Thursday, March 1, 2012

Goblin

My first exposure to Tyler, The Creator came about when I was looking through the pages of SPIN magazine. In the issue, it features the underground rapper in a gray hoodie and high crew socks jumping toward the crowd during an Odd Future concert. Intriqued by his aerodynamics and his crowd surfing antics, I decided to look further into the rapper. It turns out that Tyler, also known by his other alias Wolf Haley, is the ringleader behind the hip hop collective, Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All or simply Odd Future.


Throughout 2011, they made headlines and received numerous praise for their groundbreaking and highly mutated brand of hip hop. They even earn the covenant spot on the cover of SPIN magazine under the title, "The Changing Faces of Hip Hop". Along with all this amounting amount of praise follows an equal amount of controversy. In the same year, Tyler released his second album, Goblin. It received positive remarks for its musical innovation and raw energy. However, due to the bizarre and graphic nature of the music, it was frowned upon by many people. Throughout the recording of Goblin, as well as his previous record Bastard, he avidly raps about his erratic sexual desires and the demons that haunt his inner head while swearing and saying incriminating words such as "faggot". There were even people who claim to believe that Tyler is an advocate for homophobia, violence and misogyny. But for those that read "The Changing Faces of Hip Hop" issue of SPIN will realize that although the content of his music can be a little horrifying, the reporter who wrote the article claim that Tyler is as charming and well-mannered as any young man.
With that in mind, I guess the question on people's minds is in regards to the nature of his music. Why all the violence? Is the mind of Tyler, The Creator possessed by some strange demon that causes him to say such things?
Well, first of, as far as content goes, I don't support any of the topics he raps about. In fact, I personally believe that Tyler himself does not even support or is an advocate of any one of them. I believe that people forget that it's art. It is Tyler's way of showing the audience the demons that haunt the mind of a man who is on the verge of insanity. It is a world that is violent and horrifying, but it's a world that he is able to showcase through his art. To tell you the truth, it is his boldness and innovation in music that is very compelling and worth noting.



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