There’s little more intriguing than an artist who manages not just to move through the world in a way that is pure and unguarded, but to create in a similar fashion. That’s Tyler, the Creator. Once the founder (and loudest member) of provocateur crew Odd Future, Tyler has evolved into one of music’s most consistently interesting auteurs and—as much as I hate the word—multihyphenates. For T’s annual “The Greats” issue, Adam Bradley unpacks the many, many layers of Tyler Okonma.
In these early songs and videos, Tyler announced himself as an artist unafraid of being misunderstood. He made things to amuse himself and his close friends, which gave his art authenticity — and, once it found a fan base, an uncommon intimacy. That intimacy endures. All you need to do is read one com…
There’s little more intriguing than an artist who manages not just to move through the world in a way that is pure and unguarded, but to create in a similar fashion. That’s Tyler, the Creator. Once the founder (and loudest member) of provocateur crew Odd Future, Tyler has evolved into one of music’s most consistently interesting auteurs and—as much as I hate the word—multihyphenates. For T’s annual “The Greats” issue, Adam Bradley unpacks the many, many layers of Tyler Okonma.
In these early songs and videos, Tyler announced himself as an artist unafraid of being misunderstood. He made things to amuse himself and his close friends, which gave his art authenticity — and, once it found a fan base, an uncommon intimacy. That intimacy endures. All you need to do is read one comment below the “Goblin” video on YouTube: “As a kid I thought this was terrifying, now I just see this as normal Tyler behavior.” Many of Tyler’s fans have grown up with him. Over the years, he’s instructed them — sometimes implicitly through the work, sometimes explicitly through his public comments — on how to engage with his art. And because his back catalog lives on, a new generation of fans has caught on too.
More picks about hip-hop
How the ‘Slamming Door’ Sound Became Embedded in Hip-Hop History
Ashwin Rodrigues | Wired | August 2, 2024 | 2,974 words
“If you’ve listened to any rap or pop music made in the 21st century, you’ve heard John Lehmkuhl’s most famous creation, a thwacking metallic percussion sample named ‘Tribe.’”
What Happened to Ice Cube?
Joel Anderson | Slate | August 3, 2024 | 4,998 words
“He once meant everything to Black kids like me. His descent in the Trump years is a grim reminder of what we’ve lost.”
I Knew Diddy for Years. What I Now Remember Haunts Me.
Danyel Smith | The New York Times Magazine | July 12, 2024 | 5,724 words
“Looking back on my life as a woman in the music industry, I’m unsettled by the inescapable sexism perpetrated by Sean Combs and others.”
André 3000 Is at Peace (For Now)
Hanif Abdurraqib | The Bitter Southerner | May 14, 2024 | 4,728 words
“One of the greatest rappers of our time in conversation with one of the most lauded culture writers alive on freedom, fame, flutes, and the burning question: ‘You gonna put some beats on that shit?’”
“In My Mind I Was Already Gone”: The Endless End of Outkast
Paul Thompson | The Ringer | September 22, 2023 | 3,115 words
“Twenty years after the release of ‘Speakerboxxx’/’The Love Below,’ we chart how the creation of André 3000 and Big Boi’s fifth studio album became the start of Outkast’s ending.”
Too Short’s Long (and Very Raunchy) Life in Rap
Tom Breihan | The New York Times Magazine | August 9, 2023 | 4,452 words
“The West Coast rapper is an unsung pioneer of some of the genre’s most central elements.”