and artistic talent. He handled most of the crew’s imagery himself, directing videos and designing artwork and fliers.

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Odd Future  Interview BBC Newsnight (2012)

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Tyler and Odd Future Chat To Stephen Smith In An Interview On BBC Newsnight in April 2012

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Tyler and Odd Future Chat To Stephen Smith In An Interview On BBC Newsnight in April 2012

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During the interview, Tyler talked about the lyrics of their songs, saying to the BBC interviewer Stephen Smith with a smile face that their lyrics are nothing, just "shit to piss old white people off like you". This vividly presents Tyler's image as a trouble-maker who always try to trigger people.

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Odd Future OFWGKTA Interview Newsnight 2012

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Tyler's debut album set the tone for his early star image as an aggressive, alternative, and eccentric genius. It is reviewed by Entertainment Weekly that Tyler's chaotic, curse-heavy mixtape is a transgressive, creative burst of anxiety and absurdity. It has lush, Neptune-inspired productions and starkly confessional subjects, tinged with darkness.

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In Tyler's second full-length studio album Goblin, he is still radical and alternative. Entertainment Weekly reviewed that this album has dark beats with a "harsh, gritty narrative and radical statements". It is a natural sequel to Bastard. Where Bastard was more accessible and inviting, this album is bleak, long, "monolithic", and can be a slog to get through. It's also uncomfortable and brave and is a brutal but honest look at Tyler's image of himself.

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Bloom, M. (2019) ‘Tyler, the Creator Reflects on Bastard for 10th Anniversary’, Pitchfork, 25 December.

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Tyler, the Creator Reflects on Bastard for 10th Anniversary

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Tyler, the Creator Reflects on Bastard for 10th Anniversary

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Tyler, The Creator has shared a note on Instagram reflecting on his 2009 mixtape Bastard, “I had ideas, an unmeasurable amount of energy and wanted to piss off or get a reaction from anyone who had ears.” He wrote. “It was such an amazing time and I’m not sure if we really knew what we were doing.” This presents Tyler's early star image as counter-cultural and always trying to shock people.

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Tyler, the Creator Reflects on Bastard for 10th Anniversary

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“It’s been a decade! It was such an amazing time and I’m not sure if we really knew what we were doing.”

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Tyler The Creator - "Yonkers" Music Video

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The Remarkable "Yonkers" Music Video (2011)

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The Remarkable "Yonkers" Music Video (2011)

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This music video presents Tyler's outrageous but talented persona. The black-and-white clip, directed by Tyler, The Creator, shows him intimately fondling a cockroach for about a minute before he swallows it. Then he vomits everywhere and eventually hangs himself. The video possesses an extremely high YouTube view. Tyler tried to use his youthful and creative radicalism to challenge the world's perception of comfort and beauty.

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Blistein, J. (2015) ‘Tyler, the Creator Banned From United Kingdom Over Lyrics’, Rolling Stone, 27 August.

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Tyler, the Creator Banned From United Kingdom due to his lyrics from 2009’s Bastard and 2011’s Goblin.

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Tyler, the Creator Banned From United Kingdom due to his lyrics from 2009’s Bastard and 2011’s Goblin.

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Tyler, The Creator's star image is associated with controversy due to the construction of conservative governmental restrictions. Tyler announced that he has been banned from the United Kingdom after cancelling a string of shows in the U.K. and Ireland. According to Rolling Stone, Tyler was not allowed in the U.K. for 3-5 years because the U.K. Home Office banned him specifically based on his lyrics from 2009’s Bastard and 2011’s Goblin, claiming that his work encourages violence and intolerance of homosexuality and fosters hatred to provoke others to terrorist acts.

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Odd Future member Tyler, the Creator announced he has been banned from the United Kingdom after canceling a string of shows in the U.K. and Ireland, including sets at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

"Based on lyrics from 2009 I am not allowed in the U.K. for 3-5 years (although I was there 8 weeks ago). That is why the shows were canceled," the rapper wrote, in all caps, on Twitter.

Tyler's manager, Christian Clancy, echoed the sentiment in a post on Tumblr, alleging that a letter from the U.K. Home Office specifically cited lyrics from 2009's Bastard and 2011's .

"[T]he type of lyrics he hasn't written since," Clancy added. "[H]ighlights from the letter include that his work 'encourages violence and intolerance of homosexuality' and 'fosters hatred with views that seek to provoke others to terrorist acts.' I grew up on N.W.A, Eminem and Rage Against the Machine, so it's hard to me to fully wrap my head [around] this thought process and its implications."

While the official banishment note to Tyler was not released, The Quietus did receive a comment from a Home Office spokesperson appearing to confirm the rapper's allegations. "Coming to the UK is a privilege, and we expect those who come here to respect our shared values," the spokesperson said. "The Home Secretary has the power to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good or if their exclusion is justified on public policy grounds."

As Clancy also noted, Tyler has made over 20 trips to the U.K. in the last five years for concerts, in-stores and meet and greets, all without incident. He also admitted that while Tyler's old lyrics can make him cringe, being banned for them is "a broader issue of free speech, with new lines being drawn that include reaching back in time without acknowledging growth. In fact, punishing growth... Is he not worthy of the pat on the back for becoming aware and making changes? What message does that send? Is race a conscious or subconscious factor at all?"

The U.K. ban comes on the heels of Tyler's canceled Australian tour, which was protested by feminist group Collective Shout (who also campaigned against his 2013 trek). Tyler incorrectly claimed on Twitter that the group had gotten him banned from the country - igniting a wave of online vitriol and misogyny against Collective Shout director of operations, Coralie Alison - but CNN reported that, at the time, his visa was still being inspected.

Last summer, Tyler and Odd Future were banned from entering New Zealand to play Eminem's Rapture Festival in Auckland. Immigration officials cited a 2011 incident in Boston where OF members reportedly urged fans to attack police officials; they "deemed [the group] to be a potential threat to public order and the public interest." In 2011, Odd Future was also dropped from the Big Day Out festival after the Auckland City Council said the group's lyrics were misogynistic and homophobic.

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Tyler, the Creator Banned From United Kingdom

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Tyler, the Creator revealed he has been banned from the United Kingdom after canceling a string of concerts in the U.K. and Ireland.

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In his third album, Tyler maintained his aggressive image, creating radical shock content. According to Entertainment Weekly's construction, Tyler's overall message of Wolf is to speak out against everything that makes his life difficult, which is mainly the burdens brought by stardom and his haters. He also attacks media and opponents with pointed lyrics and erratic production.

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A shift is about to happen when Tyler released his fourth studio album Cherry Bomb (2015). Tyler started his attempt to be more optimistic and less radical. In contrast to the emotive lyrics and bleak vibe in most of his previous work, Tyler exhibited a relatively gentler side on Cherry Bomb, with its filtered guitar riffs and feel-good lyrics, trying to create a sense of freedom and happiness. This album laid the foundation for Tyler's successful transformation in Flower Boy.

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8.  Flower Boy (2017) The Benchmark Between Old Tyler and New Tyler. Tyler's Successful Image Shift Started.

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8.  Flower Boy (2017) The Benchmark Between Old Tyler and New Tyler. Tyler's Successful Image Shift Started.

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Tyler's successful switch happened when this well-put-together, tasteful, and beautiful album Flower Boy was released. His image shifted to a more mature musician. He started to look back at his life with a sunny and nostalgic lens. This album lacks the style of Tyler's early work because his previous image as a rapper who always wished to trigger people and rile people up was dying down. Instead, It is represented from the documentary RapCaviar Presents that Tyler is using his creativity to pay more attention to the music, songwriting, production, and mellower sounds, which are more beautiful and nuanced, creating a smoother and more easygoing sound and vibe of this project, shifting away from his radical image.

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Tyler shared his own thoughts towards Flower Boy (2022)

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Tyler shared his own thoughts towards Flower Boy (2022)

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flower boy changed everything for me, thank you all for your ears.

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flower boy changed everything for me, thank you all for your ears.

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flower boy changed everything for me, thank you all for your ears.
— T (@tylerthecreator) July 21, 2022

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flower boy changed everything for me, thank you all for your ears.

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flower boy changed everything for me, thank you all for your ears.

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flower boy changed everything for me, thank you all for your ears.

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Clip from the documentary RapCaviar Presents (2023) [Documentary]. Directed by Karam Gill. 

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The Life-Changing Advice Pharrell Williams Gave to Tyler, The Creator (2023)

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The Life-Changing Advice Pharrell Williams Gave to Tyler, The Creator (2023)

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Pharrell Williams gave Tyler life-changing advice during Tyler's Cherry Bomb European Tour in 2015, suggesting that he should "make something undeniable and make it equally as infectious" and "when music becomes purposed-oriented, it can be as cool as the flashy stuff, but it will be much meaningful". After this moment, Tyler reflected that "No more being silly, music first", and he decided to change everything and make a switch on his star image. He started to teach himself how to write a beautiful song and a more attractive hook, etc. Then, the switch did happen, which was the birth of Flower Boy.

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RapCaviar Presents | Tyler the Creator | Hulu

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9. IGOR (2019) Huge Success And Tyler's Maturation

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9. IGOR (2019) Huge Success And Tyler's Maturation

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Tyler's image as a matured and talented music innovator is vividly displayed in this ground-breaking album. Tyler achieved a balance between an optimistic look and his alternative self, presenting his eccentricity in a more publicly acceptable way. In accordance with the honesty he delivered on Flower Boy, in the album Igor, Tyler remains authentic to his clever and chaotic nature while introducing levelled-up production, sound textures, visuals, and queer themes that both display his maturation, marking the arrival of his successful era.

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Tyler, The Creator - EARFQUAKE / NEW MAGIC WAND (Live at the 2020 GRAMMYs)

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Tyler, The Creator - EARFQUAKE / NEW MAGIC WAND (Live at the 2020 GRAMMYs)

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Wearing a blonde wig and colour suit, Tyler, The Creator presented his unconventional image of black masculinity in an impressive and wise way during this Grammy live performance. According to Marques (2022), Tyler playfully mocking the presumably white Americans’ stereotypes about black men held by the Grammys’ audience members through his mannerisms, set design, use of props, costumes, and lyrical content

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Tyler, The Creator - EARFQUAKE / NEW MAGIC WAND (Live at the 2020 GRAMMYs)

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Tyler, the Creator Wins Best Rap Album | 2020 GRAMMYs Acceptance Speech

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Tyler, the Creator Wins Best Rap Album | 2020 GRAMMYs Acceptance Speech

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Tyler won the most mainstream Grammy Award for the first time because of his album Igor, demonstrating a broader recognition and popularity of his stabilized star image as a matured innovator. The acceptance speech represents Tyler as a genuine person with a grateful heart, as he shows his love and gratitude to his mom, family, friends, managers, and fans for trusting his crazy ideas and putting up with his annoying and hyperactive energy. He once again mentioned how Pharell Williams plays an important role, allowing him to be comfortable with himself and open up his doors.

