Tyler, The Creator

/wiki/Tyler, The Creatorcreator

De facto leader and, as his name suggests, creator of Odd Future. Tyler, The Creator (born Tyler Gregory Okonma, aka Ace Creator, Wolf Haley, Young Nigga) saw the talents he and his peers had after years of being friends and decided to form a group where they could make their own rules. His song "Bastard" explicitly states, "I feel we're more talented than 40 year old rappers talking about Gucci when they have kids they haven't seen in years." Tyler's interest in music started a young age, when he would design his own albums with cover art and tracklists. By fourteen, he was teaching himself how to play the piano and by fifteen, he was producing his own music.

Tyler's chiefly influenced by horror films and the slick electro funk of The Neptunes, and it shows. A sizable portion of Tyler's output is autobiographical, referencing his missing father, being used in a rebound relationship and his confessional thoughts on his own life. The rest of his work incorporates elaborate storytelling scenarios involving tales of rape, murder and substance abuse. The latter part has gotten him in trouble with advocacy groups and the press, with no help from Tyler's tell-it-like-it-is demeanour and general wackiness. He famously told lesbian rock band Tegan and Sara to call him if they needed "some hard dick" after they called him out on his language.

Discography:
  • The Odd Future Tape (Odd Future compilation, 2008)
  • Bastard (2009 mixtape)
    • Chopped and screwed version by Mike G (2010)
  • Goblin (2011)
  • Wolf (2013)
  • Cherry Bomb (2015)
  • Flower Boy (2017)
  • Music Inspired by Illumination & Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (2018 EP)
  • IGOR (2019)
Tyler, The Creator provides examples of the following tropes:
  • The Ace: Ace Creator.
  • A Darker Me: Two of them: Ace Creator and Wolf Haley. Ace is more of a boastful hotshot while Wolf is an evil, Slim Shady-esque figure. Wolf predominately collaborates with Earl Sweatshirt.
  • Ascended Fanboy: Tyler's biggest influence is Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes. The two finally met and apparently Pharrell has signed Tyler to his record label. Tyler even called Pharrell to wish him a happy Father's Day in 2011.
  • Audience Participation Song: "Inglorious" asks for all legitimate bastards to yell "Fuck You" to the fathers that left them. Subverted, since the song has never been performed live, and according to Tyler, never will be.
    • Attempted again in "Golden", but declared "corny as fuck" a few seconds into it.
  • Basso Profondo: Tyler uses an octave-shifting effect on his voice to achieve this.
  • Big Bad
  • Black Eyes of Evil: Tyler has these in "Yonkers" and "She."
  • Breakout Character: As a result of getting all of the media attention up until MellowHype re-issued BlackenedWhite, Tyler has been trying to avoid this trope like the plague, urging his fans to give attention to the other members of Odd Future as he did not want to leave them behind.
  • Cloudcuckoolander - It's unclear how much of it is an act, though. His wikipedia page notes that he has referred to himself as a unicorn, a table, and a purse. Both in raps and out of them.

Tyler's twitter: "I AM STILL THE MOST SWAGGED OUT UNICORN IN THE FUCKING EXISTENCE OF FUCKING UNICORNS NIGGA. FUCK PEGASUS, HE'S A FUCKING FAGGOT. OFUGKTA"

  • The Cameo: Tyler produced most of Domo Genesis' album Rolling Papers and makes plenty of uncredited cameos across it.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Used with both F-words and the N-word.
  • Concept Album: Tyler's first album, Bastard, starts with school therapist Dr. TC introducing himself to Tyler and all of the rapping that follows is in response to the therapist's questions. It has an overt theme about how Tyler is a bastard in the literal sense, and how he feels about it.
    • Goblin starts off exactly where Bastard ended (introducing Wolf Haley and Tron Cat, the evil voice in Tyler's head) and it's likely Wolf will do the same for Goblin.
  • Continuity Nod: Tina never did perm her weave.
  • Creepy Basement: The one all the women get locked up in.
  • Deliberately Monochrome: the music videos for "Yonkers" and "French".
  • Determinator: Tyler. Break a foot at the beginning of a concert? Finish concert... after going to a doctor of course.
  • Did Not Get the Girl: Raquel befriended Tyler in high school, confiding her personal secrets and relationship issues in him. When he made his move to solidify a relationship with her by asking her out to the prom, she threw him into the Friend Zone and got back with her man. Tyler's thoughts about Raquel show up in his work as much as his issues with his negligent father does. Early on, the character of Sarah was used as a placeholder for Raquel so he could viciously assault her through song. Leads to...
  • Disproportionate Retribution: In "Sarah", she said no to being Tyler's date to the homecoming prom. So she's abducted, dragged into a Creepy Basement, raped, killed, eaten and raped again.
  • Don't Try This At Home/This Is a Work of Fiction: The intro to "Radicals":

Tyler: Random disclaimer... Hey, don't do anything that I say in this song, okay? It's fuckin' fiction. If anything happens, don't fuckin' blame me, white America. Fuck Bill O'Reilly.[1]

  • Evil Sounds Deep: Inverted with Dr. TC, who is probably the sanest person on Tyler's albums; played straight by Tyler's Wolf Haley persona. For those who have trouble telling them apart, Wolf has a slight growl to it. However...
  • Foreshadowing: ...the first clue that Dr. TC isn't all he's cracked up to be comes in the first few seconds of "Goblin", where he says that Tyler "don't even have the balls" to kill himself. Choice words coming from a supposed health professional...
    • Additional signs: Dr. TC finishes one of Tyler's sentences in "Goblin" and starts one of them in "Nightmare".
  • From Bad to Worse: Tyler's mental condition worsens over the course of his records. Dr. TC's evaluations are drastically different each time around.

