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From launching a viral marketing campaign spanning the United States to selecting an album release time of 6 a.m. on a Monday (a break from the industry standard Friday night release), Tyler Okonma — known as Tyler, the Creator — continues to break the boundaries that he has set for both himself and the greater rap industry. On the rapper’s eighth studio album, “CHROMAKOPIA,” Tyler once again treads new ground, but he does so while breaking past predefined personas and showcasing his true self.
While “CHROMAKOPIA” marks a newfound commercial success for Tyler with nearly 300,000 units sold in just four days, the true success of “CHROMAKOPIA” is seen in the album’s material on which Tyler alone writes, produces and arranges each song. Unlike previous works like 2019’s “IGOR” in which Tyler raps and sings from the perspective of a character, “CHROMAKOPIA” sees Tyler discussing personal flaws and successes through each track. It shows him grappling with fatherhood, celebrity paranoia and his own childhood trauma. Despite the complexity of these topics, Tyler consistently executes groundbreaking ideas that emerge through high-quality sonic adventures on deep-focused rap cuts and melodies.
“CHROMAKOPIA” begins with “St. Chroma,” a track that kicks off with Tyler’s mother telling him to never “dim your light for nobody” before an ominous instrumental backed by a marching sound slowly ramps up and Tyler enters the fray. Tyler whispers his opening verse, yet he also remains confident as he promises that he is “gon’ make it out / promise I’m gon’ make it out.” As the track then transitions into a swift, melodic chorus assisted by Canadian singer-songwriter Daniel Caesar, a sharp beat switch flips the song on its head where Tyler figuratively shows himself off by swiftly rapping and having raspy vocals.
Tyler continues with the high energy on “Rah Tah Tah,” featuring aggressive instrumentation backed by such indulgent lines as “the biggest out the city after Kenny, that’s a fact now,” declaring himself the largest rapper in Los Angeles, Calif., second only to peer Kendrick Lamar. While Tyler’s comparison seems extreme due to the historic nature of L.A. hip-hop, the title feels earned due to his repeated commercial and critical successes since 2017’s Flowerboy, which are comparable only to Kendrick Lamar’s late 2010s and 2020s discography.
On “Noid,” Tyler struggles with the interpersonal paranoia of celebrityhood, leading him to figuratively take off the mask that he literally wears on the album’s cover art. Tyler faces the music over two separate synths where he creates a sense of anxiety by discussing the seemingly ever-closing gap between him and his fanbase, and yet relief ensues once the track finally concludes.
In “Darling, I” Tyler remains reluctant to commit to a single relationship and instead joins in harmony with featured guest Teezo Touchdown to reflect on how he keeps falling in love with different people, a showcase of a romantic side of Tyler which he has leaned into in previous albums and which he again expands on here. Such themes lead to more serious subjects on “Hey Jane,” a track that sees Tyler shifting between his and his partner’s perspective about an unexpected pregnancy. With the track’s title even referencing a New York-based abortion clinic named Hey Jane, Tyler and his partner try to deal with their anxiety over the situation by providing encouragement to one another. Still, this track is a key moment where Tyler is shutting down his untouchable facade in order to present himself as a real human being — not just the character he portrays.
While Tyler continues to discuss parasocial and romantic relationships on the following “I Killed You” and “Judge Judy,” the eighth track, “Sticky,” sees Tyler teaming up with hip-hop acts GloRilla, Sexyy Red and Lil Wayne in a posse cut where each artist exudes confidence and flexes their achievements all while veiled in booming production that amps up with a series of horns. In the ensuing song, “Take Your Mask Off,” Tyler breaks down the self-indulgent image of himself from “Sticky” in an authentic reunion with Daniel Caesar. Tyler continues this path of reflection on “Tomorrow,” where he ponders but also tries to avoid his future for the sake of pursuing his music career in a more mellow but still insightful look into Tyler as a person, adding to the album’s overall themes of individuality and freedom.
On “Thought I Was Dead” with fellow L.A. native ScHoolboy Q, Tyler continues sonically on his trailblaze of confidence; but here, he frames himself as very much alive and ready to conquer the landscape of hip-hop. Yet, “Like Him” shows a breakdown of Tyler as a dominant figure and sees him facing his absent father headlong, a person whom he previously condemned on such songs as “Answer” from 2013’s “Wolf.” Here, Tyler sings to his mother on a spacey guitar instrumental about how he is chasing the ghost of himself, a person who is alluded to as being deeply similar to Tyler, but also distant throughout his life. Unlike Tyler’s past albums, his mother is here to intervene and tell Tyler that his father actually wanted to help raise him. With such a massive shift in the portrayal of Tyler’s father as the man who abandoned him to someone who actually wanted to be in his life, this revelation remains the most important moment of the album and arguably the most shocking revelation of Tyler’s career.
As “CHROMAKOPIA” closes with “I Hope You Find Your Way Home,” Tyler hopes that audiences find their way home just as he has been able to rediscover his own identity. Through this moment, the album transforms into a new peak of success for Tyler both on a commercial level and also as a personal achievement whereby he finally reveals who he really is to the world. Tyler wears a mask on the album cover for “CHROMAKOPIA” but he delivers his most personal songs to date, which look to surpass the bar set on 2021’s “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST” and nearly reach the heights of 2019’s “IGOR.”
“CHROMAKOPIA” continues Tyler’s nearly unmatched critical and commercial success through which he has cemented himself among hip-hop’s foremost musicians.