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Tyler, the Creator Wins Best Rap Album | 2020 GRAMMYs Acceptance Speech

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Maoui, Z. (2023) 'There's a reason Tyler the Creator is your favourite celebrity's favourite style icon', GQ, 17 March.

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11. Tyler, The Creator As A Fashion Icon

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11. Tyler, The Creator As A Fashion Icon

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Tyler, the Creator has been considered as the most stylish person in the world and has dominated the fashion industry with his eclectic mindset and unparalleled ability to create. It is complimented by GQ that he has a wicked sense of personal style, that is unmatched anywhere else in the music industry. His taste is eclectic, always progressive, and matches his chaotic personality, but also shows a sense of maturity when his music style experiences a huge shift.

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There's a reason we put Tyler, the Creator on our list of the most stylish people in the world last year. He gets clothes. He fawns over them. He has a wicked sense of personal style, that is truly unmatched anywhere else in the music industry. He sets trends before they hit the catwalk. You'll find outfits inspired by his own on the catwalk.

Ask a celebrity their style icon (trust us, we do this a lot) and the likelihood that they'll mention Tyler, the Creator is high. His taste is eclectic, and always progressive. He's a shapeshifter. There's a preppy, East Coast Country Club aesthetic at the heart of it and mixed into that is a granny core sensibility, all thrown together with a golfing grandpa top layer. Oh and there's a scattering of skater boi accessories and the odd bit of NBA merch (and the rest). Hunting flat caps? They're in there too. He's got a thing for sweet ladylike accessories. And by that, we mean the sort of prim-and-proper things that Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances might wear. His are from Goyard. But everything is always thrown together with the expertise of a well-seasoned dresser.

Tyler is so respected as a fashion lord, that he's scooped serious collaborations. Brands trust him to get freaky with their gear. A Globe-Trotter collab? He did that, taking the heritage luggage label to modern corners with punchy, leopard-print lined carry-ons. With Levi's he breathed life into the brand's 501s, giving them a playful and oh so Tyler makeover by way of splattered dots. With Converse, through his own brand Golf Le Fleur, there was no limit to his designs: flower prints underfoot and a mad mash-up of baby pink, sunflower yellow and pistachio green uppers.

In short, Tyler's got a good thing going on. Below are some of the best style moments from his colourful career (so far)...

Before Harry Styles, Tyler was all about Mary Janes

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There's a reason Tyler the Creator is your favourite celebrity's favourite style icon

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Neckerchiefs, Dr Martens, white socks, sleeveless knits, dressing like a bellboy, fuzzy cardigans. Here's why Tyler the Creator should be your biggest style icon.

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Tyler hinted at his sexuality in twitter in 2015

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Tyler, The Creator Has Hinted At His Sexuality In Twitter (2015)

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Tyler, The Creator Has Hinted At His Sexuality In Twitter (2015)

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I TRIED TO COME OUT THE DAMN CLOSET LIKE FOUR DAYS AGO AND NO ONE CARED HAHAHHAHAHA

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I TRIED TO COME OUT THE DAMN CLOSET LIKE FOUR DAYS AGO AND NO ONE CARED HAHAHHAHAHA

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I TRIED TO COME OUT THE DAMN CLOSET LIKE FOUR DAYS AGO AND NO ONE CARED HAHAHHAHAHA
— T (@tylerthecreator) April 13, 2015

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I TRIED TO COME OUT THE DAMN CLOSET LIKE FOUR DAYS AGO AND NO ONE CARED HAHAHHAHAHA

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I TRIED TO COME OUT THE DAMN CLOSET LIKE FOUR DAYS AGO AND NO ONE CARED HAHAHHAHAHA

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I TRIED TO COME OUT THE DAMN CLOSET LIKE FOUR DAYS AGO AND NO ONE CARED HAHAHHAHAHA

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Screenshot of Tyler's Instagram Page. On the left is his offical personal account, on the right is his "Finsta" account.

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13. Authenticity: Tyler Is Constantly Active On Social Media

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13. Authenticity: Tyler Is Constantly Active On Social Media

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To his core fans, Tyler is accessible and approachable, and not just on record. He's online constantly and keeps presenting his private self, building a unique bond with his listeners and showing his authenticity. On Instagram, he always shares his funny daily life moments, fashion outfits, music clips, and creative inspirations. He even has a "Finsta" account, which makes this virtual space more intimate and private to his fans.

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Tyler, The Creator on Instagram: "I WON @nastyboyjasper @asaprocky" in 2016

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Hilarious short videos on his social media page

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Hilarious short videos on his social media page

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There are a lot of hilarious short videos on his social media page, such as this video, where Tyler messes around with his friends and races on the slide.

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Tyler, The Creator on Instagram: "I WON @nastyboyjasper @asaprocky"

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148K likes, 7,828 comments - feliciathegoat on April 18, 2016: "I WON @nastyboyjasper @asaprocky"

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tyler, The Creator (@feliciathegoat)

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RapCaviar Presents. (2023) [Documentary]. Directed by Karam Gill. United States: Hulu, Spotify, and The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC).

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Tyler, The Creator Talked About His Childhood In The Document RapCaviar Presents, Produced By Hulu (2023)

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Tyler, The Creator Talked About His Childhood In The Document RapCaviar Presents, Produced By Hulu (2023)

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In the first episode of the documentary RapCaviar Presents, Tyler said that his mother was supportive of his eccentric characteristics so that he continued to explore the real him and was not hindered, such as wearing female polos with colourful stripes

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Tyler, The Creator Tweeted about the absence of male role models at a young age in 2020.

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Tyler, The Creator Tweeted about the absence of male role models at a young age in 2020.

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i had no father or uncles or brothers so LOVE to all the women who raised me

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i had no father or uncles or brothers so LOVE to all the women who raised me

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i had no father or uncles or brothers so LOVE to all the women who raised me
— T (@tylerthecreator) June 21, 2020

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i had no father or uncles or brothers so LOVE to all the women who raised me

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i had no father or uncles or brothers so LOVE to all the women who raised me

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i had no father or uncles or brothers so LOVE to all the women who raised me

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Tyler, The Creator Imagined A Phone Conversation With His Father In The Song Called "Answer" (2013)

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Tyler, The Creator Imagined A Phone Conversation With His Father In The Song Called "Answer" (2013)

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Tyler expressed his anger towards his absent father through the lyrics, by branding his father a mere sperm donor who impregnated his mom when she was just 20.

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Tyler, The Creator's WSJ 2019 Music Innovator Award Presentation

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Tyler, The Creator Talked About His Childhood Through WSJ 2019 Music Innovator Award Presentation (2019)

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Tyler, The Creator Talked About His Childhood Through WSJ 2019 Music Innovator Award Presentation (2019)

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Tyler mentioned that he got kicked out of the school's drama club within an hour in eighth grade because he was too hyper, and he was not allowed to join band class because he couldn't read music. However, young Tyler didn't let all of this stop him from doing anything he wanted to do, he still held a strong passion for music and learned to play two instruments by himself. This speech also reveals Tyler's authenticity.

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Tyler, The Creator - WSJ 2019 Music Innovator Award Presentation

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Sargent, J. (2012) 'The OF Tape Vol. 2', Pitchfork, 22 March.

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Odd Future - "The OF Tape Vol.2" Pitchfork Album Review (2012)

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Odd Future - "The OF Tape Vol.2" Pitchfork Album Review (2012)

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Pitchfork commented that The OF Tape Vol. 2 is "the first thing in well over a year that will remind people of why they liked the L.A. skate punks in the first place".

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Part of it is just mathematical. Contributions here are less than any one person would put into a solo album, and though that simple formula doesn't always equal success when it comes to group records, every member here benefits from the arrangement. For guys like Hodgy and Domo, there's barely any room for filler lines (let alone filler verses), and that helps mask their lesser-developed personas. As for Tyler, well, at the moment, less Tyler is better than more Tyler. His presence still dominates the album, but his charms are more apparent and his abrasiveness is easier to digest than on . Those three show up on nearly half of these tracks, and that's crucial to the album's success since any combination of the three works well together. This is often thanks to Hodgy, whose versatility finds him just as comfortable turning up the aggression with Tyler on "NY (Ned Flander)" as he is trading verbal workouts with Domo on "Bitches" for style points.

But the album is a success mainly because everyone simply steps it up. Domo in particular seems to have evolved from the group's bumbling stoner into a guy who can spit dizzying, complicated verses. Even the peripheral members manage to hit it out of the park when given their turns: Mike G's "Forest Green" has been out for close to a year, but its inclusion here is obvious and deserved. Syd has show-stopping turns as a singer at the end of "Analog 2" and on the Internet's "Ya Know", the latter being a more successful take on the sort of lounge-soul that Pharrell used to awkwardly dabble in. Frank Ocean swings by for a few hooks plus "White", his lone solo contribution, which will add Stevie Wonder to the list of classic singers he's usually compared to. Even "We Got Bitches", Tyler, Jasper, and Taco's second stab at an affectionate Waka parody, is almost good enough to make up for Goblin's "Bitch Suck Dick".

Which brings us back to "Oldie". The 10-minute-plus track closes an album that's probably too long in the first place, and in theory it borders on overkill. But it's a reminder that when you strip away all the noise, there's just a group of rappers here, and pretty good ones at that. Maybe it's also a reminder to Odd Future that their skills can allow them to stand on their own, teen dreams of wild music videos be damned. Oh, and the return of Earl Sweatshirt doesn't hurt either.

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Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All: The OF Tape Vol. 2

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Incorporating all of Odd Future's members with surprising ease (not an easy task considering all the stylistic differences at play), The OF Tape Vol. 2 is the first thing in well over a year that will remind people of why they liked the L.A. skate punks in the first place.

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Nosnitsky, A. (2011) ‘Odd Future: The Billboard Cover Story’, Billboard, 11 March.

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Odd Future: The Billboard Cover Story, Billboard Music News (2011)

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Odd Future: The Billboard Cover Story, Billboard Music News (2011)

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Billboard praised the group Odd Future as the future of the music business, representing them as "shock rappers, skate kids, rule breakers, content creators, DIY evangelists, and disrupters". Nosnitsky reviewed that the group talked about today's adolescent experience on tape, with rebelliousness, profanity, dense sarcasm, and heartfelt honesty. This young rotating cast of rappers, producers, and singers became an Internet sensation and found fame in their brash, freeform style and lack of filter.

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P art social media carousel. Part hip-hop skate crew. Part weird (offensive?) creative conglomerate - They post relentlessly to Tumblr, get tweeted about by Kanye, and with no single, perform on "Fallon." Is this the ODD FUTURE of the music biz?

Tyler, a skinny 19-year-old with a booming voice and a slightly gapped overbite, sits cross-legged on an unmade bed sheet in a Philadelphia hotel room. Over a tray of cinnamon sticks and a half-closed MacBook he gushes about his dreams (winning a Grammy Award) and heroes ( Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes).