Dr. TC, from Bastard's "Inglorious": Well Tyler, it's about that time... You're a good kid, just misguided. Is there anything else you wanna say before we end this?
Dr. TC, from Goblin's "Golden": Tyler, you... obviously have some fucking problems and this is the end of this session. Let's... Anything else you've gotta say?

    • First time you hear that, you reverse you headphones, because you think you're wearing them backwards.
    • Although, eventually in the chorus they do say left and right on the left and right headphones.
    • Also used to great effect during "She," where Wolf Haley finally talks to the object of his obsession one on one. The effect is rather unsettling:

"I just wanna talk, conversate/'Cause I usually just stalk you and masturbate/And I finally got the courage to ask you on a date, so just say yes/And let the future fall into place, cunt."

Tyler: "Well, I have gay fans and they don't really take it offensive, so I don't know. If it offends you, it offends you."

  • Inaction Video: The video for "Yonkers", although played straight and excellently creepy.
  • Instrumentals: "AU79" and "Untitled 63".
  • Kill'Em All: The endings of "Bitch Suck Dick" and "Window".
    • Except, of course, for Earl Sweatshirt, who doesn't appear on the album. However, considering the throwaway instrumental "AU79" placed right after, as well as the track "Llama" that featured Earl and was cut, it can be assumed that Earl was killed between "Bitch Suck Dick" and "Window", even if we didn't hear it.
    • Tyler has said that "Llama" will appear on Wolf however, so that may not have happened.
  • Leave the Camera Running: The "Yonkers" video keeps the camera centered on Tyler rapping while sitting on a stool, although the shot goes in and out of focus and Tyler sometimes gets uncomfortably close to the camera.
  • List Song: "Fin", the closing track of their first mixtape, is basically a credits and special thanks roll set to music.
  • Lyrical Dissonance: "She" probably stands out as the biggest winner, considering it's close to a Neptunes-produced slow jam and features resident R&B singer Frank Ocean...only he's singing a chorus full of Paranoia Fuel as well...

Frank Ocean: "Ain't no men allowed in your bedroom, you're sleeping alone in bed... Check your window. He's at your window."
Tyler: "I just wanna drag your lifeless body to the forest and fornicate with it but that’s because I’m in love with you... cunt."

Tyler: "Bitch, fuck your feelings, you wasn't feelin' shit when you was down there kneelin'
now shut the fuck up, you've got another dick to deal with."

  • Mood Whiplash: Tyler's really tongue-in-cheek about a lot of things, considering how dark his music is. However, some of his songs have sections in which he has small acting performances that come across as genuinely disturbing. For example, in "Sarah" and "Window".
    • The transition from "Bitch Suck Dick" to "Window" on Goblin.
  • Murder Ballad: Several on Bastard. "Sarah" is the most gruesome example, featuring necrophilia and cannibalism. A handful of other tracks released before and after Bastard apply as well.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: "Window" ends with Tyler employing a Cluster F-Bomb version of this after killing the rest of OFWGKTA.
  • N-Word Privileges: To the point that Tyler calls everyone "nigga", regardless of age, race, gender or species. When he accidentally stepped on a snail, he tweeted,

"Like, he Didnt Do Anything To Me. It Was An Accident. Fuck, I'm Sorry Snail Nigga."

    • Tyler also told MTV, "If you call me a nigga, I really don't care, but that's just me, personally. Some people might take it the other way; I personally don't give a shit."
  • Nice Hat: His oft-referenced green Supreme hat.
  • Obsession Song: "Her". His song "Sarah" a very grim version of this.
  • One of Us: Tyler, the Creator is a huge fan of Cartoon Network, and has specifically cited Adventure Time, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force in the lyrics to various songs. Additionally, in the track "Fin", he lists off several influences, which include Dr. Seuss and Salvador Dali.
    • He also referenced Max Keeble's Big Move in the title track on Bastard. The line was surrounded by lyrics about how evil his music is.
  • Parental Abandonment: Tyler, the Creator's father left before he was born.
  • Piss-Take Rap: His work as part of I Smell Panties (granted, it's a comedy rap group) and any track where Taco or Jasper show up with him.
  • Record Producer: Tyler not only creates nearly every single beat he uses, but produces beats for most of the Odd Future roster, including Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis and Earl Sweatshirt. One of Tyler's signatures is using keyboards and drum samples that have been pitched down severely.
  • Recycled Lyrics: The line, "Free Earl, that's the fucking shit and if you disagree, lick a couple pimple covered dicks" from "Sandwitches" appears again in "Burger" with the final word changed to "clits".
    • The final verse of "Cult Shit" was re-used to end "Yonkers".
    • The opening line of "Pimp Slap" reappeared halfway during "Window".
    • Tyler has a habit of referencing things from "Yonkers" in his guest verses, including Pusha T's "Trouble On My Mind" and The Game's "Martians vs Goblins".
  • Refuge in Audacity: "I'm not crazy, I'm a fucking table!"
    • "Come Threw Looking Clean".
    • From "Bitch Suck Dick":

