Strap in. I’m not talking to anyone about how I feel about this album, so you’re gonna have to read through this.

First, some context.

So, you already know how this is going to go, but before we dive into my thoughts, let me give you some context. At this current moment in time, I am 24-years-old. I have been a fan of Tyler since I was 11 years old and have called him my favorite rapper ever for the past 10 years. I was there for just about everything. The features, the interviews, the tv shows, too. So, I’ve been here for a minute.

For the past 13 years of my life, I could always count on this man to blow my mind with new sounds every two years. He had never switched up from that and it was one of the only constants in my very odd and turbulent life. Then, in 2021 he drops CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST. At first I loved it, but as I sat down with it more and more it dropped in my favorites, and not because it’s bad, but more because it didn’t feel like a Tyler album. Anybody can make that album, so it didn’t have the same magic around it. But there was always the hope that in two years we’d get something else. 2023 comes and I was on tenterhooks all year, waiting in anticipation. Then, he announces he’s dropping…The Estate Sale, a deluxe edition of the same album we got two years prior. …Okay. But there’s still hope that he could drop this as a hold over before the album comes out, but nope he shut that down and said this project, which was essentially an EP, was his release. What the fuck? These 8 (really 7) songs was it? One of them is an unfinished demo, too?

Now, I’m starting to get pissed because that’s not what you do, sir. You don’t make fans wait two years for an unfinished product. He posts, “I never said the two year thing was a thing, you guys have to stop creating narratives,” or something like that and that annoyed me so much. If everyday you walked past this tiger and everyday the tiger lunged at you and tried to attack you, but one day it didn’t you would feel some type of way about it, right? Same logic.

So, I enter 2024 thinking we’re not getting a new album until 2025, but then something happened. In 2023, Tyler performed at his festival, Camp Flog Gnaw, and the set, for lack of better words, sucked. I’ve never ever seen Tyler dial it in like that at his own festival. The only theatrics were him walking off stage, being fitted with flamethrowers and shooting fire in the air…cool. Those kids paid so much money and you are the owner, dude. You can’t cheat them like that while performing a years old setlist, a setlist that is nowhere near his best.

At this point I’m like, “What is happening to my GOAT?” My expectations for anything he was doing were in the trash and after already being let down by ScHoolboy Q and JPEGMAFIA, 2024 was looking bleak. Then, Tyler performed at Coachella. It was like he had heard my complaints and decided to shut me up. He put on a fucking show. He seemed reinvigorated, reenergized, refocused. Couple months later and he performed at Austin City Limits and the show was even better. He even performed “DEATHCAMP,” he hasn’t done that song (in America) in years. So, my faith was a bit restored. It seemed like he was starting to care again. I was ready to hear what the next era of Tyler’s career would look/sound like.

Finally, we arrived. He dropped a teaser out of nowhere to instagram. The caption read, “1. st. chroma,” and people immediately sent it to me because they know I’m a fan. I click on the post and I’m greeted with the sounds of rhythmic marching, and Tyler using a whisper flow over very minimal production. Some synth chords, a wonky siren and some background harmonies. The beat drops and more harmonies are introduced, then Tyler blows up a shipping container and the beat drops again. Most people would be excited for this, but all I could think was, “No way this nigga is about to make IGOR 2.” I almost fell into a depression. We waited three years for some shit that sounded familiar? I’m getting frustrated now just thinking about it. I also have it on repeat right now and I really do hate that I have to hear Daniel Caesar sing through his gap just to hear music from my favorite artist. I was severely let down, and that’s really an understatement. I didn’t say anything, though because I knew I’d probably trick myself into liking it. But it didn’t work, I was so bored with it. That’s when it started.

Day by day, announcement after announcement, nothing was enough to excite me. The video for “NOID” drops and it only cements my fears. “This is gonna be IGOR, but focused on a different topic.” He’s not doing anything different than something he did in 2019, dude. The song is okay, but it’s so “meh” it’s actually insane. I usually don’t feel “meh” about a Tyler song. It starts off with this epic, bombastic opening like the opening of a rock opera, then it drops to a simple kick drum & snare and guitar chord loop. The shining light is the sample that is the main backing. Yet, the more and more you listen to it you go, “Didn’t Yves Tumor do this like 4 years ago?” Then it loses almost all of its luster. The video is cool. It features Tyler going through how his mind works. He sees fan interactions as life or death situations, and he is deathly afraid of being trapped into Parenthood. Ayo Edibiri makes a sick face in it, too. So, officially I don’t care about this album. The tour announcement also didn’t help. Yachty and Paris Texas? Nope.