For hours Tyler remains tethered to one spot on the bed, yet he seems to be moving constantly. His imagination travels as he pretends to be a secret agent, or that the room's furniture is slowly coming to life. He shows off a sketchbook filled with his brightly colored marker drawings of doughnuts and cats, ideas for clothing designs and chicken-scratch poetry. Flipping to a portrait of a seemingly jolly, fat-faced man he pauses.

"That's a serial killer," he says. "That's Tom, he's crazy. He looks nice, but that's how they usually are."

Tyler himself is proof that first impressions are unreliable. The bright-eyed and buzzing teen is also rap's most buzzed-about new star - and quite possibly an emerging threat to both decency-minded parent groups and the major-label infrastructure.

Known to fans as Tyler, the Creator (the superfluous comma is intentional), he's the founder of and de facto spokesman for Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, a Los Angeles-based collective of rappers, producers, skateboarders, filmmakers, designers and general miscreants, all in their late teens and early 20s. The 11 members on the recording side specialize in splattering today's adolescent experience onto tape. With that comes rebelliousness, profanity, intense insecurity, dense sarcasm, bizarre non sequiturs and a heartfelt honesty.

Earlier that night in Philadelphia, at a sweatbox known as the Barbary, Odd Future performed to a crowd of 300 kids. There was a full-scale punk energy level on both ends, complete with stage dives and fans screaming their lyrics - "Fuck the fame and all the hype, G/I just want to know if my father would ever like me" - and vulgar catchphrases - "Kill people! Burn shit! Fuck school!" - by heart. Many were wearing homemade OFWGKTA shirts.

When Tyler released his self-produced debut album, "Bastard," on his website in late 2009, it was mostly downloaded by friends and users of the message board of popular street fashion blog Hypebeast. Tyler reached out to a few of the bigger hip-hop blogs to post the tape and received little to no response. But after about six months, Odd Future awareness began to snowball, thanks to more free albums and a couple of unforgettably masochistic music videos for Tyler's "French," and then-16-year-old Earl Sweatshirt's drug binge fantasy "Earl." By the summer of 2010, Tumblr posts and Twitter retweets begot attention from media outlets like Pitchfork and the Fader. Public co-signs from Kanye West and Soulja Boy followed.

On Feb. 16, Tyler and Odd Future MC Hodgy Beats performed "Sandwitches" on NBC's "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon." Odd Future's then-pro bono publicist had sent the videos to the show's booker in the fall and they eventually found their way to Fallon himself. Backed by "Fallon" house band the Roots, the performance featured ski masks, a lawn gnome and a girl dressed as a zombie. They ran around screaming at guests and jumping on couches. They even jumped, literally, on Fallon's back.

A pair of iTunes singles, "Yonkers" and "Sandwitches," were made available just days before the "Fallon" appearance, and are the only pieces of music available from the camp at retail. The songs (credited to Tyler, the Creator) have sold 12,000 and 6,000 units, respectively.

Yet sales seem beside the point. OddFuture.com offers no less than 11 full-lengths for free download - all self-produced. This model isn't particularly uncommon, especially in hip-hop where artists have been churning out semi-official mixtapes since forever, but Odd Future approaches it with an eye for detail that competes with major-label releases - complete with tightly penned raps, sonic cohesion and thoughtfully executed conceptual arcs. This degree of refinement is impressive enough on its own, but even more so when you realize that it was effectively made in a vacuum by a bunch of hyperactive teenagers. They've built a self-contained world and diving into it is a lot like looking at Tyler's sketchbook. The coloring goes outside the lines, but the raw ideas are obvious.

Their visual sensibility is equally arresting. Tyler handles most of the crew's imagery himself, directing videos and designing artwork and fliers. He brings with him a built-in iconography, mostly tied to deviance, indulgence or childhood - upside-down crosses, yearbook photos and human oddities. The resulting blend often looks more like something from an '80s punk or industrial demo. The videos have their roots in skate videos and youth-gone-wild, nonmalicious public spectacle shows like "Jackass."

"Yonkers," the black-and-white clip from his forthcoming commercial debut, "Goblin," shows Tyler intimately fondling a cockroach for about a minute - before he swallows it. Then he vomits everywhere, and eventually hangs himself. In less than a month the clip has amassed nearly 2.5 million YouTube views, thanks in some part to Kanye West recently declaring on Twitter that it was "the video of 2011."

Tyler, The Creator's video for "Yonkers." ( contains explicit language)

The song itself is a decidedly uncommercial effort. It lacks a chorus entirely, but Tyler hard-pronounces every curse word (and there are many) and offers Eminem-esque threats of violence against Haley Williams, Bruno Mars and B.o.B. In fact, early Eminem is the largest precedent for Tyler's sense of humor, which occupies a space where casual homophobia, murderous tendencies and misogyny aren't taboo. Many critics read this as an attempt to purposefully shock, but mostly that shock can be attributed to a generational divide drawn along humor lines.

From "Black Sabbath rap" to a Chris Martin/the-Dream-inspired singer/ songwriter: the (far from entire) Odd Future crew...

Domo Genesis
The proud pothead rapper. As such, his "Rolling Papers" LP finds him kicking a slow and deliberate flow. His voice oozes comfortably into the lo-fi, syrupy production of Odd Future mates Tyler, the Creator and Left Brain.

Earl Sweatshirt
Odd Future's youngest rapper, Earl, 17, might be the most technically deft lyricist. He's also gone. Just before the world began to take notice, Earl's mom enrolled him in a boarding school, cutting off all communication with the crew. The group's "Free Earl" campaign has grown to mythical proportions among fans.

Frank Ocean
Singer/songwriter who finds a hazy and psychedelic midpoint between the-Dream and Coldplay's Chris Martin. Born in New Orleans, Ocean moved to Los Angeles after Hurricane Katrina and jumped headfirst into the major-label system, landing a few songwriting credits and eventually a deal with Island Def Jam under the name Lonny Breaux. While that project sat in purgatory, he met Odd Future founder Tyler and was introduced to the world of DIY. Now his self-released free album, "Nostalgia, Ultra," has received rave reviews from critics and (through Twitter) such names as Sean "Diddy" Combs and Lupe Fiasco.

Hodgy Beats
The rapping half of duo MellowHype, Hodgy is a tongue-twisting lyricist who owes much of his style to traditionalist underground hip-hop but never sacrifices the youthful energy of today's more popular rap. Hodgy is Odd Future's most productive rapper, with two MellowHype full-lengths and one solo project under his belt.

Left Brain
MellowHype's production arm. A hulking, mysterious presence at shows, Left Brain's behind-the-boards style is ever-evolving from traditionalist boom bap to Waka Flocka Flame-inspired post-crunk. Manager Christian Clancy describes the forthcoming MellowHype material as "Black Sabbath rap."

Matt Martian
The brainchild behind production crew Jet Age of Tomorrow. Its recent "Journey to the 5th Echelon" is a far cry from much of Odd Future's output, leaning toward alternative space funk in the vein of the Neptunes' N*E*R*D project.

Mike G
He just might be Odd Future's secret weapon. His quietly released debut, "Ali," is a collection of artfully penned, whimsical narratives that would make Slick Rick proud. Currently prepping follow-up "Gold."

Syd the Kid
Serving as the in-house engineer, producer and tour DJ, Syd's home studio is ground zero for most Odd Future projects. Soft-spoken and sweet, Syd gives off a positive, hippie-ish vibe that contradicts the chaos of her male counterparts. She's also openly gay and a blossoming icon for hip-hop's Tumblr generation. "It's weird," Syd says. "The only reason people even know is because [I got too comfortable on] Twitter. But it's kind of cool that I inspire people."

Taco & Jasper
Odd Future's comic relief. Neither can be considered a serious rapper or artist - how little they do has become a running joke within the collective - but their Internet antics and occasional scene-stealing, offbeat rhymes on tracks like Tyler's "Tina" have turned them into minor celebrities in their own right.

Tyler, the Creator
The founder of Odd Future, which was first formed as a self-published magazine that seems to have only existed in his mind. Though his "Goblin" album will be the first commercial full-length from the crew, and Tyler pegged as its breakout star, he remains a tireless advocate for his peers: "Obviously they have talent if I'm fucking with them," he says.

The rise of Odd Future has been accompanied by several think pieces that attempt to link the group to the schlocky horrorcore trend of the '90s or frame the act's humor as an overarching personal worldview. A writer on TheHairpin.com noted that "Tyler's misogynistic and at times rapey personal is probably influencing younger, dumber kids who may not know that it's all an act." A Village Voice blog post concluded: "Odd Future's lyrics are offensive to moral people however you slice it."

"People just choose to be offended by stuff. If they are, then that sucks and I'm sorry, but they don't have to keep listening," says Syd the Kid, 18, the group's in-house sound engineer and only female member. "Words are words. They don't act out what they say, they just say it."

Apart from Tyler and Earl, the rest of the camp tends to be less "offensive," anyway. Domo Genesis primarily raps playfully about smoking weed, while Mike G tells fantastical heist tales. On MellowHype 's "Polyurethane," Hodgy even takes a critical look at gang violence. Odd Future transcends genre borders, too, with Jet Age of Tomorrow and Frank Ocean churning out instrumental funk and emotional singer/songwriter projects, respectively.

Perhaps that's why, right before the end of 2010, major labels came calling for OFWGKTA. But Tyler is bringing "Goblin" to XL instead. It's a one-album deal, set for release in April, and Tyler maintains complete creative control. "The best thing we can do," XL senior A&R manager Caius Pawson says, "is let them do what they do. We just help turn their vision into a full campaign."

Hodgy, and producer Left Brain, known collectively as MellowHype, just signed a similar deal with Mississippi-based indie Fat Possum for the remaster and physical release of their previously Internet-only sophomore LP, "Blackendwhite," this summer. "There's a lot of people that would be interested in this that haven't even heard of it yet," Fat Possum co-founder/president Matthew Johnson says. "This record is fucking great, and we're going to make [the release] special. It's going to have great packaging and get what the artist wanted out there."

Odd Future co-manager Christian Clancy echoes that sentiment. "The new business model is to find authentic artists and let them be themselves," he says (see story, right). "They need help to navigate, put things together, have the right meetings, but as far as the art goes? I'd want to punch somebody who wants to get involved in their art."

Calling this an entirely new model is a bit of an exaggeration, but in recent years, despite hip-hop's rich independent legacy, rap crews of autonomous esteem - Gucci Mane's Brick Squad or Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Gang, for instance - made beelines for major deals. Even the most iconic youth-music movements of past generations were often guided and groomed by an older industry veteran in their early stages. N.W.A had Jerry Heller. The Sex Pistols had Malcolm McLaren. Odd Future was a fully formed and self-sustained entity before anyone in the music industry had even heard of it. The large-scale collective autonomy sets it apart.

