The path of crumbs dropped earlier than the discharge of Tyler, The Creator‘s new album ‘Chromakopia’ indicated a transparent path, centred round a brand new alter-ego. The document’s title and the movies for ‘St. Chroma’ and ‘Noid’ — which noticed the LA rapper inject color into bleary, sepia-toned worlds — recommended he’d drawn inspiration from the e book The Phantom Tollbooth, during which protagonist Chroma The Nice colors a black-and-white world by conducting a magical orchestra.
In actuality, ‘Chromakopia’ by no means totally realises this idea. It’s most likely a calculated misdirection in an album that feels intentionally messy. The 33-year-old rapper/producer – actual identify Tyler Okonma – always twists down completely different sonic avenues and matches these adjustments with lurches in subject material. After a gap two-track onslaught of synth noise and industrial percussion, he drops the Black Sabbath-esque rap-rock concoction ‘Noid’ earlier than putting candy, mellow hip-hop centre stage.
‘Hey Jane’ presents an clever two-sided dialog about an sudden being pregnant, and also you marvel if follow-up observe ‘I Killed You’, may be a provocative ‘Goblin’-esque response to this dilemma, but it surely’s one other misdirection. Okonma’s empathetic gaze demonstrates a unbroken maturation, though he quickly insists that “raising a toddler just isn’t on my want listing“, capturing broader album-wide anxieties about ageing, settling down, and turning into a father.
Okonma’s honesty is refreshing, and his lyrical dexterity provides these reflections humour and humanity; on the sleek R&B-flecked groove ‘Darling, I’ he raps: “When that gray hair lastly come / At the very least I felt one thing if I ain’t discovered the one… I’ll be lonely with these Grammys when it’s all mentioned and finished“. On ‘Noid’, he incisively paperwork this psychological turmoil (exacerbated by intense fan scrutiny), spitting “Triple checking if I misplaced the door / I do know each creak that’s within the ground / Motherfucker I’m paranoid“.
However the album’s overarching message, that you just shouldn’t belief individuals and that monogamy is a hoax, feels lazy. These musings are punctuated by voice recordings of Okonma’s mom dropping an avalanche of recommendation: “Don’t belief these individuals out right here”, “All the time put on a condom”, and “Don’t ever inform no bitch you like her” (which explains a few of her son’s hang-ups).
It seems like by way of these barrages of data and the leaps between tumultuous synths and soulful keys, booming claps and choral motifs, Tyler, The Creator, is constructing a panorama of chaos that displays his personal psychological battle. And in that sense, ‘Chromakopia’ succeeds by itself phrases. Inside the chaos, there’s magnificence — the sensitivity of ‘Hey Jane’, the infectious hip-hop chew of ‘Thought I Was Lifeless’, the rising cacophonies of brass and percussion on ‘I Killed You’. However maybe a much less frantic method would’ve benefited the hear general.
Particulars
- Launch date: October 28, 2024
- File label: Columbia Data
