4/5
Lost Ones.
WU-TANG FOREVER! Like a 'Superbad' McLovin I.D. before we "go to Cannes and watch a couple of indie films you've never heard of". What's his name? Tyler Gregory Okonma, AKA Tyler The Creator channeling his ODB returning to the '36 Chambers' for 'The Dirty Version' you ol'bastard. 'Shimmy, Shimmy Ya'. Watch Tyler take it away as you give him the mic and he takes it all the way back to primetime Clan era when the biggest group in hip-hop that was for the children showed all those white hoods that you couldn't f### with the strength of Shaolin. The RZA. The GZA. You know the rest and their methods man. Cookin' like the Chef, this seventh seal is a Killah like Ghostface as The Creator tries his Wu-Tang style. The Blueprint of modern Illmatic rap so classic and 'Only Built For Cuban Linx' it may as well have come in a purple tape. Reel to reel no one gets down on the boom box era quite like this for the next generation stuck on Z's. As prolific producer of legend Jermaine Dupri tweets it best with a flame emoji, "(Tyler) rapping on all type tempos and different beats and he killing that (poop emoji)". Now he's global like 14 or DJ Khaled on this DJ Drama ad-libbed set like 'Gangster Grillz' with that RZA razor edge sound, this is anything but a jack move from Ty. Hip-hop homage with his own Tyler twist. This is rap art for the culture, no vulture. After the Odd Future with the legacy making legend likes of Earl Sweatshirt and the one and only Frank Ocean, this 'Goblin', the 'Wolf' showed us he was no sheep's clothing with his sophomore set. 'Cherry Bomb' blew us away. Whilst the pollinating 'Flower Boy' really was the bees knees. The Van Gogh like sunflower music as iconic as the album artwork. Then (yes, I've been spending the last few months getting to know this man and his music) the delightfully distorted 'Igor' inspired even more as this man of many hats rocked the iconic wig like Kristen. But right now, right now like Haim this album may just be the prolific rapper, producer, visual artist, designer and comedians best yet. No joke. Tyler's taylor made, classic creation. Now 'Call Me If You Get Lost'. 1-855-444-8888. Honestly, give it a try. It's no fake s### like Dave Chappelle's number for 'Indiana Jones'.
Billie Eilish recently took to social media to apolgize for lip syncing an anti-Asian slur off Tyler The Creator's hit 'Fish'. Creating some bad press on the eve of the album release for the Grammy winner who last year the 'Bad Guy' and Bond singer said, "inspired every part of everything about me." Now it's still all love if it isn't the most perfect timing. But hey this still needs to be addressed like a zip code. Especially as we should 'Stop Asian Hate' in all forms as much as we should know that all 'Black Lives Matter' always. There needs to be more than just a conversation. There needs to be change. Tyler has already faced controversy in the past for using homophobic language and even in this album he apologies for using the word "b#tch" on 'Corso', saying he doesn't like it as he doesn't believe women to be so, he just thinks it sounds "cool". I'm afraid it doesn't, but in the realm of rap you as a listener must decide whether you agree with me, or he. You see, as a rap fan I've been turning a deaf ear to all sorts of language that could be deemed as hate speech for years outside of Will Smith's "nice, clean (Family Guy) raps" (remember only kiss her...if she let's you). But to single The Creator our now in this time and somewhat too much of a trend of cancel culture would border on hypocrisy. If he is guilty as charged for what he says in a song then half the hip-hop heroes you love belong in jail. Don't give a free pass or cancel out of convenience. Be forthright in what you do. Tupac once explained it best when he talked about how some people think, "Arnold Schwarzenegger bust somebody in a movie now I want to do it too." It's not that simple. Music like movies is a narrative. It's not all true, yet we need to be more nuanced. We believe in The Creator, but either way the language of the music that comes with a Parental Advisory sticker needs to be redesigned.
Back to our regular scheduled programme like 'The Black Album', before your boredom fades to noire. When Pharrell said, "you can do it too", Tyler actually did it. And he's still doing it. Just check the list on Williams' 'Entrepreneur' track and 'Frontin'' reunion with Jay-Z. 1. Founder Of Odd Future. 2. GOLF WANG. 3. Multiple TV Shows. 4. Golf Store On Fairfax. 5. Array Of Magazine Covers. The list goes on. Now Skateboard P returns the entrepreneurial video cameo liek a bicycle riding 'Provider' with the N.E.R.D.'s feature on 'Juggernaut' that tears through your speakers like the Marvel comics character or that type Ludacris strapped on Cerebro and collected more mutant references than Professor X for a Jamie Foxx track ('Yep That's Me'). Pharrell alongside Lil Uzi proving his raps are as real as his prolific producers powers or that time he freestyled for Clinton Sparks. Riding Outkast 'Elevators' like me and you, your momma and your cousin too. 'Tha Carter' Lil'Wayne is back as rapping together these generational greats make sure the 'Hot Wind Blows'. Whilst feature artist of the moment Ty Dolla $ign (see H.E.R. for 'Back Of My Mind' from the back end of last week) helps Tyler ask 'WusYaName' like Nelly for the latest chart topper like 'Country Grammer'. This 'Lemonhead' in the fluorescent GOLF beanie keeps making hits like a 'Lumberjack' across the fairway, even in this rough. Bunker to bunker as we lockdown in quarantine with our headphones as our friend in all this planet pandemics social distance. 'Sir Baudelaire' hitting a hole in one like Woods with the iron. All the way to this Tiger's 'Safari' like lions, tigers and bears, oh my! "Whatever your s### is, man, do it/Whatever bring you that immense joy, do that, that's your luxury/The greatest thing that ever happened to me was/Bein' damn near twenty and leavin' Los Angeles for the first time/I got out my bubble, my eyes, just wide/My passport is the most valuable", he says on 'Massa'. Showing he is nobodies slave...not even life's. All before he makes you 'RunItUp' with his new 'Manifesto' rapping, "That ain't in your religion, you just followin' your mammy/She followed your granny, she obeyed master/Did y'all even ask her? Questions, it's holes in them stories/Is it, holes in your blessings? Yeah, I'm bold with the message." Getting down on 'Sweet/I Thought You Wanted To Dance' Tyler saves the real talk for 'Momma Talk' whilst giving it up for his dear one like a Kanye hey he laments lyrically for his family, "If you f### with my kids, I'll beat up kids over my kid, okay?/This little boy used to run, he was scared/I said, "Go get your b####-ass mama"/I would beat your whole family and didn't give a f###/They be like, "Tyler, Tyler mama crazy, Tyler mama crazy." Even expletively you can't deny that lyrical lions pride for his own explicitly. A love like this is 'Blessed'. All the way to 'Wilshire' as the Creator couplets, "It's morals I really have, it's lines I could never cross/But you got somethin' that make all them good intentions get lost/I try to keep it together, never felt this way/We spent 'bout two weeks together, only skipped one day." To know a love like this is to know albums like this. H.E.R. Indeed. No more 'Used To' in Common like 'B.O.M.M.' We would have wrote this review in all caps like the tracks too if it didn't sound like we were shoutin'. The 'Rise' is complete with an exclamation for this Jamie XX produced 'Lost One' like Lauryn. No need to call me on that hotline bling though, because Drake better watch his 6. We just found real rap again. Tyler remade. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'WusYaName', 'Lemonhead', 'Lumberjack'.
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