Tyler, the Creator has been making albums for a decade and in CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST he might have perfected his sound.
In 2011, Tyler’s debut album “Goblin” introduced an aggressive-alternative voice to hip-hop that had many people talking. 10-years later, he is now of the most influential artists in America.
To start his career, Tyler made concept albums often from character’s points of view. In Goblin (2011), Wolf (2013) and the often forgotten Odd Future Mixtape Volume 2 (2012) – Tyler takes the audience through a progression of characters like Wolf Haley, Dr. TC, Sam, and Salem. In 2019, we saw this trend personified into the persona and album IGOR in which Tyler would dress in a flashy suit & wear a blonde bowl cut wig while performing far more optimistic music than he’s known for.
What he introduces in his new album, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, is the rapper’s latest creation “Tyler Baudelaire.”
CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST
This latest album is a refined culmination of the skills and abilities we already knew Tyler, the Creator has. Few rappers are utilizing jazz sounds, and chimes more effectively than Tyler. Similarly, this album features West Coast distorted synthesizer and deep jarring bass sounds that are prominent in his “Cherry Bomb” album. This album has the hard biting lyrics of Goblin and Bastard, mixed with the Cherry Bomb bass, Flower Boy jazz, and the swagger of IGOR all wrapped into one body of work.
FEATURES
DJ Drama is in the background of nearly every song on this album hyping up Tyler and his various features. The addition of Drama grounds the album, Tyler’s albums often lack a mainstream sound or appeal – CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST breaks that mold.
Lil Wayne teamed up with Tyler on the albums Flower Boy and Cherry Bomb as well as the single Martians vs. Goblins, now they’ve collaborated for a fourth time on “HOT WIND BLOWS.” The stark contrast between Tyler and Tunchi’s voices and styles always makes for a surprisingly refreshing sound.
Tyler brings the best out of other artists, don’t believe me? Listen to Youngboy Never Broke Again sing on “WUSYANAME” or listen to 42 Dugg switch up flows on “LEMONHEAD.” On the 6/30 Ebro in the Morning, Ebro mentioned that WUSYANAME was the third most popular song in New York City on Apple Music, then played it on Hot 97.
Teezo Touchdown, Fana Hues, and DAISY WORLD are three features that Tyler, the Creator is introducing to his massive audience. Teezo Touchdown is a rap/rock artist with a number of genre-bending hits nearing 1 million streams, whereas the singer DAISY WORLD has little to no published solo work but has collaborated with Steve Lacy and Matt Martians. Fana Hues is a singer who has released one album and is featured aside Tyler and Brent Faiyaz on “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE.”
Another name on this album the public may not know is: Domo Genesis. Genesis is a long standing member of Tyler’s rap group Odd Future. Long time Tyler fans are likely familiar with Genesis from previous albums and collaborations.
JUGGERNAUT is the most star-studded track on the album, featuring Pharrell and Lil Uzi Vert. Tyler, the Creator has often highlighted Pharrell as an influence of his.
SOLO TRACKS + THEMES
In a rare glimpse into Tyler, the Creator’s personal life – the track “MOMMA TALK” features Tyler’s mother talking passionately about defending him as a child, then in the song MASSA Tyler mentions that his mother was in a shelter when his hit song Yonkers dropped.
Proof of Tyler the Creator’s growth through the years can be found in “BLESSED”, which features Tyler listing off his various successes and the things that afford him happiness. The lyrics are a long ways away from the “kill people, burn shit, fuck school” lyrics of Tyler’s early career. This album often features Tyler, the Creator rapping about himself and reacting to moments in his life like dissing Selena Gomez and his blooming success.
The writing on this album is impeccable, WILSHIRE is a nearly 9-minute song where Tyler raps for nearly seven minutes straight crescendo-ing into a metaphorical poem.
In closing, we finally have a Tyler, the Creator album with multiple songs that could be played on the radio.
“LUMBERJACK”, “WUSYANAME”, and “JUGGERNAUT”, could all be hits. The character Tyler Baudelaire, who is expressed throughout this album seems to be an amplified version of Tyler, the Creator himself. In the past it felt like Tyler used characters to express himself while simultaneously defending his own identity – ten years into his celebrity that defense is gone and Tyler Baudelaire is here.
Listen to the project below.