But it didn't completely shed Tyler’s old skin, enlisting a host of colorful collaborators (Roy Ayers, Leon Ware, Charlie Wilson, Chaz Bundick, and Dâm-Funk) for songs about jerking off and underage relationships. album, Cherry Bomb more or less imploded. “Tell these black kids they can be who they are,” he raps on “Where This Flower Blooms,” as he grows into the artist he’s always longed to be, and perhaps always was.
Not only is Flower Boy Tyler’s most trenchant work, it’s his most inclusive: “ Find Your Wings”: The Album, gentle and liberating. He probes the things that shaped his psyche-loneliness, isolation, and disorientation-and focuses on outgrowing friendships, balancing the pull of nostalgia and the necessity for growth.
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It has been asked how to reconcile the genius with the foul-mouthed punk.įlower Boy (promoted as Scum Fuck Flower Boy) is Tyler’s course-correction, surprisingly meditative and beautifully colored, a collage of memories and daydreams that trades bratty subversion for reflection and self-improvement. The subtext of Odd Future was that pearl-clutching moralists simply weren’t in on the (obscene) joke-the whole point of being radicals is to be “apart from.” He has also done his fair share of exclusion, too: marginalizing and upsetting women and queer people with violently misogynistic and homophobic lyrics. His songs attempted to reconcile with a divided fanbase. He has gleefully responded to being banned from countries. He was furious when rap blogs refused to post Odd Future songs. Of course these are just some of the possible reactions to Tyler’s coming out, and we are by no means claiming that he is or isn’t gay.Tyler, the Creator’s music has often been defined by exclusion. Quoting our very own Celene Sakurako, “It’s 2017, gay, lesbian, bi, trans, or what it’s not a big deal anymore. Tyler’s entire public image has revolved around him taking the piss out of everything and you wouldn’t be surprised if this were one of them. What is it that they say? “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” As long as they’re talking it’s all good press, right? That’s if you’re among the more positive and accepting demographic of the Internet. To which Goblin -era Tyler would probably quip, “I’m not gay, I just wanna boogie to some Marvin” Tyler has more than once been vocal about his homophobia (he mentions the derogatory slang term for a gay man (the “f” word) a staggering 213 times on his 2011 debut album Goblin alone) and him now identifying as gay is genuinely surprising.Īdding to the first point you could interpret Tyler’s offensive behavior as a defense mechanism. So pull up the comfiest seat in the house, the objective chair, ‘cause we’re running down the six typical reactions to Tyler’s coming out. Let’s all be open-minded.” And open-minded we shall be. “Next line will have them like ‘Woah’ / I been kissing white boys since 2004”Īnd I believe it was Aristotle himself who said, “If that was true, so what? Di ba, it’s not new anymore. “For the garden / That is where I was hidin’ / That is what love I was in / Ain’t no reason to pretend” “Shout-out to the girls that I lead on for occasional head and always keeping my bed warm / And trying their hardest to keep my head on straight” Like moths to a flame or, more fittingly, bees to a flower, Tyler’s fans flocked to various streaming websites to give the album a listen an entire 11 days before its scheduled release and here’s what they’ve gathered: It’s a solid LP, and Tyler could be gay. As with any leaked album, the early (and unofficial) release of Tyler, the Creator’s Scum Fuck Flower Boy set the internet into a frenzy.