Tyler: "At the fucking mall, 40 bitches on my nutsack
Pulled up on a motherfuckin' unicorn (I'm gettin' ponies, nigga!)"

  • Refuge in Vulgarity: Especially when paired with Earl and Jasper.
  • The Reveal: Fans have known explicitly that Wolf Haley is an alter ego of Tyler, but the true reveal is at the end of his song "Golden": Dr. TC, in an attempt to calm Tyler after Wolf Haley forced him to kill all of his friends, tells him that TC is Wolf Haley as well as Tron Cat, the voice giving Tyler evil thoughts.
  • Rhyming with Itself: Tyler, the Creator plays with it on the song "The Tape Intro":

"Whether you nigga or esé
The [Odd Future] magazine is great because the article's an essay
Half you dumb niggas can't even write an essay
'Cause all of y'all some stupid asses. S.A."

  • Rock Me, Asmodeus: Tyler doesn't care about religion and uses Satanic imagery primarily to piss people off.
  • Sanity Slippage Song: Pretty much all of Goblin after "Her". Tyler hits the Despair Event Horizon, Mode Locking on his Wolf Haley persona (the crowdless rally at the beginning of "Sandwitches" being very telling of the loss of sanity.) Ultimately, Tyler snaps back to sanity after shooting the rest of OFWGKTA in cold blood during an intervention. If you want to count "Analog" (a track about a trip to the beach) as part of that, go right ahead.
  • Satirical Hip Hop: He performed satirical songs as Young Nigga, like "I Just Bought A Bugatti (I'm Happy)".
  • Self-Deprecation: From Tyler's Twitter account:

"Odd Future Is Just A Trend, NONE Of Them Niggas Have Actually Talent In Any Form Of Way. Their Gimmick Is Gonna Die Out Soon."

"I Give It A Month Before Everyone Hates Odd Future."

    • From "Goblin":

"I mean, I'm not that great of a rapper but as a whole, I'm pretty cool, right?"

  • Self-Made Man: To the point that Tyler won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 2011 for a song he wrote, produced and recorded himself, paired with a video that he directed for it. Understandably, he fell off the stage and wept openly after giving his acceptance speech.
  • Shout-Out: "Window"'s opening couplet is lifted straight from The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy".
    • The "She" video opens up on Nilbog street.
  • Significant Monogram: On Goblin, Tyler the Creator, Tron Cat, Doctor TC...noticing a trend?
  • Song Style Shift: Tyler's "Radicals" features a vitriolic first half with brief subdued sections. The second half gives way to a sung refrain and a Chinese harp.
  • Streisand Effect: The main reason why anyone knows of brandUn DeShay is because Tyler fell out with him and mentioned beating him up in "Yonkers".
  • Studio Chatter: "Oh I don't need the metronome, bro." at the beginning of "Her".
  • Stylistic Suck: "Swag Me Out", "Tina", "Bitch Suck Dick"...hell, pretty much any song with Taco and/or Jasper qualifies.
    • "Come Threw Lookin Clean", a parody of Lil B.
  • Surprisingly Gentle Song: Goblin has "She" (despite heavy Lyrical Dissonance), "Her" and "Analog". The latter is about lighting fireworks and swimming in a lake.
  • Take That, Critics!: Tyler is exceptionally vocal about hip hop blogs 2DopeBoyz and Nah Right not supporting Odd Future early on, but the opening seconds of his album Bastard really takes the cake:

"Yo, fuck 2DopeBoyz and fuck Nah Right and any other fuck-nigga-ass blog that can't put an 18 year old nigga making his own fucking beats, covers, videos and all that shit; fuck you post-Drake-ass cliche-jerking, LA-slauson rapping fuck-nigga-ass Hypebeast niggas, now back to the album."

from "Her": "She is who I'm thinking of when I am beating Richard up."
from "Sandwitches": "The way your daughter smackin' dicks, surprised she hasn't taken gymnastic dick inside her alley oop."

  • Where Da White Women At?: White women? All sorts of sex (and possibly dismemberment.) Black women? Expect a dismissive attitude about their temper or body weight.
  • Wolverine Publicity: In an interesting twist on this trope, Tyler is being used in this way already for other, more experienced artists. He's already appeared on Pusha T's new single, and is slated to appear on The Game's upcoming album. He's alluded to getting many more offers.
  1. ↑ Bill O'Reilly is a critic of violent lyrics, believing that hearing them incites violent behaviour and criminal activity.
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