I racked my brain as to why I could’ve felt this way, was I just getting older, was my taste evolving, or was my GOAT actually falling off? I spent the days leading up to the official release, praying and hoping I was wrong, and I was wrong. This album isn’t IGOR 2, but something just a bit worse. It’s mid.

The review starts here.

This is gonna be a long one.

So, I’ve already talked about “NOID” and “St. Chroma,” let’s skip right to one of the rap songs on here, “Rah Tah Tah.” In 2017, Tyler started rapping in this stupid ass accent in every single song and while it was cool on Flower Boy, now it’s beyond played out. He went from rapping like someone obviously influenced by Eminem and DOOM to a weird “insert southern state here” accent. I’m born and raised in Tennessee and I don’t know anybody that sounds like that. So it takes me out of the song automatically because it’s also not like he’s saying any bars or anything that makes me pause the song and rewind. The beat isn’t anything to write home about, either. It reminds me a lot of “OKRA,” but tremendously toned down.

I’ve seen a lot of people compare this album to Cherry Bomb and while I disagree, Masai related this one to it specifically and I can see it. If you played this one right after “SPECIAL,” it would fit perfectly, but the biggest difference? Tyler’s rapping on this is awful, dude. This is the same problem with “Sticky. ” Tyler really shines when he has a topic in mind to focus on, but on “Rah Tah Tah,” he’s just rapping, and it’s lackluster. He raps about eating the box, his cars, his watches, but not in the way he did on CMIYGL. Tyler is unfocused throughout this whole song, but there are little moments where what he really wanted to talk about peeks out. When he says, “You’re movin’ sloppy if you get that sloppy where you sleep at, Never tell them niggas or those women where you breathe at, If my ex is spillin’ tea about me, don’t you drink that,” there we go. We spent minutes on him talking about his damn house and shooting a shot at Zendaya to finally get to the damn point. Paranoia. Also, the outro refrain goes on one too many times.

Sounds like this is gonna be a hatefest right? Nah, the album is okay, honestly. “Darling, I” was the first song where I went, “Oh my god?” It reminded me of the opening song for the “WUSYANAME” video. But as the song progressed it hit me, this is a perfect amalgamation of every album from Wolf up until now. The song structure inspired by Zhane from WOLF, The guitar heavy production with the heavy hitting drums from Cherry Bomb, Letting the feature have a brighter star than his from Flower Boy, more sample heavy production with the “Vivrant Thing” drums from IGOR, and of course laser-focused rapping from Call Me If You Get Lost. Fully think that’s why it hits me so hard. Tyler is focused on one topic and his verse reflects this. He starts his verse off talking about how he loves the different qualities in his different cars for different reasons, and then equates that to how he sees monogamous relationships. Tyler is very mercurial, he’ll feel one way really hard. Falling in love, getting all the way up to the wedding, then call it off because he’s off it. At it’s core this might be the most honest Tyler’s ever been after IGOR. Teezo doing a run into silence is golden, then bringing the beat back with that whistle? Damn. Sidenote: Why is Teezo Touchdown on every single album ever made this year? I’m not a fan of bro, but only because I haven’t sat down and listened to him, but if you check a lot of major rap albums and even albums by Toro and even Talking Heads, Teezo is there. What blackmail does he have on people?