The members cast a wide multimedia net, too - Clancy's partner, David Airaudi, talks not of deals and albums but of partnerships and content. "These are not traditional record-making guys. Music is the core of what they do but they have ambitions beyond music," he says. "There are so many creative outlets for the guys that the idea is to be able to maximize the totality of the brand that is Odd Future."

The managers are in a unique position to buck major-label trends. Clancy is an industry veteran who recently left his position as head of urban marketing at Interscope, while Airaudi remains strategy executive there.

These affiliations have raised eyebrows about the crew's self-sufficiency, but the management seems firm in its indie stance. "They built it," Clancy says. "And they need to own it."

The Odd Future collective is filled with obsessive self-documenters, and part of its rise is about being able to see childhood fantasies turn into reality in real time. For months Tyler tweeted about his Justin Bieber fandom, how he just wanted the star to acknowledge him.

Then, on Feb. 25, Tyler posted a Twitpic of he and Bieber hanging out offset at a Manhattan Beach, Calif., soundstage. In the pre-buzz days, the Odd Future crew would post homemade comedy skits on their Tumblr and mention dreams of one day turning them into a show for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming. Now they're producing a pilot for the network, which management describes as a mixture of "Jackass" and "Chappelle's Show."

SEEMS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT

While business churns behind them, and the press buzzes to translate the crew, the Odd Future youth fan base still seems largely sustained by DIY and word-of-mouth networks. A glance at the YouTube views for "Yonkers" shows the vast majority of traffic coming from social networks like Facebook and Twitter, not the so-called tastemaker sites that posted it. Most Odd Future members maintain running Q&A sessions on Tumblr and Formspring accounts.

They offer seemingly honest - if brief - answers to fan queries regarding everything from production tips to half-joking sexual propositions. These sites aren't necessarily publicized; some are even maintained under semi-anonymous aliases (on Formspring Tyler goes by his alter-ego "WolfHaley") but the fans, now coming from around the world, always seem to find them, and the interactions often spill into the real world.

"Talking to fans [is] easy when your fan base is the size of ours," Syd says. "When it comes to the die-hards, we do know them. You answer questions [online] just to get the story straight, and during that you end up building a relationship."

Some speculate that Odd Future will do to the polished hip-pop of Drake and B.o.B what Nirvana did to hair metal. The charisma, intelligence and sheer destructive impulse are definitely similar, spearheaded by hyper-creative music nerds who play the rebel role artfully. The members of Odd Future have of course yet to produce a "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and it's unclear if that's even their goal. Today's media is perhaps too fragmented to even support such a big bang movement. Instead, Odd Future moves horizontally through word-of-mouth.

This is how its age group consumes music. Thousands of teens record from home and release it to the Web. Millions more find it and share it. No middlemen, except social networking sites and chat windows. But there's a disconnect between this network and the outlets that still rule the airwaves. How does an Internet star get into radio or MTV rotation? Do they need to? Odd Future peers like Bieber and Soulja Boy quickly jumped from YouTube fame into major-label situations, but Tyler and crew are consciously trying to raise the ceiling on that model. If successful, they could be paving the way for an entire generation of musical independence.

Of course, Internet fame is notoriously fickle when translated into the real world. Odd Future has sold out every show it has put on, but they've all been small venues in large markets. It's still hard to say what percentage of the 2.5 million people who have watched the "Yonkers" clip were simply rubbernecking on the shock and buzz highway. It's also hard to expect roach-eating to connect across demographics. But the numbers will speak when "Goblin" drops.

"I could be a complete failure come June," Tyler says. " 'Goblin' could brick. Everyone could hate it. The hype could be over. I could be back to trying to fill out junior college [applications]." Then he snaps back into dreamer mode. "But I don't see that happening. I see Grammys."
This piece's writer, Andrew Nosnitsky (@noz on Twitter), contributes to NPR and the Washington Post.

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Shock rappers. Skate kids. Rule breakers. Content creators. DIY evangelists. Disrupters. Odd future may just be the future of the music business.

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Hodgy, Domo Genesis And Tyler, The Creator- Rella, Music Video

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Directed by Tyler, The Creator, this music video features the typical Tyler's absurdity and immaturity. In the clip, Hodgy Beats shoots lasers from his crotch that turn girls into cats, Domo Genesis smacks a black girl in the face and she turns Asian, and Tyler as a coke-snorting centaur.

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Hodgy, Domo Genesis And Tyler, The Creator- Rella

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Lipshutz, J. (2011) 'Tyler, The Creator Wins Best New Artist VMA', Billboard, 29 August.

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Tyler, The Creator Wins Best New Artist at VMA (2011)

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Tyler, The Creator Wins Best New Artist at VMA (2011)

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The video "Yonkers" earned Tyler the Best New Artist award at the 2011 MTV Music Video Awards, as well as a nomination for Video of the Year. This VMA award strengthened Tyler's popularity among younger alternative fandoms. Despite Tyler looking less-than-pleased in this photo, he was actually excited, saying that "Yo, I’m excited as fuck right now, yo", and "I wanted this shit since I was nine. I’m about to cry.” This speech shows Tyler's eagerness to get a more critical reception.

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Tyler, The Creator Wins Best New Artist VMA

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Tyler, The Creator, the leader of L.A. hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, took home Best New Artist for his macabre clip for “Yonkers.”

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Plagenhoef, S. (2011) ‘Goblin’, Pitchfork, 11 May.

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Pitchfork's Album Review on "Goblin" (2011) Tyler Achieved Internet Fame And Cult Followers Rapidly

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Pitchfork's Album Review on "Goblin" (2011) Tyler Achieved Internet Fame And Cult Followers Rapidly

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In Pitchfork's album review of Goblin, the reviewer mentioned that after this album was released, although some critics tended to focus more on Tyler's controversy instead of his talent, fans have pushed Tyler's number of Twitter followers well into six figures. Tyler and his Odd Future have quickly earned the industry's attention.

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Following months of anticipation and hype, Odd Future's anarchic leader drops his second full-length: the bleak and uncompromising Goblin.

A year ago, very few people knew Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. The nihilistic, mostly-teenaged L.A. rap collective has been releasing free mixtapes since 2008, but until recently, they were ignored by most of the rap blogosphere. Full of pathos, humor, and hatred, the group has worked tirelessly to establish their own intricate world online-- from their YouTube account, filled with self-produced videos, to their individual Twitters, Tumblrs, Facebooks, and Formsprings, all of which they update prolifically. To this tight-knit "us," virtually everyone else is a "them," to be mocked, laughed at, and fucked with.

Lots of people have been noticing OFWGKTA lately, though, and no wonder: They're new and exciting and divisive and youthful, a magnet for controversy and commentary, and near-perfect think-piece-generating machines-- due in part to the brutality and stomach-turning sexual violence of their raps. At the fore of OFWGKTA's 10-member army is Tyler, the Creator, whose feral stage presence, distinctive growl, and misanthropic lyrics have won the group a legion of obstinate followers. His 2009 debut, Bastard, with its lush, Neptunes-inspired productions and starkly confessional subject matter, is a transgressive, creative burst of anxiety and absurdity. It was one of Odd Future's early catalysts, and along with 16-year-old Earl Sweatshirt's Earl and the OFWGKTA mixtape Radical, it's one of three underground classics in their pocket.

While critics have attempted to square Tyler's talent with the frequent mentions of rape and murder in his rhymes (Sean Fennessey wrote a piece for Pitchfork early on, and this blog post by Pitchfork contributor Nitsuh Abebe is also essential), fans have pushed his number of Twitter followers well into six figures. And between he and Hodgy Beats' performance on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and his excellent "Yonkers" single and video, the industry noticed, too: Billboard put OFWGKTA on their cover, a major label secured them to a record deal, and Diddy, Kanye, and Jay-Z all showed interest. Odd Future have earned so much attention so quickly that Tyler, the Creator kicks off his second solo release, Goblin, venting to his therapist about fame, message boards, critics, hype, expectations, media scrutiny, and being a role model-- before selling a single album.

There are a lot of expectations placed on Goblin, namely, that it will serve as a potential crossover. But while that might have been the hope for a lot of those industry co-signers, or even a lot of listeners, it's clearly not Tyler's intention. Goblin does not sound like a record made by the goofy, smiling kid with the pulled-up tube socks riding Jimmy Fallon's back. Instead, it's a natural sequel to Bastard-- a dark, insular indie-rap album. Where Bastard was more accessible and inviting, this album is bleak, long, monolithic, and can be a slog to get through. It's also uncomfortable and brave-- a brutal but honest look at Tyler's image of himself.

Musically, Goblin is essentially a turn-of-the-millennium indie rap record-- abstract, difficult for outsiders to locate a way in to, and bled completely of anything that resembles pop. It features almost nothing that counts as a chorus, making few gestures to the mainstream. It's a purist's record, leaning on inventive production and Tyler's flow and meter. With hindsight, then, it makes sense that the rise of Odd Future started in the avant UK music mag The Wire, which a decade ago was putting leftfield rap groups like cLOUDDEAD and Anti-Pop Consortium on its cover. In another world, before the Internet was the music industry's central delivery system, that might have been the limit of Goblin's reach-- it could have been a well-received indie hip-hop record to place alongside releases on Def Jux or Anticon. (Fittingly, it comes via XL Records, the imprint that last decade signed Dizzee Rascal, another culturally omnivorous, incredibly hyped teen rapper and producer who added a new wrinkle to independent hip-hop.)

Of course, Tyler isn't interested in the political questions that drove many of his indie-rap forbearers. Instead, his primary mode of thought is negation. From the Stooges to Sex Pistols to NWA to Eminem, telling the world to fuck itself can be a compelling, even meaningful or necessary expression. Yet while each of those artists gave a multi-layered voice to specific disenfranchised groups, Tyler sounds underdeveloped when he attempts to articulate for anyone other than himself. His takes on slash-and-burn, knucklehead rap-- especially the "kill people, burn shit, fuck school" refrain of "Radicals"-- is particularly cringe-worthy; stock phrases shouted with no larger purpose. Goblin is at its best when Tyler sounds isolated, frightened, and confused. It's the work of someone trying to figure out the world around him and his place within it, someone who often doesn't like the conclusions he's drawing.

To his core fans, Tyler is accessible and approachable, and not just on record. He's online constantly, forging a unique bond with his listeners, and is probably right now shouting down this and other Goblin reviews. He comes across as an everyday kid. He lives with his grandmother. He likes porn; he hates collard greens. This relatability and strong audience/artist bond, and the diaristic nature of his rhymes, make him as much emo as hip-hop. His place in the indie music landscape is oddly most reminiscent of Salem, another gothic, often-derided group beloved by a core of committed young listeners but shrugged off by those with a more developed perspective. In short, he's made this record for alienated kids like himself. If you don't already like his music, you probably won't like Goblin. And that's apparently the way he wants it.

