This is called to attention on "Colossus", which essentially makes the same characterization as Eminem's "Stan" in a less subtle fashion - a fan who adores Tyler to the extent of obsession and homosexual feelings over rumbling bass and jazz chords. Tyler understands the niche that he's found himself in, mostly beloved by white teenagers with either inflated egos or severe issues. He does come close to rehashing points he's already made, like those about critics or his father, but he tries to only touch on these subjects with one-liners to avoid repeating himself too much ("Tyler talkin' father problems" and "fuck critics/(How's your dick?)/Shit, how's your knees?" from "Slater"). He's still forced to deal with the death of his grandmother, who is now "just nostalgia", and contemplate how his friends are all going through their own issues ("Frank is out the closet, Hodgy's an alcoholic/Syd might be bipolar, but *** it, I couldn't call it"), and work through the intricacies of relationships on "IFHY" and "Awkward". Wolf balances introspection and storytelling well, explaining on "Cowboy" and "Lone" that although newfound financial stability has brought improvements, happiness hasn't necessarily come along as a result. Tyler's lyrics have always been provocative in the vein of classic punk rock artists, and when several songs have a four-beat count-off, it's hard (at least for me) not to think of Dee Dee Ramone shouting "1-2-3-4!" before launching into a show. But the music outside of the drums sounds stellar, embracing different instrumentation and moods to create a musical work that is, surprisingly, very consistent. The unique if strange percussion on the last album has been replaced with conventional hip-hop drumkits that stand out jarringly from the rest of the production in a bad case of imbalanced mixing - a problem that the album as a whole experiences. The problematically long hooks of past Odd Future releases has mostly been skirted here as well, only becoming an issue on "Trashwang" Unfortunately, though, some sacrifices have been made despite the progression. Yet he retains connection to the sound he developed on his last two albums, melding the darkness of Goblin and Bastard with the happier sounds that he's professed to loving - just another example of his beloved contradictions, like when he tears into his father directly, rather than through one-liners or retrospect, on "Answer" over charming guitars and pleasant synths reminiscent of ringing phones. His production has continued to evolve, pulling from a variety of influences: Neptunes-style funk on "Jamba", "48" and "IFHY", neo-soul on "Treehome95", arpeggiated guitar chords on "Answer", and straight jazz on closer "Lone" - the same brand of sonic eclecticism and experimentation that Gorillaz employ on their albums. Fortunately, Tyler has pulled through on that front. If Bastard was the story of a kid dealing with growing up without a father, and Goblin was the story of that same kid dealing with the launch into stardom, then Wolf is that kid dealing with the realizations brought on by the previous two stories.īut regardless of the interesting (if rather muddled) concept, none of that means a damn thing if the music itself can't stand up.
It's abundantly clear that Wolf and Samuel are two halves of Tyler, the former being a more self-aware individual and the latter trapped by emotional immaturity, and that the former is becoming more prominent as Samuel burns out.
The album closes as Wolf contemplates the death of his (Tyler's) grandmother and threatens violence against Samuel. Wolf starts to make friends with Samuel's girlfriend Salem, much to the chagrin of Sam, who starts a riot in which Earl Sweatshirt is killed. The premise: likeable troublemaker Wolf Haley arrives at "Camp Flog Gnaw" and encounters the extremely anti-social jazz player/crack dealer (?) Samuel. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Tyler, The Creator's junior album is a bit eclectic in terms of concept, but here's what I took away from it: It is not his third therapy session - instead, it's a stand-alone story that can be interpreted both literally, as actually happening, or figuratively, inside Tyler's fractured psyche. Review Summary: "Sam, the music sounds good, man.
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