Anyways, “Darling, I” flows so perfectly into “Hey Jane” that if you’re not paying attention you’d think this was a double track, but no. There actually isn’t one on this album, no more traditions. On this track Tyler goes through the motions of an unplanned pregnancy from two perspectives, his and the Mother’s, “Jane.” Tyler is slowly coming to terms with this “mistake” that he’s made, He goes through the motions right up until the end of his verse, questioning his parenting skills and if he’s a cool person to be around 24/7. At the end, he goes “Look, Jane, it’s your choice at the end of the day, Just know I’ll support either way, no pressure,” which is a huge step for Mr. “Stay strapped before they strap you.” It’s odd though, this is Tyler, a man, rapping from the perspective of a woman. So this is a hypothetical, dream-like scenario. Throughout the second verse, Jane points out the pros and cons of having a baby with Tyler and I don’t know why, but it feels a bit odd to me. Tyler starts the verse out going, “If it was bound to happen to me, I’m lucky it’s you,” and I am no expert on women or pregnancy, but I just don’t think a woman who later says, “I got my own bread, I don’t need you to buy things, ‘Cause my needs don’t include your money and status, I can move back to London and avoid any static,” would say that. Also, she’s so cool with being a single mom because she doesn’t want to derail Tyler’s career which is insane, that might only happen in your dreams. Under all of this is very, very minimal production so you can focus on every word. My favorite element is the distorted piano that first appears at 0:45, and then peeks in to say hello every now and then. 1:36 is a personal highlight of this.

I’ve seen “I Killed You” described as one of Tyler’s most Neptunes-inspired beats ever, and it’s funny. As much of a Neptunes fan I am, the first half is not my favorite production-wise. The subject matter however, is golden. Tyler raps about societal norms about black hair and all the things we do to our hair to appear and be accepted in certain environments. I read a genius annotation that said that this is the first time we’ve seen a Tyler era where the character is just Tyler with his natural. And I had never thought of that. Technically the cover of IGOR shows Tyler’s flattop, but it’s cut off and angular, and the Igor character is always featured in a blonde wig. This St. Chroma character not only has a natural, but also a hairstyle speculated to be inspired by Malawian and Zimbabwe politicians. (Also, if you saw that “African era” tweet, did you laugh? What the fuck is an African era when you’re black? My whole life is my African era, dude.) The second half, though? Oh yeah, that’s good stuff. It’s so lush, with those wood blocks, background harmonies, and Childish Gambino sleeply singing a refrain. The most Neptunes sound is during this part. It really sounds like “Lift Off” by Jay and Ye. The vocal chops over a winding down outro? Yep. “Judge Judy” is crazy and might be the most 2011-Tyler song on here. Tyler describes a fling with a woman dubbed “Judy,” and all the freaky shit they were into before she cut him off. Then, at the end apparently shawty had cancer and decided to live life for herself before she died. What the fuck, dude? Oh, and one of my least favorite things an artist can ever do is put moans in the background of a song. Tyler’s done this before on “BLOW MY LOAD,” Danny Brown did it on “Celibate” and now we can add this one to the list. I like to listen to my music loud, so thanks for making sure I’ll have to turn it down whenever I’m around people.

However, on “Take Your Mask Off,” it’s the exact opposite. As I said earlier, when Tyler is focused and remembers who he is, he is surgical. He raps about multiple people putting on a persona and urging them to break away from this behavior and embrace who they really are. The first one is a wannabe street rapper, the second is a woman trapped in being a stay home Mom, the last is Tyler talking directly to himself. Tyler breaks himself down and all his insecurities. Poking holes in his business ventures, his stage presence, his musical talents, and so many more things. This verse is also interesting because he admits Le Fleur is too expensive for his fans to afford, despite his intentions. This hit me because this was my main criticism when it was first announced and I saw those prices. At the core, Tyler’s fanbase is full of regular people. Most rich people get expensive things for free so they aren’t checking for it. So you are selling to your fanbase, but people don’t even really care about GOLF anymore because the prices keep rising and the designs aren’t super fun anymore. Tyler doesn’t even wear GOLF anymore so if it’s not album merch, nobody is buying his product. This resulted in Tyler doubting if he should continue doing either. This is a complete switch up from “St. Chroma” where he claims he’s never doubted himself. I almost felt bad, but then I remembered I still can’t afford Le Fleur and don’t want to anyways. It’s sick to know that Tyler is aware of this problem because CMIYGL was all about personal luxuries, but at the same time he was promoting a luxury brand most people couldn’t afford, hilarious right? Later he’ll admit that he’s embarrassed because Louis Vuitton didn’t even send him his own collection, what? The production on this one is incredible, it sounds like a perfectly warm day. For people from my hometown who read this, it sounds like the garden at Centennial, the one right by the duck pond where people get married at. It sounds like sitting right in the middle of it, staring at the sky. My favorite element is the how the drums play along with the piano melody. Then when everything drops out at 3:00 and its just the bassline and the drums? Wow.

