By Luke Essig, Staff Writer
Tyler, the Creator’s seventh studio album, “Chromakopia,” was released Oct. 28. He announced the project only 12 days prior with the release of the leadoff track, “St. Chroma,” on Instagram and X. Fans praised the speedy release of his album.
After the release of “St. Chroma,” Tyler released the third track on the album, “Noid,” announced the release of a vinyl, and announced a world tour. Fans went ballistic, realizing that Tyler was set to break his tradition of dropping albums in odd-numbered years, as he has since 2011, then came “Chromakopia.”
The production on this album is simply perfect. You can tell that every song was carefully produced. There is an array of sounds on every single track, from synths to drums to guitars, but they all sound cohesive and work together in harmony. It is more impressive that while there is so much going on instrumentally on each song, the lyrics are the standout of the album. You rarely hear albums that combine instrumentals and storytelling as well as “Chromakopia” does.
Tyler, the Creator has really tried to emphasize that he is “not just a rap artist.” He used “Chromakopia” as a way to branch out.
I want to highlight the ninth track on the album, “Take Your Mask Off.” This is a beautiful storytelling masterpiece in which Tyler talks about how you don’t have to hide behind a mask to live the life that you want. Tyler states that being someone that you’re not can be incredibly harmful, singing, “Now you’re doing five to ten cause you had something to prove.”
This song reminds listeners that the harm in portraying yourself as something else is that you will never actually feel like you’ve achieved what you sought out to do. He sings, “You would start all over if we keepin’ it real, current life is full but you ain’t feelin’ fulfilled,” meaning that disregarding who you truly are can turn you into someone you regret being. This happens to everyone, and this song is an anecdote from Tyler to let the listener know that it is okay to be who you are.
The most hard-hitting song on “Chromakopia” is easily “Like Him”. It opens up with an audio clip of Tyler’s mother telling him how much he looks like his father, who– Tyler didn’t grow up with and who– he references a lot in his music. The hook of the song repeats: “Mama I’m chasing a ghost, I don’t know where he is. Mama I’m chasing a ghost, do I look like him?” He is telling her that he is being compared to this man he has never met, and being under the impression that his father left him and his mom when he was born.
The twist to this story, however, comes at the end of “Like Him,” when another audio clip of his mom plays, telling him that it was actually her fault that his father was gone, and not Tyler’s or his father’s. She says that Tyler’s father always wanted to be there for him and that he always wanted to be a father to him.
“Like Him” is also the best song on the album. The sounds, particularly the synths that come in in the second half of the song following a random “Huh?” ad-lib from rapper Baby Keem are just amazing. He tells his mom; “I would never ever lie to you. You ain’t ever gotta lie to me. I’m everything that I strive to be? So do I look like him?” He is upset that she hid this from him his entire life, and just wants her to answer this one last question. “Like Him” is easily my favorite song to release this year.
“Chromakopia” was more than worth the 12 day wait. The emotions put into it weren’t completely unexpected, but the manner in which they were executed was flawless. Tyler addresses topics like identity, growing older, sexuality and tons of other worries that people have in ways that we have never heard before. It is safe to say I will be getting my money’s worth after my impulsive purchase of the vinyl.