For everyone else, the album remains an either/or prospect. For one, the record could have used an editor-- it'd be stronger if it were 20 minutes shorter. Yet the highs are very high: "Yonkers" remains a potential frontrunner for song-of-the-year, and tracks like "Sandwitches", "Analog", "Tron Cat", and the Frank Ocean feature "She" work as standalones away from the album as a whole. Tyler's most inwardly focused songs-- the therapy-session set pieces "Goblin", "Nightmare", and "Golden"-- are also fascinating portraits from an unmoored mind struggling to remain grounded.

The record's feeling of drift and desperation also lends a very different tone to the controversial nature of Tyler's raps, which even at their most sickening feel like the ramblings of a lonely outsider. His fantasies and lack of filter are still huge roadblocks for many if not most listeners. They're depraved and despicable, tied in part to a long and unfortunate legacy of gangster and street rap. They're also one aspect of a larger, character-driven story-- a license that we grant to visual arts, film, and literature but rarely to pop music. That's not to claim Tyler is making some broader commentary about the world, or gender politics, or adding multiple layers of complexity to his more violent thoughts; he's not. Instead, his more reprehensible lines come across like a pathetic attempt for an underdeveloped, disconnected mind to locate some emotionality, control, or simply attention.

They certainly aren't jokes for his friends-- there's not a lot of humor on Goblin. The album really compartmentalizes the group's darkness and confusion, which makes sense because Odd Future guys like Frank Ocean and Domo Genesis usually weren't expressing anger or violence anyway. You sort of get the feeling-- since they are officially a package deal now-- that the weed stuff or the laughing-with-your-friends stuff might come out in a group effort. And even here, when other Odd Future members join Tyler, they tend to let a little light into the album-- particularly the Hodgy Beats pairings "Sandwitches" and "Analog". The coziness and camaraderie between Tyler and his cohorts even meets with a nasty end on Goblin, which concludes with a suite of tracks in which Tyler inexplicably kills his friends before suffering a total emotional breakdown.

What is here is more promise than delivery, yet it's still a game-changing record for indie hip-hop-- a singular and sonically complex album neither in hoc to 1986-88 "real" hip-hop nor created by rappers aiming to define themselves in opposition to the mainstream. (It takes about three minutes for Tyler to align himself with other artists here, but he chooses Erykah Badu, Pusha T, and Waka Flocka Flame instead of Immortal Technique.) Alongside Lil B and Soulja Boy, OFWGKTA are harnessing the Internet to communicate directly and often and pushing a new kind of indie hip-hop-- often rambling, not always musical, frequently surprising, and absolutely beloved by some. It takes work to get through, and a lot of its success rests on cult of personality. Those two barriers are particularly why it's so successful: You have to commit to it in many ways. You have to want to be an insider. And that's a club that's quickly expanding.

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Following months of anticipation and hype, Odd Future's anarchic leader drops his second full-length: the bleak and uncompromising Goblin.

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Screenshot of some lyrics in "Pigs" from the album "Wolf"

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"Pigs", like most of Tyler’s songs, is known for its shock value and explicit content, which again presents Tyler's star image as radical, aggressive, and honest in his early career. The lyrics are raw and unapologetic. He talks about the anger and frustration that he feels towards society’s power structures, referring to slavery, racism, and police brutality. He speaks about how people of colour are oppressed, and their rights are violated daily.

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Hillyard, K, (2015) 'Tyler, The Creator responds to critic: "Why can't I share my joy with the world?"', NME, 19 June.

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Tyler, The Creator's Authentic Response to A Fan's Criticism About "Cherry Bomb" (2015)

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Tyler, The Creator's Authentic Response to A Fan's Criticism About "Cherry Bomb" (2015)

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The music style shift in not very successful in Cherry Bomb.

There was a post by a Reddit user and claimed former fan, who said he was done with Tyler, because he was tired of Tyler's unrelatable recent attitude in Cherry Bomb and it is criticized that the album was too cheerful and musically immature. However, Tyler has written a lengthy post defending the new direction of his music, which demonstrates his authenticity.

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Tyler, The Creator has written a lengthy post defending the new direction of his music after being criticised by a fan online.

The rapper was responding to a critical post by a Reddit user and former fan, who declared he could no longer relate to the music.

SEE MORE: Tyler, The Creator's 'Cherry Bomb' - The NME Review

The fan posted his critique on the OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) Reddit forum yesterday (June 18). He singled out the content on the rapper's third studio album 'Cherry Bomb', which was released in April, as being his biggest problem.

"I'm tired of his arrogant, braggadocios and unretalable recent attitude. I can't relate to him talking about wanting a McLaren, having big chains, or being a god like I related to him rapping about his life and feeling depressed," he said.

"I will always enjoy some of his old stuff and production," he continued. "But I think it's time I move on."

Referring to Tyler, The Creator's Odd Future hip-hop collective, who were recently rumoured to be breaking up, the fan continued:

"I'm not surprised most of OF no longer hangs out with him, he can really seem arrogant and pretentious sometimes. I know he's happy now and that's great. But he's gotta realize many of the old fans aren't big on this new stuff. And being happy doesn't = saying you're happy all the time. It means making great stuff. Some of which he's done. But for the most part, I'm over it."

Following the post, Tyler, The Creator used the question and answer social network Spring.me to write a long reply titled 'Wow That's Crazy'.

He began his reply in a sympathetic manner, explaining that often it is right to move on when you no longer relate to someone or something.

"i feel it tho, for most people when you cant relate or arent on the same wave length, you move on, that what ive done with friends over time. cant argue with him if thats how he feels, but i will say this.."

Pointing out that he only raps about "my jewels or cars" on three songs, he continued.

"he said he releated to me when i was depressed and living with my grandmother. dude, that was in 2011. its 2015, if he really thinks that 4 years later i would still be living on my dead grandmothers floor, and still be sad with all these amazing things happening around me, then he is stuck in 2011."

"why cant i share my joy with the world?" he said. "when shit changes and im feeling great and i fuck with myself you cant deal with it? cause you cant relate? is that why? or maybe its my ego talking. idk know what it is, but after a while you realize you dont want to be around people who isnt positive"

"its crazy, all im doing is spreading good vibes and tryna give some confidence to people and at least telling them they can accoplish something. sorry that i like cars and like to talk about it, soooo sorry that ive turned into the guy i hated, he began to conclude. sorry for being me, i apologize in advance cause IM GONNA CONTINUE TO DO THAT FOREVER"

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Tyler, The Creator responds to critic: 'Why can't I share my joy with the world?'

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The rapper posted a lengthy response to the Reddit user who claimed he no longer enjoyed his music

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Tyler had a conversation with Jerrod Carmichael, discussing the making of Flower Boy. In this interview, Tyler keeps presenting a more positive and mature image. He mentioned that in this gut-wrenching and emotional album, influenced by pop music structure such as songs from Pharrell Williams and Justin Timberlake, he just tried to write down his every personal feeling. He wanted to challenge himself and to make a few songs that were not rapidly rapping or super distorted. Tyler was so hyped and satisfied when he finally made some songs that could make black people dance because that was his dream.

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Kamen Kolev's review on the song "See You Again" in Flower Boy (2017)

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Reviewers and critics showed positive feedback to the album Flower Boy, helping display Tyler's maturation and transformation process. The reviewer commented that the album strays away from the grimy and gritty, brown, unpolished and dirty sound of Tyler's earlier works. His new sound focuses on harmony, a colourful aesthetic that can be described as dreamy, silky, soft, smooth, rich and warm.

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Tyler The Creator expressed his excitement about "See You Again" being played on the radio on Twitter

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"See You Again" Got Played On The Radio (2017)

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"See You Again" Got Played On The Radio (2017)

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i just heard "see u again" on the radio and started crying tears of joy omg

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i just heard "see u again" on the radio and started crying tears of joy omg

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i just heard "see u again" on the radio and started crying tears of joy omg
— T (@tylerthecreator) October 3, 2017

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i just heard "see u again" on the radio and started crying tears of joy omg

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i just heard "see u again" on the radio and started crying tears of joy omg

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i just heard "see u again" on the radio and started crying tears of joy omg

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Contined to the last post, Tyler showed his excitement about "See You Again" being played on the radio

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Tyler's reaction to his music being played on the radio showed his strong willingness and intention to receive broader mainstream recognition and prove his musical talent to the public.

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like bruh my whole carreer ive never got radio play cause i was "too weird" this is a moment wow

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like bruh my whole carreer ive never got radio play cause i was "too weird" this is a moment wow

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like bruh my whole carreer ive never got radio play cause i was "too weird" this is a moment wow
— T (@tylerthecreator) October 3, 2017

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like bruh my whole carreer ive never got radio play cause i was "too weird" this is a moment wow

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like bruh my whole carreer ive never got radio play cause i was "too weird" this is a moment wow

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like bruh my whole carreer ive never got radio play cause i was "too weird" this is a moment wow

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Rossignol, D. (2019) 'Tyler The Creator Earned His First No. 1 Album With "Igor"', UPROXX, 27 May.

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Tyler The Creator Earned His First No. 1 Album With "Igor" (2019)

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Tyler The Creator Earned His First No. 1 Album With "Igor" (2019)

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Igor is critically acclaimed, apart from winning a Grammy Award, it also achieved the No.1 spot on the latest Billboard 200 chart at that time, demonstrating that Tyler has achieved a broader audience and more mainstream recognition.

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Tyler The Creator has been one of the biggest names in hip-hop for about a decade now, and during that time, he's come very close to having a No. 1 album. His first four albums - Goblin, Wolf, Cherry Bomb, and Flower Boy - peaked at No. 5, 3, 4, and 2, respectively, but none of them could claim the top spot. Now it turns out that on his fifth album, Igor, Tyler finally did it: The New York Times reports that on the latest Billboard 200 chart, Igor claimed the No. 1 spot.

Igor finished the week with 165,000 equivalent album units, and the album's closest competition came from DJ Khaled's Father Of Asahd, which ended up at No. 2 with 136,000 equivalent album units. Father Of Asahd was actually the most-streamed album of the week, though: The guest-heavy album racked up 123.2 million streams, which was barely enough to top the 122.9 million stream for Igor.

Tyler seems grateful for the achievement. Shortly after the news broke, he tweeted, "IGOR, NUMBER UNO, STANK YOU." Not long after that, he responded in a very Tyler The Creator way: He shared a video of himself engaging in some Academy Award-level acting, with a tear rolling down his cheek as he was seemingly crying out in pain or overwhelming emotion. Getting serious, he then added in a pair of tweets, "honestly didnt think people would enjoy this album based on alot of thing, so again, thank you, i mean it. alot alot of effort put into this. not that that should dictate if people like it or not but im happy all that time and attention paid off."

Read our review of Igor here.

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Tyler The Creator Earned His First No. 1 Album With 'Igor'

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Tyler The Creator's 'Igor' beat DJ Khaled's 'Father Of Asahd' for the top spot on the 'Billboard' 200 chart.

