Three years after the release of Call Me If You Get Lost, musical artist Tyler The Creator returned from his hiatus by debuting his latest album titled Chromakopia.
Chromakopia takes a completely different approach compared to his last two albums Igor and Call Me If You Get Lost with both those albums being driven by vanity. Tyler gained fame from his unique style and early works during the 2010’s from his albums Flower Boy, Igor and Cherry Bomb where each album presents the listener with a different story and topics ranging from heartbreak to dealing with ins and out of life. For example on his 2019 project Igor Tyler raps about his love triangle between him, his male crush and his crush’s female crush. After Igor came Call Me If You Get Lost which was Tyler’s victory lap as he rapped about his material wealth and how he made it to the top.
Now, Tyler is reorienting his thoughts by being hyper critical of himself. Songs on the album that serve as a prime example are Darling, I where Tyler realizes his inability to commit to a single partner and Hey Jane, where Tyler talks about his immaturity towards potentially becoming a father. Tyler has said publicly that he took inspiration from Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers which is an album about self reflection and knowing one’s self that sent shock waves throughout the industry.
Standout qualities of the album include the two music videos that were released with the album for Noid and the release trailer with parts of St.Chroma being in black and white. The latter changes to color when St.Chroma, Tyler’s masked figure, blows up a shipping container full of people he made march in there. There is reason to believe there is symbolism behind this, by Tyler bringing color back he is saying his issues aren’t clear as black and white and all the people in the container were his alter egos and pride that was stopping him from unmasking himself.
The music itself on the album is outstanding, with both the production and vocals shining with features from Lil Wayne, Childish Gambio and Gollrilla; it should be noted Frank Ocean is nowhere on the album. Production wise, Tyler has always viewed producer Pharell Willams as his hero and has taken inspiration from him to create the best beats. You can see the inspiration on Noid where the famed four count is present. That being said, it seems that Tyler has the midas touch when it comes to any creative project from music to film to fashion. Along with Tyler, Daniel Caesar did not disappoint as the main feature on St.Chroma and Take Your Mask Off.
The album has many examples of deep lyricism that advance the story throughout the album. First with St. Chroma where we first hear a woman tell Tyler, “You are the light” and “It’s in you”. Tyler responds by saying, “I ain’t never had a doubt inside me,” showing the carry over of pride and vanity from his past albums. After this song Tyler breaks down all of his fears and issues. On Noid the listener hears about Tyler’s anxiety when it comes to his fame and not wanting to disappoint. Take Your Mask Off is about learning to love oneself, he raps “I hope you find yourself,” over and over. Two lines that send the message home though are “ Claim you never wore a mask and how you don’t get embarrassed,” and “Boy you selfish as —– that’s really why you scared of being a parent.” This leads to Like Him where he talks about not growing up with his father and that he has to accept the fact he is his father’s son and that he needs to let go of the hatred towards his father.
What makes this album different is in his character on the album, on every album before this he had an alter ego present. For the first time we are seeing the real Tyler speak for himself, that’s why he is wearing the mask. He’s no different than you and I, that’s what this album is about unmasking yourself revealing the good and bad of oneself. This is why people love Tyler, he doesn’t rap about how many cars or houses he has, no; he raps about issues that everyone can relate to, we all can relate to heartbreak, loss, pride etc. Even when he raps about material wealth he raps about how he doesn’t deserve it.
Though Tyler did not unveil a new sound like he usually does, he did something more profound. He opened up, and unmasked himself, this one album along with Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers may lead to the people seeing it is ok to find one’s true self, take their mask off, and shine.