Still here? Cool! We’re almost done. I’m gonna combine “Tomorrow,” “Like Him,” and the physical only song, “Mother” into one blurb because they all deal with the same subject matter. For his entire career, Tyler has been rapping about his parents and how different he feels towards them. In the beginning he had angst against his Mother for having to move to Sacramento when he was in his teens, but that didn’t last long at all. He only did that maybe once or twice, but ever since, he’s only said beautiful things about his Mom, but still keeping most things private. His Father on the other hand, has received basically nothing but hate and vitriol from him since day one. I mean, Bastard has that title for a reason. It has only been very recently where Tyler has given his Father remotely any praise or positive mention. Writing in the GOLF BOOK about how a CD was one of the only gifts he’s ever received from him, and doing the same in his 2021 Nardwuar interview. It wasn’t until 2019 when he started to even acknowledge his last name, Okonma. On these three songs, Tyler acknowledges the passing of time and comes to grips with a myriad of topics. His friends are getting older and as they do, they’re starting to build their own families, but Tyler has no kids, so he’s alone in his various expensive cars, alone. He goes back and forth some more about wether he should settle down and be a family man or enjoy his freedom, but he’s getting older. Shit not cute when you 40. His Mother is also getting older and she’s asking him for grandkids, only adding onto the aforementioned back and forth. That’s “Tomorrow,” on “Like Him,” Tyler really ponders what his life would’ve been like if he knew his Dad. His Mom was everything he needed as a kid, but what would life been like if he was around? At the end he finally confronts his Mom about him in a final, emotion-filled, plea: “Do I look like him?” His Mother’s answer? “Nah, he wanted to be there, but I said fuck that.” It’s so wild to me, man. This is the first moment since Goblin where I’ve thought, “I am not supposed to be hearing this.” My friend Wiz said it best, “Tyler pouring his heart out about his estranged father’s absence and his mom’s just like ‘he was actually really cool and wanted to raise you but I was wylin lmfao my fault gang'” That’s all we get. It’s kinda beautiful, some of his fans have been waiting for this their whole lives and the payoff is unsatisfactory. Just a simple, “Whoops.” It’s kind of beautiful. What a perfect representation of life, you can spend your entire life thinking one thing, creating all of these storylines, just for the answer to be the complete opposite.

In my head, that’s what Chromakopia represents. Doing away with expectations and diving head first into reality. The execution is flawed of course, but search through the shortcomings and you’ll find Tyler Okonma. A 33-year-old man who’s a nervous wreck, scared of the future just like the rest of us.

This album is all over the place. It’s not super high in my list of Tyler albums, not high at all actually. It feels like it spends the entire runtime trying to figure out what it wants to be. Is it a flexfest? Is it an album about the consequences of fame? Or is it about coming to terms with the passage of time? I have no idea, dude. When it hits, which isn’t often, it’s okay, but when it’s boring? Good lord it’s boring. Maybe this opinion will change when I’m 33. Tyler deals with a lot of serious topics here, and this is the most mature we’ve ever heard him be, but this album doesn’t move forward. It feels stagnant. We’ve heard Tyler say all of this before (outside of the really insane part.) So, you’ll listen and say, “was this a left over from [insert previous Tyler album here.]?” Because even the production, the thing Tyler prides himself on, sounds complacent. He tries to amp it up at times, but it’s so inconsistent that you can get audio whiplash if you listen to it all the way through. This feels like a “Here nigga, damn,” album and I don’t like that feeling from my favorite artist. Who knows what the future will hold for Tyler, but i’ll be there, hoping for a miracle.

If you read this all the way through, thanks. My favorite tracks are, “Darling, I,” “Thought I Was Dead,” and “Like Him.” Maybe that’s how I’ll weed out who actually read this and who didn’t.

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