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Tyler, The Creator reacts to Igor reaching No.1 spot on twitter

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Tyler's Reaction To His Album "Igor" Winning No.1 (2019)

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Tyler's Reaction To His Album "Igor" Winning No.1 (2019)

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Tyler shared a video of himself engaging in some Academy Award-level acting, with a tear rolling down his cheek as he was seemingly crying out in overwhelming emotion, revealing his gratitude towards mainstream reception, his offbeat humour and his authentic image.

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pic.twitter.com/uuOmglSNko
— T (@tylerthecreator) May 27, 2019

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Tyler, The Creator reacts to Igor reaching No.1 spot on twitter

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Tyler then added this more serious tweet, which again showed his hearfelt emotion and grateful heart. Even though Tyler has the image of counter-cultrual, he was wholeheartedly enjoy and appreciate the achievement of being accepted by the mainstream public.

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honestly didnt think people would enjoy this album based on alot of thing, so again, thank you, i mean it

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honestly didnt think people would enjoy this album based on alot of thing, so again, thank you, i mean it

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honestly didnt think people would enjoy this album based on alot of thing, so again, thank you, i mean it
— T (@tylerthecreator) May 27, 2019

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honestly didnt think people would enjoy this album based on alot of thing, so again, thank you, i mean it

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honestly didnt think people would enjoy this album based on alot of thing, so again, thank you, i mean it

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honestly didnt think people would enjoy this album based on alot of thing, so again, thank you, i mean it

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The lyric in "I Ain't Got Time!" from the album Flower Boy (2017)

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Tyler, The Creator began to attract media attention regarding his sexuality after the release of Flower Boy (2017) because of a provocative line in his song “I Ain’t Got Time.” About halfway through the song, Okonma raps, “I’ve been kissing white boys since 2004.”

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Ermac, R. (2019) 'Tyler, the Creator Opens Up About Having Sex With Men', Pride, 20 November.

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Tyler, the Creator Opens Up About Having Sex With Men (2019)

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Tyler, the Creator Opens Up About Having Sex With Men (2019)

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Tyler told GQ when being asked about his sexuality, saying that "I like girls—I just end up f*cking their brother every time", seemingly affirming his queer identity.

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Is Tyler, the Creator finally speaking on the record about his past experiences with men? According to a new magazine interview, it looks like it!

GQ recently profiled the rapper, producer, and Odd Future co-founder for their annual "Men of the Year" issue, and besides naming him "Provocateur of the Year," the men's lifestyle publication talked to Tyler about his career, his music, and all the talk in recent years about his sexuality.

"I like girls," he tells GQ of being with men in the past. "I just end up fucking their brother every time."

Although the quote was very brief and buried literally in the middle of Tyler's lengthy profile, this isn't the first time his sexuality has come up and been discussed in the media.

In 2017, on a track called "I Ain't Got Time," Tyler rapped the line "I been kissing white boys since 2004," which sparked news headlines and started huge speculation among fans about his sexuality.

In late 2018, he and fellow artist Jaden Smith nearly broke the internet when Jaden announced during the annual Camp Flog Gnaw musical festival that Tyler was his boyfriend. Although a little backtracking happened soon after that, the idea of Tyler being a part of the LGBTQ+ community has been on many of his queer fans' minds, and it looks like this GQ profile is even more evidence that Tyler is a part of the family!
Read GQ's full profile on Tyler, the Creator here.

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Tyler, the Creator Opens Up About Having Sex With Men

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"I like girls-I just end up f*cking their brother every time," the rapper told GQ.

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777TV MEETS TYLER, THE CREATOR Interview (2015）

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Tyler, The Creator Advocated For Gay Rights （2015）

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Tyler, The Creator Advocated For Gay Rights （2015）

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Tyler has never shied away from the subject of same-sex relationships. He advocated for gay rights in an interview with 777TV, saying "Gay marriage isn't legal in Australia yet. They're d*cks".

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With a unique, unrivalled and authentic style that’s evolved at the same rate as his music, Tyler's style evolution is transformative

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In both his early solo projects and as a member of the Odd Future collective, Tyler’s style channelled an easy California cool, one part punk, one part weirdo skater in single pleat chinos and collegiate short-sleeve button-ups, with the presence of some certain streetwear brands, such as Supreme, Vans, Odd Future merch, and his clothing line Golf Wang.

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Tyler shoots promotional picture for Golf Wang

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Tyler Established His Streetwear Brand Golf Wang

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Tyler Established His Streetwear Brand Golf Wang

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Tyler's star image as an influential fashion designer and successful businessman is presented. The Odd Future store eventually expanded with Tyler’s line, Golf Wang. More than just a clothing line, it developed into the pin that held together everything in Tyler’s aesthetic universe, from his album covers to his Camp Flog Gnaw festival. The products are all designed by Tyler and are known for their colourful visual aesthetics. According to Dazed, By the time his 2015 album Cherry Bomb dropped, his blend of stoner naivety stirred with a pastel-coloured acid trip became the definitive style among the LA hip-hop and skate scene, leaving his mark on menswear.

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Tyler's Odd Future Store Successfully Embodies Merch Culture and Skateboard Culture.

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Tyler's Odd Future Store Successfully Embodies Merch Culture and Skateboard Culture.

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In 2011, Tyler and the group opened an Odd Future store on LA's Fairfax Avenue, around the corner from Vans and Supreme, where LA skaters would hang out. The clothes are designed as cartoonish prints and hoodies with select OF members’ faces printed on them. The strategy to sell skateboard culture-related OF merch received huge success and was popular among young people.

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Tyler, The Creator As An Influential Fashion Designer And Successful Businessman

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Tyler, The Creator As An Influential Fashion Designer And Successful Businessman

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With the release of Tyler’s third album, Flower Boy came a new area of dressing for Tyler: not a complete departure from his skater roots, but rather a tailored, more grown-up version of it. He also perfected the socks and sandals combo, as well as sweater vests and louche slacks. It is analyzed by Dazed that this new evolution, while it fits into the larger style scape of fantasy dressing and nerdish sensibilities also embodies Tyler’s signature hand for unexpected tailoring and comfort, mixing up with an absurdist edge.

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IGOR Lives. This New Style Keeps Toying The Traditional Expectations Of Masculinity

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IGOR Lives. This New Style Keeps Toying The Traditional Expectations Of Masculinity

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With IGOR, Tyler's new alter-ego was created: one part Bowie, one part washed-up Elvis impersonator, with candy-coloured suits and a blonde wig. In this style, Tyler keeps toying with expectations of masculinity.

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Lastest Style: Refined, Luxury, Brash, and Punk

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Lastest Style: Refined, Luxury, Brash, and Punk

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Tyler's image in terms of fashion changed from punk stake boy to one of the industry’s best-dressed men with a knack for luxury accessories, diamond necklaces and fancy cars. He added his personality to luxury brands and designer wear, making the entire fashion look brash, refined, luxury, and punk.

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12. Authenticity: Tyler's Coherent Image As Challenging Tropes Of Black Masculinity During The "New Tyler" Period

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12. Authenticity: Tyler's Coherent Image As Challenging Tropes Of Black Masculinity During The "New Tyler" Period

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Different from challenging tropes of black masculinity and revealing social issues by using radical statements, making troubles, and being aggressive in his early career, the "New Tyler" starts to use a more mature approach to challenge those stereotypes by using creative and bold audio-visual performance, changing his visual and fashion style, and opening up his personal experience of homosexual relationships. Although his musical style is shifting, Tyler's authenticity remains consistent.

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Tyler, The Creator - Advice for Young Creative Artists, Interviews (2022)

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15. Tyler Spilling A Lot Of Love And Advice For Young Creative Artists And His Fans

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15. Tyler Spilling A Lot Of Love And Advice For Young Creative Artists And His Fans

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In recent interviews, It is presented that Tyler's star image has successfully shifted to a matured creative innovator. He tries to inspire and guide young artists and his fans, by offering genuine suggestions such as "Everything is figureoutable", and "Just be proud of whatever you're making".

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Tyler, The Creator - Advice for Young Creative Artists

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 Marques, G. S. (2022) "Fighting For Attention Through Rap Music: Shock-Value, Racial Play And Web Culture In The Persona Of Tyler, The Creator", INSAM Journal, 8, pp. 104-123.

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 Marques, G. S. (2022) "Fighting For Attention Through Rap Music: Shock-Value, Racial Play And Web Culture In The Persona Of Tyler, The Creator", INSAM Journal, 8, pp. 104-123.

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This journal article talked about how Tyler challenged tropes of black American masculinity through his shock-value, racial play, and internet savvy.

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The set design and products shown in GOLF le FLEUR*'s debut solo collection in Malibu Pop-up in 2021

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GOLF le FLEUR*'s debut solo collection in Malibu Pop-up (2021)

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GOLF le FLEUR*'s debut solo collection in Malibu Pop-up (2021)

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This pop-up feels not only like Tyler's niche, instantly recognisable fashion persona come to life, but an invitation for fans to step into a world he's created. Many pieces that feel straight from this California native's personal closet come with the collection’s launch.

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Promotional photo of the collaboration between Golf le Fleur* x Converse One Star

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The Collaboration Between Converse and GOLF le FLEUR* In 2017

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The Collaboration Between Converse and GOLF le FLEUR* In 2017

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Tyler had teamed up with Converse to reimagine its One Star shoe in a partnership that is still ongoing, showing his business talent. The shoe found huge success, and has now been released in many more colourways. Due to the One Star’s massive success, Golf le Fleur* x Converse has now also seen the release of other shoe models, such as the Chuck 70 and the Giano. Till this day, the Star One in its multiple colourways remains one of GLF*'s most successful products, with releases instantly selling out, again demonstrating Tyler's business sense and his unique creativity in fashion.

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TYLER THE CREATOR FUNNIEST MOMENTS in his early career

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14. Authenticity: With His Offbeat Humour, Tyler, The Creator Is One Of The Funniest Artists

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14. Authenticity: With His Offbeat Humour, Tyler, The Creator Is One Of The Funniest Artists

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One of the things that makes Tyler, the Creator special as an artist and human is the fact that some aspects of him have never changed. He’s matured as a person and musician over the years, but he’s still the same hilarious, ultra-confident guy that we saw eat a cockroach at the beginning of his music video for “Yonkers", posting his funny moments on social media. This consistent offbeat humour demonstrates Tyler's authenticity.

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TYLER THE CREATOR FUNNIEST MOMENTS (Part 2)

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Promotion photo of the collaboration of Golf le Fleur*and Lacoste In 2019.

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The Collaboration Between Golf le Fleur*and Lacoste In 2019

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The Collaboration Between Golf le Fleur*and Lacoste In 2019

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Tyler continues showing his talent in the fashion and clothing business by collaborating with another famous brand Lacoste. From bucket hats to sweatpants, polo shirts to socks, the collaboration felt right. Aesthetically, the two brands meshed seamlessly, with the notable le Fleur* flower logo smartly placed in the Lacoste croc’s mouth.

