Tyler, the Creator
Wolf

Talking about rape and cutting bodies up, it just doesn't interest me anymore... What interests me is making weird hippie music for people to get high to. With Wolf, I'll brag a little more, talk about money and buying shit. But not like any other rapper, I'll be a smart-ass about it. People who wanted the first album again, I can't do that. I was 18, broke as fuck. On my third album, I have money and I'm hanging out with my idols. I can't rap about the same shit..

So, some time ago, Tyler, The Creator had announced WOLF, his highly anticipated third album. An album destined to divide fans of the 21-year-old enfant terrible of American rap and to intrigue those who love to combine this with certain irresistible alternative nuances. It took me hours of complete and unhealthy full immersion in listening, as soon as the record was released on iTunes, to fully grasp the meaning of all 18 tracks that make up the album. But now, in hindsight, the more I listen to it, the more I'm convinced that Wolf is Tyler's masterpiece. But let's go in order!

We last left good Tyler in 2011, precisely, the year of his second studio release Goblin (which I also reviewed on this site, and in a very particular and amusing manner by user LITTLE HORN 2.0), an album that impressed with its darkness, negativity, and personality applied to a sinister, at times industrial sound, which almost redefined the parameters of traditional rap, contaminating it with the sophisticated and provocative style of a then 19-year-old lad who loves to strike and at the same time enchant the listener, telling his story with great sensitivity. A year and a half has passed, and although I find it rather difficult to say, with Wolf we have a new Tyler. 

More mature, certainly, but also more aware of his means, his compositional/vocal qualities and increasingly closer to the artists who influenced him. Pharrel Williams above all. But also Stevie Wonder, Eminem, Egyptian Lover and the entire funk/soul scene of the '70s and '80s like Cameo and Kool & The Gang. All this can be traced in the greater use of melodies that, whether dramatic or tense, represent a substantial contrast to the aforementioned darkness and monolithic nature of previous works.

There is always improper language, the f*cks as if it were raining, the lo-fi sounds of a grandma's TV that's breaking/Adventure Time (take your pick), and dialogues with the protagonist's multiple alter egos, but all this, on Wolf, has been totally emphasized! Our protagonist's powerful expressive verve has been literally exaggerated, inflated, amplified to the nth degree and we understand this very well, in a terribly direct way, from the almost maniacal care with which the production of each track has been composed. Theatrical melodies, blissful slowdowns on bright and dramatic piano or trumpet textures, sung parts, in the true sense of the word and falsetto vocalizations that are the emblem of the transformation that affects Tyler both as a character and as a singer and as a man. Despite still being the rebellious bastard who would curse anyone out, with this album he demonstrates in an absolute way that he has become a well-rounded artist. An artist who knows how to compose an important album, full of emotion, but who also knows how to promote it and gain fame, money, and success. 

But Tyler warns us: he hates all of it. He detests it! Although at live shows he shows love for his fans, he hates being famous. He hates the too many responsibilities that success attributes to him, he hates the fact that he can't escape it because he would prefer to stay away from the clamor of the music business and what takes him away from his friends and family. Why? This he already told us on Goblin. He is a walking paradox, as he said on Yonkers, a walking paradox… one who thanks you for your support and at the same time is capable of telling you to f*ck off because he doesn't want you around. With a loud F*ck You indeed, the eponymous intro of the record begins, among music box notes and synths so suffocating because they are tragic! In it, the protagonist's recurring inner voices introduce a new character, someone named Sam, another alter ego of Tyler, devoted to the use of drugs, violence, firearms and most unbridled hedonism. An example of this is the following Jamba with Hodgy Beats. Bouncing and powerful due to the flow of the two rappers, it's almost contrasted to the subsequent Awkward, where we find the first signs of the new Tyler: falsetto vocalizations, altered by pitch-shifter chanting “You’re My Girlfriend.” But wasn't Tyler a misogynist/pornographer? On the same style, slow and passionate Answer, Slater, and 48 which almost border on r'n'b and fully demonstrate the artistic growth of the rapper from Ladera. A bit outside the choir Domo23 (first single) and Thrashwang. Rocking and lively, they represent the more punk side of Tyler and his collective Odd Future. Direct as a train, without respite, on a base made of only piano and synth, flows Colossus, the writer's favorite song for Tyler's In-Your-Face style, which narrates how he can't stand certain fans' intrusiveness and the complete annihilation of his ordinary life. A bit heavy the triple song PartyIsntOver/Campfire/Bimmer, of well 7 minutes for 3 pseudo-romantic minion songs, slowed-down and sad that essentially close the first part of the album, and give life to the second containing various featuring with other artists. Among them, worth mentioning are IFHY  with Pharrel Williams, in a song that is in full Neptunes style, and Treehome95 with Erykah Badu. Not all, certainly, are super-hits but their refrains/melodies/lullabies will engrave themselves in your mind so much that you'll find yourself singing them even in the shower. From Pigs, to Rusty, from Parking Lot to Tamale, we have the conclusive part of the album. Lone represents the last colorful beat of this extraordinary album, which, although it appears as a simple alternative rap American album, is actually a work that requires its proper time to be assimilated for the quality of sounds proposed and the messages they convey. Do you like Tyler, The Creator? At first, you'll be stunned, but over time, perhaps, you will fall in love with Wolf. Don't know him? Give it a listen, you'll be pleasantly surprised. This is his music, take it or leave it.

“Day is getting dark like the area's turning urban
You'll be fucking nervous like me inside of a churches”