Artist: Tyler, The Creator
Album Title: CHROMAKOPIA
Genre: Hip Hop, Jazz, Contemporary R&B
Release Date: Oct. 28, 2024
Album Rating: 7.5/10
Tyler, The Creator released his eighth-studio album, “CHROMAKOPIA”, under his independent record label, Odd Future Records, serving as a follow up to his blockbuster album, IGOR. Chromakopia’s distinct sound both revitalizes Tyler’s signature tone while uniquely exploring abstract genres. Guided by his mother’s light, Tyler explores the complexities of his flaws through a corpus of detailed songs.
In this album Tyler, The Creator plays the main character, who parallels the cartoon character Chroma the Great. The character “conducts” all the colors and Tyler, The Creator has the same goal. As seen in the St. Chroma teaser leading up to the release of the album, Tyler, The Creatorleads a line of featuring artists into a shipping container labeled “Chromakopia”. The video’s monochrome palette erupts into color as Tyler, The Creator blows up the shipping container, regaining the video’s color and displaying his powers as a “chroma conductor.”
The video is efficient and creative in showing the audience how the music industry is popularizing artists with no unique traits, just the same repetitive sounds, symbolizing the lack of color in the music industry. Similarly, In the snippets and videos Tyler, The Creator posted prior to the album’s release, color only appeared in the videos when something drastic or important happened, portraying the idea that the only way to get “color” back to hip hop is to defy the norms of his time.
“I would rate the album an eight out of ten because it felt very personal to [Tyler, The Creator]. The music sounded very reminiscent of his genre, but the lyrics and tone were in a different direction to his normal style. The album wasn’t what I was expecting and I prefer his other musical projects, but some songs like Judge Judy and St. Chroma were impressive highlights,” senior Lorenzo Quintana said.
The album’s motif of his mother’s “light,” which guides him through the colorless shades of maturity, is instrumental in progressing the album’s theme of adulthood. Almost every track on the record is started, interjected or concluded with words of wisdom by his mother, that to his younger self, seemed unimportant but to his matured mind, hold the ultimate truth.
Tyler, The Creator addresses his obsession with materialism, a vice that fills the void left by a lack of meaningful relationships. While his close friends embrace intimate connections, starting a family and raising their first child, he distracts himself with purchases. Beneath his superficial facade, Tyler, The Creator is frightened of fatherhood and haunted by the thought that he might parallel his own absent father, at the same time, exploring societal ideas of success and his personal path to fulfillment, which he is hesitant to face.
Track 1: St. Chroma
Rating: 9.5/10
St. Chroma serves as the introduction to the album, introducing the listener to the his new facade, named after the song. The song inventively begins with heartfelt guidance from Tyler, The Creator‘s mother, reminding him that his lights comes from within and anybody who tries to constrain it should be dismissed. His lyrics serve as an intimate ode to his mother, distinctively reflecting on a promise he made back when they lived in a poverty, that he would “make it out” of Section 8. The song concludes appropriately with a rising chorus led by Daniel Caesar highlighting the motif of Tyler, The Creator’s “inner light” and his passion for music.
“My thoughts on ‘CHROMAKOPIA’ are that I think it’s about time Tyler, The Creator finally dropped an album, especially one where he shows his ability to combine creativity and lyrical flow, not only with himself, but with other great artists,” sophomore Ricardo Bonilla said.
Track 9: Take Your Mask Off
Rating: 8/10
Take Your Mask Off holds connection to the album’s cover-art depicting Tyler wearing a mask over his face; the mask represents fake identity and fear of one’s true self. Tyler, The Creator criticizes gang-culture and hypocritical religious figures before dedicating the rest of the song to insulting himself, dissecting the guilt he holds for his past mistakes, a surprisingly but well-executed contrast. In between Tyler’s masterful lyricism is a powerful chorus provided by featuring artists Daniel Caesar and LaToiya Williams, who contribute to the song’s cathartic ambiance and introspective motif: “I hope you find yourself, I hope you take your mask offA”. The angelic chorus reiterates the message throughout the song, interjecting to direct this liberating idea upon his subject of criticism.
“The album was very solid, considering [Tyler, The Creator] created very experimental tracks that stray from his classic genre. His refined skills definitely had a place in this album, fusing his staple production with personal lyrics. The album showed his process of growth and maturity, something we haven’t seen in other works,” sophomore Jan Dave Calimlim said.
Track 12: Like Him
Rating: 7/10
The track begins with a bright chord progression coupled with the words of Tyler’s mother, cheerfully describing the resemblance between Tyler, The Creator and his father. An eerie chorus led by Lola Young interrupts the introduction, singing about a ghost, who represents Tyler, The Creator‘s absent father and asking: “Am I like him?” As the song progresses, the question recurs and the chorus grows increasingly louder, skillfully pairing emotion with sensation. Finally, Tyler, The Creator and the chorus resolve the tension, answering the harrowing question by declaring he is not like him. The song remarkably explores the artists‘s personal fear of inheriting the traits which made him resent his father. In the end, Tyler, The Creator accepts that he is flawed, but unwilling to repeat the same mistakes as his father.
“Every album [Tyler, The Creator] releases has its own unique sound, so this one deviating from some of his norms didn’t surprise me. The hype anticipating the album’s release was real, the teaser videos and abstract theme of the album generated curiosity surrounding the tracks. When it finally dropped, I wasn’t disappointed,” sophomore Lawrence Weiss said.