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Tyler's self-portrait picture and is one of his most famous memes

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Hilarious Pictures Of His Daily Life Moments

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Hilarious Pictures Of His Daily Life Moments

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Tyler always posts hilarious pictures of himself on social media.

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Tyler frequently does Instagram live to fans, which is full of fun and shows the real him. In this Instagram live, Tyler uses a lot of funny filters.

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Tyler And Odd Future's Shocking TV Debut In The Jimmy Fallon Show (2011)

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Tyler And Odd Future's Shocking TV Debut In The Jimmy Fallon Show (2011)

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In the performance, Tyler showed his hyperactive energy and troublemaker image. He was wearing a green ski mask and jumped on Jimmy Fallon's back at the end. This horror-trope filled performance aimed to catch the attention of all who watched with their chaotic mannerisms.

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The Jimmy Fallon Show- OF  Tyler,The Creator and  Hodgy Beats

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Hoby, H. (2011) ‘Rappers and rape: the incredible sound and hateful lyrics of Odd Future’, The Guardian, 8 May.

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The Guardian Constructed Tyler As A Controversial And Problematic Rapper (2011)

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The Guardian Constructed Tyler As A Controversial And Problematic Rapper (2011)

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Tyler's early star image is always related to controversy and counter-culture because some mainstream media tend to construct him as a controversial person with hateful and problematic lyrics, squaring Tyler's talent with the frequent references to rape and murder in his songs.

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The hip-hop academic Tricia Rose has a brilliant phrase for the disconnect that songs can effect between heart/hips and head. When we hear music whose content we object to, but whose sounds we can't help but respond to, we are "hypnotised by the funk". Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (aka OFWGKTA or Odd Future) are a hip-hop collective of LA "skate-rats" led by Tyler the Creator, a 20-year-old as precociously charismatic and smart as he is objectionable. Objectionable because his lyrics tend to be about raping women. Like a lot of people, I'm horrified and hypnotised at the same time.

First, Odd Future sound incredible: their tracks are adroitly produced, sample-free and at once claustrophobic and gut-shaking. The title track of Tyler's album Bastard is a ferocious and self-mocking screed of an introduction on which, sounding like Darth Vader wallowing in prescription-strength cough syrup, he raps, "I created O.F cause I feel we're more talented/ Than 40-year- old rappers talking about Gucci/ When they have kids they haven't seen in years."

But their appeal isn't just musical: Odd Future also have a fully formed aesthetic that includes inverted cartoon crosses, absurd preppy golf wear and the pursuit of all things "swag". Huge crowds pack their kinetic and giddily nihilistic shows, and chant: "Kill people burn shit fuck school" with larynx-ripping zeal. That devotion is also inspired by how prodigious and thoroughly DIY the group are: they've already made a dozen free albums available through their website. Tomorrow, though, will mark the group's first official label release: XL are putting out Tyler's solo album Goblin. He and Odd Future are about to get very big and, as they re-animate hip-hop, they're also re-animating 20-year-old anxieties about the genre.

In 1990, the year before Tyler was born, 2 Live Crew's As Nasty As They Wanna Be became the first album to be deemed legally obscene. 1990 was also the year that Newsweek ran a scare-mongering cover story called "The Rap Attitude". "A new musical culture," it said, "filled with self-assertion and anger, has come boiling up from the streets. Some people think it should have stayed there." The piece betrays its hatefulness by using the words "self-assertion and anger" as though they were things to be deplored, and Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam, replied: "Surely the moral outrage in this piece would be better applied to contemporary American crises in health care, education, joblessness." The prevailing attitude now seems informed by Simmons's sentiment: we have more important things to worry about than dodgy lyrics. But Odd Future, last week described by the New York Times as " the flashpoint for reigniting the culture wars in hip-hop", might change that.

They're often compared to Eminem, an artist Jay-Z could have been thinking of when he wrote: "The rapper's character is essentially a conceit, a first-person literary creation." Or, in Tyler's own somewhat less august phrasing: "It's fucking art, listen to the fucking story." I agree with his first clause, but advise against the second. Unless you want to throw up. These are rape and murder fantasies graphic enough to send the vomit rising along with the bile. Unconscionable at any time, they're particularly hard to stomach right now, following the passing of an anti-abortion bill in the US House of Representatives last week which sought to narrow the definition of rape.

Odd Future's defenders argue that they're mocking white hipster expectations of black culture, or satirising rather than perpetuating hip-hop's ugliest recesses. Bloggers have also pointed to the fact that one of their producers, Syd Tha Kyd, is a gay woman, as if her presence exculpates the group from misogyny. Ignoring or excusing the misogyny is impossible, but it's worth remembering that misogyny is also the least radical and interesting thing about Odd Future.

As slogans go, "Kill people burn shit fuck school" doesn't exactly have the political freight of "fight the power", but Odd Future do, nonetheless, deserve to be spoken of in the same breath as Public Enemy. "Anger and self assertion" were the most galvanising things about what we now call "old school" hip-hop, and it's thrilling to have them back. Odd Future's lyrics can be devastating in the right way - when Tyler and Earl Sweatshirt rap about their fatherlessness ("Product of popped rubbers and pops who did not love us / So when I leave home keep my heart in the top cupboard") they become indelible. No one's yet heard Goblin (Tyler's orders). I'll be listening to it tomorrow and, at the risk of sounding like a hand-wringing auntie, I'll be desperately hoping to hear an artist who's grown out of the rape fantasies and woken up to how smart he is.

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Rappers and rape: the incredible sound and hateful lyrics of Odd Future

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This hip-hop crew leaves listeners simultaneously hypnotised and horrified, writes Hermione Hoby

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Belle, C. (2014) ‘From Jay-Z to Dead Prez: Examining Representations of Black Masculinity in Mainstream Versus Underground Hip-Hop Music’, Journal of Black Studies, 45(4), pp. 287–300.

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Belle, C. (2014) ‘From Jay-Z to Dead Prez: Examining Representations of Black Masculinity in Mainstream Versus Underground Hip-Hop Music’, Journal of Black Studies, 45(4), pp. 287–300.

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Tyler's star image is against the traditional representation of black hip-hop, which promotes blatant hypermasculine performances and an unemotional persona.

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Tyler replied that “its crazy, all im doing is spreading good vibes and tryna give some confidence to people and at least telling them they can accoplish something. sorry that i like cars and like to talk about it, soooo sorry that ive turned into the guy i hated, he began to conclude. sorry for being me, i apologize in advance cause IM GONNA CONTINUE TO DO THAT FOREVER”

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Lee, B. (2017) ‘Is Tyler, the Creator coming out as a gay man or just a queer-baiting provocateur?’, The Guardian, 25 July.

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Controversy In Terms Of Tyler's Sexuality

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Controversy In Terms Of Tyler's Sexuality

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Mainstream media again tries to construct Tyler as a controversial rapper, suggesting that Tyler's switch from possible homophobia to an admission of homosexuality sent fans into a confused tailspin.

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Is Tyler, the Creator coming out as a gay man or just a queer-baiting provocateur?

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The controversial rapper’s new album features lyrics that suggest a switch from homophobia to an admission of homosexuality, sending fans into a confused tailspin

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On Twitter, he writes down a lot of his comments and thoughts, and sometimes directly interact with his fans about his art works.

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Vollero, L. (2019) ‘From Odd Future to Igor: Breaking down every era of Tyler, the Creator's career’, Entertainment Weekly, 5 June.

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Vollero, L. (2019) ‘From Odd Future to Igor: Breaking down every era of Tyler, the Creator's career’, Entertainment Weekly, 5 June.

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Entertainment Weekly's review of Tyler's Album Bastard, Goblin, Wolf, and Cherry Bomb.

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From Odd Future to ‘Igor’: Breaking down every era of Tyler, the Creator’s career

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How he transformed from a blunt-force lyricist to an unguarded, versatile artist

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"Yonkers" music video is also praised by Kanye West. He declared on Twitter that it was “the video of 2011.”

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Bell, J. (2023) 'The Meaning Behind The Song: Pigs by Tyler the Creator', Old Time Music, 13 August.

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It is revealed and explained by old tine music that Tyler talks about the anger and frustration that he feels towards society’s power structures, referring to slavery, racism, and police brutality. He speaks about how people of colour are oppressed, and their rights are violated daily.

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The Meaning Behind The Song: Pigs by Tyler - the Creator - Old Time Music

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The Meaning Behind The Song: Pigs by Tyler – the Creator Tyler – the Creator is known for his explicit lyrics and performance style. In his song “Pigs,” the rapper tells a story of oppression, racism, and the abuse of power. The song was released in 2011 and was included in Tyler’s debut album “Gobl…

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Paulikovics, Z. (2019)'A brief guide to Tyler, The Creator's style evolution', Dazed, 1 July.

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Paulikovics, Z. (2019)'A brief guide to Tyler, The Creator's style evolution', Dazed, 1 July.

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Dazed Magzine has provided a brief guide to Tyler's fashion style evolution and Tyler's fashion business.

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Tyler the Creator first exploded into public consciousness as a founding member of totally wild alternative hip hop collective Odd Future back in the mid-00s, before his debut solo mixtape, Bastard, dropped soon after in 2009. His early music, both what he created as part of Odd Future and when he was out on his own, had a punky, raw, DIY feel to it: a sharp contrast to the excessive, luxe aesthetics of hip hop at the time.

But it was his 2011 music video for his single, " Yonkers", with its simple, black and white one frame shot of the rapper wearing a five panel Supreme hat and a graphic, short sleeve button up shirt with an oversized beetle crawling over his hand, that brought him the most mainstream attention yet. "Yonkers" went on to win Tyler the Creator Best New Artist at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards and, later that year, a one-record deal for a studio album with XL Recordings.

If "Yonkers" laid down the foundations for Tyler's taste for the surreal, it also had all the early markers of what is now his impossible-to-miss personal style and his penchant for using clothing to play different characters. But, whether it's preppy skater, louche grandpa or nightmarish Teddy Boy, every character bears the same cornerstones: kaleidoscopic and outlandish, and always with an element of the absurd.

Here, we chronicle Tyler the Creator's style evolution and his influence on streetwear: from selling Odd Future merch on LA's Fairfax Avenue to rocking a peroxide wig outside Buckingham Palace, after Theresa May did the right thing for once and let him back into the UK.

ODD FUTURE SKATER NERD

When Tyler co-founded Odd Future in 2007, merch culture was in its infancy, and Supreme, though a cult underground skater brand, was nowhere near the apex of following it would reach in the late 00s. In both his solo projects and as a member of the Odd Future collective, Tyler's style channelled an easy California cool, one part punk, one part preppy weirdo skater in single pleat chinos and collegiate short-sleeve button ups.

