How "Wolf" Helped Tyler, The Creator Become the Voice for an Entire Generation
By Miles Hagan
Tyler, The Creator is the general of one of the biggest armies in the world. His army is filled with teens and young adults in cuffed pants, polo shirts, and converse shoes. But how exactly did he get to this point? While Flower Boy is the album that brought him much of his mainstream fame, Wolf is what many of his core fans believe to be his best body of work. From the beautifully sung “fuck you” at the start of the album in the song “Wolf” all the way until the sparkling piano chords on the final song “Lone,” Tyler takes us on a journey through his mind from the perspective of some crazy kids at a summer camp. It's astonishing that someone who was barely 21 years of age was able to convey so many different powerful emotions while also using sounds that no one in the industry had ever touched before. He had been making noise in music years before this, but it was at this moment that he was finally heard.
Bastard was Tyler’s first project that he put out as a 18 year old kid who was supposed to be attending community college, but was instead making one of the most controversial mixtapes in recent memory. Tyler struggled with people mislabeling his music as “horrorcore” because he was speaking about murder, rape, and other subjects that are seen as very taboo in music. He did not actually mean the things he was saying, but as a young artist he didn’t understand why people would ever take his lyrics seriously. Though it was divisive, it was undeniable that he had immense talent as both a rapper and producer as he begin to gain praise from several established artists in the industry including the like of Kanye West.
The traction that he was able to gain carried over into the second commercial release, Goblin. This is what truly put him on the map as a force to be reckoned with in the rap genre. It featured hits like “Yonkers,” “She” featuring Frank Ocean, and “Tron Cat.” Audiences got a much more in depth look into the mind of Tyler, The Creator on this album as compared to Bastard. The aforementioned songs as well as a few other tracks are seen as cult classic in many circles, and Tyler showed continued growth as a lyricist. All the while, he was also the leader of one of the biggest collectives in music: Odd Future. This was much bigger than anyone, including Tyler, could have ever imagined. Middle and high schoolers all over America had their OF donuts plastered over everything they owned. He was seen as a voice for the youth as kids everywhere were filled with the belief that he and his friends were the coolest people in the world. Tyler inspired thousands of kids everywhere to want to wear Supreme, Vans, and learn to skateboard. His career and popularity were the highest they had ever been, and everyone was excited to see what crazy thing he would say or do next, yet Wolf was still able to catch everyone by surprise.
“Domo23” was the only single released prior to the album coming out. It featured signature Tyler talking about his controversial views on homosexulaity, and even more controversially, how he is pretty much superior to every other rapper in the industry. He is also not afraid to name drop celebrities of all sorts including Jada Pinkett, David Beckham, and even One Direction. The track opens with horns that immediately command the listener's attention. After that, it all descends into other chaos, similar to the video which accompanied the song. The music video quickly changes scenery and begins to play another cut from the album titled “Bimmer.” This is closing piece of the three part masterpiece that is “PartyIsntOver/Campfire/Bimmer.” Tyler really shows his chops as a producer on these moments of the album. Though his rapping takes a back seat on each of three shorter tracks, the amazing instrumentals are what carry the tracks. “PartyIsntOver” features glistening chords that would make any fan of music melt. “Campfire” transports the listener to the woods sitting around a fire making smores. “Bimmer” features amazing vocals from the always incredible Frank Ocean. Tyler and Frank manage to take the last two minutes and 40 seconds of the song to make a killer track in which Tyler talks about a girl he is chasing and how she reminds him of his car.
Love is a very large theme on this album. The two main characters in the skits throughout the album, both voiced by Tyler himself, are fighting for the love of a girl named Salem. The song “Awkward” beautifully describes the nerves and awkwardness of a first date with someone you are really interested in, and what that first kiss feels like. Then a song like “IFHY” talks about what it feels like to love someone who always hurts you. Moments like these are what make an album like Wolf and an artist like Tyler, The Creator so accessible to young people. It isn't that he has the most complex rhyme schemes or creative beats, rather it is the fact that he is able to communicate such raw emotion into a three minute song. He puts into words the things that every young person has felt during at least one point in their life. The reason it is so polarizing is because these emotions, feelings, and thoughts aren't always pretty or clean cut, most of the time they are vulgar and sometimes controversial.
Today, Tyler, the Creator is one of the biggest voices in the music industry. The crazy kid from the Ladera Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles, California who once ate a cockroach for a music video, has gained the respect of some of the greatest voices in rap history. Wolf may not be regarded as his best body of work, but it is the album that really pushed him forward as an artist. This was the album that showed that he was more than a young rapper trying to cause controversy using his crazy lyrics for shock value. He got people to listen to what he had to say, while still staying true to a sound that was absolutely him. It set him up for all of the success that he has gained today. His music festival that he started when he was 18, Camp Flog Gnaw, is now so big that it had to be hosted at Dodger Stadium in 2018. Tyler is also expanding his reach to fashion with the launch of his Golf Le Fleur clothing line. In addition to everything else, he also just finished scoring his first film in the animated version of the Christmas classic, The Grinch. This is the same kid that back in 2013 on Wolf’s only song “Domo23” said, “And while y’all are rolling doobies, I be in my bedroom scoring movies.” It looks like he might have known what he was talking about all those years ago.
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