Tyler, the Creator is a rapper with many successful albums such as “Flower Boy” has 31 million listeners monthly on Spotify, Igor, 34.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and Call Me If You Get Lost, with 34.1 million monthly listeners. Tyler, the Creator’s new album “Chromokopia”, released October 28, is one of the most hyped up albums of his Tyler the Creators career. Before the release of this album, I was really hyped, and after listening I would say it stands up to the rest of his work and is a really satisfying listen.
Tyler’s been making “CHROMOKOPIA” for the past two years, and the final fourteen song album includes features from artists such as Daniel Caesar, Glorilla, Teezo, Touchdown, Childish Gambino and even Tyler, the Creator’s mom (Bonita Smith). Many fans hoped Frank Ocean, an amazing RnB/soul singer with over 30 million monthly Spotify listeners, would be a feature on this album, but unfortunately he is not a feature. Below is a series of reviews of each track.
“CHROMOKOPIA”: One through Fourteen:
Track 01: St. Chroma – 5/5
One of the first releases promoting the album was the intro song called “St. Chroma”, this song has a very eerie feeling to it, with a soldiers marching beat, which to me set an amazing tone for the album, with an amazing chorus to complement the marching. That led me to believe that the album would go back to old Tyler. (does this feeling stay throughout the album)
Track 02 “Rah Tah Tah” and 03 “Noid”:
The next couple of songs were really well written. Tyler rapped amazingly on a very well constructed beat that has a lot of bass and drums, but there is something about “Noid” that makes me question how he is feeling.
Before the album dropped, he released “Noid” and he talks about ”someone’s keeping watch, i feel them in my shadow” and in the music video you see actor, Ayo Edibiri, run up to him crying with a phone in her hand, and the editing switches back and forth to her holding a gun instead, which to me is really scary, it creates this feeling of tension, but it makes me want to keep listening to this album. This might show Tyler feels like he has no privacy, and he might feel threatened by people who approach him.
Track 04 “Darling I” and Track 05 “Hey Jane”:
These tracks have really good production, with upbeat synths and snappy percussion that evoke feelings of joy. The beats also match so well with the chorus and verse. Even though the music is upbeat,Tyler adds a lot of feeling in them. In “Hey Jane” he raps about a girl, and how he talks about how “We got the news and I ain’t know what to do”, but something else sticks out. Two lines later he says, “If it was bound to happen to me, I’m lucky it’s you,” it seems like he’s talking about a girl being pregnant with his kid. Then he talks about how “that is not a good foundation to have kids with or maybe it is, maybe it’s not” which he addresses later by saying “T, no matter the decision or day, I just want us to be cool either way no pressure,” which also made me confused, but like wow. Was there ever a chance for a little Tyler? This kept me listening and made me re listen to this song so many times to make sure I had an understanding of what he was saying.
Track 06 “I Killed You”:
This song also has an amazing beat and he raps so well on the beat, shifting from a guitar, to bass and drums, to deeper bass and drums, then to a happier beat that you could see in the Minions, which to me is a good thing. Daniel Caesar sings the chorus, which makes the song an even better listen, with his angelic voice and beat next to it.
In the song it seems like he is talking about African American heritage, such as their hair, he did an amazing job putting little pieces of his heritage and what he was around as a kid into the song.
The first six songs have been telling an amazing story and have so far been my favorite songs of the year. The amazing storytelling with rapping, with a backstory that you can get deep into with a very well rounded beat that matches his flow. This is also where Childish Gambino makes his appearance, with an interlude and an outro.
Track 07 “Judge Judy”:
This song starts off with once again an amazing yet simple beat, with some bass to match his tone for the song. Now the song specifically is about a girl he met named Judy that he is really interested in and they go to his place and well you get the jist, but the thing that separates this song from others is that it at the ending verse, he is reading a letter that seems to be from her or from someone close to her saying, “This past year has been rough, it’s spreaded to my head,” hinting to maybe a cancer of some sort, since in the verse later on it says “I wasn’t living right until they told me what was left,” which can be a diagnosis to something. To me it’s absolutely wild that this song tells a story like that. It really makes me wonder if it’s real or if it’s a story about someone else’s experiences.
Track 08 “Sticky” and Track 09 “Take Your Mask Off”:
This song starts off with a whistle, no beat, just vocals and whistling, which then the next verse has Glorilla on it, which was not a bad addition. This song also has an upbeat style, which also fits the song well. The next verse goes into Sexy Redd, with a band type beat with different instruments, which then transitions into Lil Wayne, and his amazing verse matches well with the instruments.
Despite the strong features, to me this song is not good overall. It just feels like there’s too much going on. The speed of the song seems really fast and the different elements clash. These things are good on their own but together they don’t mix.
The song “Take Your Mask Off” has both Daniel Caesar and Latoiya Williams. This song, unlike “Sticky”, has an amazing beat and writing, yet this song has many meanings to it, talking about how some people aren’t comfortable showing who they really are. The musicians want the audience to take their mask off, to be themselves.
Track 10 “Tomorrow” and Track 11 “Thought I Was Dead”:
While these songs have good beats, I don’t have much else to say about them. They aren’t horrible, they just aren’t my favorites either. They align with the story of the album, but don’t stand out much.
Track 12 “Like Him”:
The next song is another one of my favorites called “Like Him.” This song has a bad beginning, but gets better as Tyler dives deeper into the first verse and chorus. This song in terms of vocals and production fit the meaning behind it very well. The song is about Tyler’s father, and a recording of his mom states how much he resembles him. Tyler then breaks into his first verse talking about how he is chasing a ghost, which could mean he’s chasing his father for nothing, but later on in the song, Tyler’s mom talks about how it’s her fault that he left when she says, “It was my fault, I’m sorry // You know, it was my fault not him,” which makes this song even sadder which drags me in to it, and helps me understand what he’s going through even more.
Track 13 “Balloon” and Track 14 “I Hope You Find Your Way Home”:
Now I don’t like “Balloon”, it feels like too much is going on in the song, especially in the beginning with all the ad libs from DJ Drama. Tyler’s singing isn’t horrible but is a little weak here, although his writing is good. Overall I think the song is bad, while “I Hope You Find Your Way Home” is pretty good. I wouldn’t have ended the album with this song, but it does work in the album. I liked the outro with his mom talking about how proud she is of him and his career.
CONLCUSIKOPIA:
Overall, I think the album was a wonderful listen. The features, the beats, and the writing all fit how Tyler originally was, and I was all for it. I give the album an 8/10. The reason I didn’t give it a perfect score was because of “Balloon” and “Sticky,” if those songs were not on the album, I would have given it a 10/10. I still would strongly recommend listening to the album if you are into Tyler’s music or hip hop in general.