In 2011, the group opened an Odd Future store on LA's Fairfax Avenue, around the corner from Vans and Supreme, where LA skaters would hang out. Meaning that, more than just having a group of ready-made fans and ambassadors, the OF line was also heavily influenced by the scene around it. As repped by Tyler and the whole crew, cartoonish prints (graphic donuts were the OF signature) and hoodies with select OF members' faces printed on them were a staples, and no one, particularly not Tyler, went anywhere without a five-panel cap.

Members of the collective, among them, Frank Ocean, Domo Genesis, Syd (formerly tha Kyd) and Earl Sweatshirt continued to put out solo project - singles, YouTube skits - but what held them together was the aesthetic language established through a shared style, which, looking back, gives the Odd Future scene of the era and Larry Clark-esque wash.

THE GOLF WANG AMBASSADOR

The Odd Future store eventually expanded with Tyler's own line, Golf Wang, which outlived the shop as OF eventually disbanded. More than just a clothing line, it grew into the pin that held together everything in Tyler's aesthetic universe, from his album covers to his Camp Flog Gnaw festival. By the time his 2015 album Cherry Bomb dropped, his blend of stoner naivety stirred with a pastel coloured acid trip became the definitive style among the LA hip hop and skate scene, and was in fact beginning to leave its mark on menswear-at-large.

Tyler was, in part, inspired by Pharrell, another polymath with an affinity for candy colours, though it's around this time he first expressed some signature divisive thoughts on the fashion industry: "I fucking hate fashion and everything about it. I just like making stuff and it happens to be in fucking cotton and, like, materials," he told Billboard in 2014. Nonetheless, despite himself, Golf Wang grew from merch-adjacent into a bonafide streetwear hit - Supreme's James Jebbia was an early supporter.

In 2016, Tyler staged a fashion show and live performance in LA, and in 2018 he dropped a collection video featuring longtime friend and sometime collaborator A$AP Rocky and a live lamb. After a controversial break-up from Vans in 2016, Golf Wang has been collaborating with Converse on the Golf Le Fleur trainer, which repeatedly sell out (most recently, it released a limited edition pair for Pride). Not bad for someone who just "make(s) the clothes I want to buy."

SUAVE GRANDPA

With the release of Tyler's third album, Flower Boy, came a new area of dressing for the star: not a complete departure from his skater roots, but rather a tailored, more grown up version of it. He seemed to have developed a new taste for suits of all kinds: tailored and floral in the music video for Kali Uchis' " After the Storm", and boiler and similarly floral performing with the singer on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon), as well as the sweater vests and louche slacks seen as part of his AW18 Golf Wang collection.

He also perfected the socks and sandals combo (mostly simple, white cotton with a classic pair of Tevas), crowned with a Golf Wang collaboration with the cult Japanese kings of orthopedic footwear, Suicoke. "I like dressing like an old man," he told Fantastic Man in 2018. This new evolution, while it fit into the larger stylescape of fantasy dressing and nerdish sensibilities (championed by the likes of Gucci) also bears Tyler's signature hand for unexpected tailoring, and comfort, all mixed up with an absurdist edge.

AN ODE TO DENNIS RODMAN

For the 2018 Grammy's Tyler donned a periwinkle blue coat complete with matching LV scarf, an ushanka and a Dennis Rodman dye job, then was seen a few days later sporting a bottle green suit with a yellow sweater, bucket hat, and bedazzled Chanel brooch. This look solidified a new era of dressing for the rapper, as he outgrew his status as a oddball skater with an outlandish sensibility, into fully fledged style icon. As he graced several best-dressed lists in 2018, it seemed like the menswear world finally took note of what streetwear-obsessives and Tyler-fans already knew: the rapper is a master of dressing for every occasion while always unfailingly managing to look like himself.

IGOR LIVES

The rapper released his latest album, , in late May 2019, (and caused considerable havoc making his first UK appearance after being banned to enter by then-home secretary Theresa May in 2015, commanding a hopeful crowd to the Bussey Building and then leaving them waiting in a sort of Fyre Festival-lite.) A music video for his single EARFQUAKE was released shortly after the album, with Tyler, clad in a sky-blue fitted suit and peroxide wig, dancing around a TV studio draped in tinsel, as it slowly goes up in flames. With IGOR, a new persona was born: one part Bowie, one part washed-up Elvis impersonator, with an array of candy-coloured suits and a peroxide blonde wig that's been referred to as "Andy Warhol meets Boris Johnson" which is terrifying and, also, sort of true. (Here he is in one memorable Instagram, posing outside Buckingham Palace).

Tyler's always toyed with expectations of masculinity (though his own relationship with the LGBTQIA+ community was complicated and rumours about his sexuality were unconfirmed). IGOR the album is a contemplative, cross-genre narrative about love and heartbreak, and IGOR the persona is a fitting visual extension to this new era of vulnerability: a softer, more adventurous silhouette, rooted in androgyny - but with all the same offbeat Tyler trademarks. What's next? Stay tuned.

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A brief guide to Tyler, The Creator's style evolution

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As he releases his SS19 Golf Wang collection, we chart the ex-Odd Future rapper's rise from weirdo LA skate kid to Andy Warhol-wigged IGOR icon

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Stewart, J. (2021) 'EXCLUSIVE: Golf le Fleur's Debut Solo Collection Is An Invitation Into Tyler, The Creator's World', Essence, 8 December.

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Tyler, The Creator's Luxury Line GOLF le FLEUR*

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Tyler, The Creator's Luxury Line GOLF le FLEUR*

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Tyler keeps showing his talent and unique taste in the fashion industry, successfully expanding his fashion business by establishing his luxury line, GOLF le FLEUR*. According to the news from Essence, The brand's debut solo collection is an intricately curated capsule of unisex apparel, accessories, and beauty products. This time, Tyler also pays more attention to quality, making sure his products are made with the best possible raw materials and are comfortable to wear.

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Tyler, The Creator, the musician and record producer who brought the world Goblin and Igor, all the way through to Call Me If You Get Lost, doesn't do anything without a story behind it. Each body of music from the artist comes fleshed out with an accompanying aesthetic that makes an album feel like an enveloping experience, and its this keen ability to turn any project into an all-encompassing universe that lends to the genius of the rapper's debut solo collection for his luxury line, Golf Le Fleur.

Not to be confused with Golf Wang, the streetwear brand Tyler launched in 2011, Golf le Fleur has, since its inception, been the vessel through which the musician and entrepreneur has executed a number of collaborations, from an ongoing partnership with Converse, to a 2019 collection with Lacoste. Now, the Grammy award winner unveils the brand's debut solo collection, an intricately curated capsule of unisex apparel, accessories, and beauty products. It feels not only like Tyler's niche, instantly-recognizable fashion persona come to life, but an invitation for fans to step into a world he's created.

Credit: Golf le Fleur / Luis "Panch" Perez
While developing a high-end apparel line can be expected to be a vastly different experience than, say, composing an album, Golf le Fleur's newest collection is so innately Tyler that he says he didn't find the design process to be a particular challenge. "It was pretty... easy," he tells ESSENCE. "It was me saying '​I want to make a silk shirt. Oh, but I like round collars - They never give guys round collars.' 'I'm going to do the buttons with the flower logo, so it's subtle.' Then, if it looks good on me, it's like 'there we go.'" Leopard print is the common denominator for many of the pieces, but it would come as no surprise to anyone who's paid close attention to Tyler's fashion choices over the years. "​I feel like I'm on a different style every two years," he says. "But a friend of mine said, 'It's wild how you were always who you are.'" He went on to describe how his love of leopard print evolved over the years: It started with a T-shirt he made at 17 that read "Fuck," the lettering filled in with the spotted motif. Then, the baseball hat he wore while accepting his first VMA award onstage in 2011. And now, the pistachio-colored sweater vest he wore (from the collection, of course) for an intimate first-look showing of his pieces last week.

To that point, Tyler had already been seen quietly sporting styles from the collection for some time - The faux-fur ushanka hat he wore while performing at the 2021 American Music Awards, the pink leopard trunk he toted on the red carpet at 10th Annual LACMA Art and Film Gala topped with a pair of Golf le Fleur sunglasses. More preppy pieces that feel straight from the California-native's personal closet come with the collection's launch: A mohair cardigan in two colorways, a short-sleeve collared button up, a knit polo, a lineup of silk tops, and shorts and trousers to pair them all back with. There are immense, but unsurprising amounts of attention to detail - A color-blocked silk top boasts a pencil-like drawing on its backside and reads "call me if you get lost" (Tyler says he hand drew the graphic and opted to leave the text in his handwriting), while any buttons are in the shape of an asymmetric flower, and a pair of shorts come complete with a wavy silhouetted back pocket.

Credit: Golf le Fleur / Luis "Panch" Perez
"I don't even see this as me diving into the beauty space," Tyler says, regarding his debut fragrance, French Waltz, and the three nail polish shades that come alongside Golf le Fleur's apparel (he wore "Geneva Blue" for its unveiling). "It's just me saying 'I want to make perfume,' so I made it. I want to make nail polish,' so I made it. I just made this, and this is what I'm on. And I hope people fuck with it." The campaign for the launch feels like a visual representation of how one could expect French Waltz to smell. Scent notes include mandarin, jasmine, rose and more, but Tyler says more than anything, the fragrance takes him back to certain moments. "Remember being a kid and going to your mom's friend's house, and it's a pool there and you're swimming?" he says. "And you stop swimming, and you eat a bad sandwich or burger. You're dripping wet. Or maybe you're eating chips. That's what it smells like to me. First time cliff jumping into water. First time hitting a donut in a car. Just that joy where I'm just yelling." On a more basic level, Tyler says after spending time in London with a few young noses, taking in a heap of raw oils to land on the perfect scent, he wanted to go for something crisp he felt like anyone could wear. "I love clean, floral [smells]," he says. "I don't like woody, heavy, musky, smokey, leather... I hate that."

Credit: Golf le Fleur / Luis "Panch" Perez
While Golf Wang famously has a brick-and-mortar home on Fairfax in Los Angeles, Tyler says he wanted to create a special experience around this Golf le Fleur collection launch. Atop a hill in Malibu, he showed the collection in what was more of an immersive exhibit than a pop-up, with custom architectural design, a manicure station, and employees decked out in the collection down to the nail polish, fully illustrating its versatility. Luckily, it's a set-up fans will have a chance to experience on Friday and through the weekend by appointment, before the collection hit's Golf le Fleur's website on December 13. "Everything I make is for anyone to wear," Tyler says. "I hope when people go in there, they're just like, 'Oh I like this piece. I'm going to get this piece.' That's what it is."

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EXCLUSIVE: Golf le Fleur's Debut Solo Collection Is An Invitation Into Tyler, The Creator's World | Essence

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Inside the launch of Tyler, The Creator's latest collection for Golf le Fleur, the solo debut of his line of apparel, beauty and accesories.