Tyler, the Creator has been known as one of the most influential and iconic artists of the 2010s, and he continues to gain listeners worldwide. The rapper’s creativity in music production has been noted as the best in the rap scene and the best of all time. Three years after the release of his last album Call Me If You Get Lost (2021), the highly-anticipated Chromakopia was dropped on October 28th, 2024.
Although Chromakopia is a well balanced mix of genres, there’s a few that stand out: hip hop, R&B, jazz, and soul. The album is very diverse in its musicality, with every song sounding different from the next. Something notable about the album’s tracklist is that all fourteen songs are mixed instead of sorted strictly by genre or style; for example, “Thought I Was Dead,” a hip-hop rap song, is followed by “Like Him,” a song that’s driven by a strong piano presence and an R&B style, which is then heeled by “Balloon,” a rap song with cartoonish instrumentals. This diversity of sounds made this album unpredictable at first listen, keeping the listener curiously invested in what comes next. Another interesting factor of Chromakopia is its transitions from one song to the other. Tyler does a seamless job at connecting two songs by either an isolated instrument or a line, making one seem like a continuation of the previous. The best example of this transitional technique is between “Rah Tah Tah” and “Noid”; at the end of “Rah Tah Tah,” Tyler repeats lyrics about paranoia, then the song cuts off with an ambiguous “I’m.” In “Noid” Tyler completes his sentence, linking these two different songs with the phrase “I’m paranoid.”
Another aspect that defines Chromakopia is its lyrics. Besides his production skills, Tyler, the Creator has also been praised for his unique, jaw-dropping lyricism, whether it be satirical or a vivid self-narrative. The album circles around many topics, mostly in a negative light, such as fame, relationships, sex, and having children. Contrasting this mood, however, is a voice heard throughout the album: Tyler, the Creator’s mother, Bonita Smith, gives advice to the listener. Each piece of advice directly correlates with the lyrics of the song that it’s in, almost acting as a theme to come back to.
Overall, Chromakopia is a remarkable masterpiece, full of incredible storytelling and identity, with a unique, one-of-a-kind sound that can only be found through Tyler, the Creator’s genius. In the beginning, I truly believed that I wasn’t going to enjoy this album at all, but I ended up having a great time with it, and it’s pushing me to listen to more of Tyler’s work.
Chromakopia has once again proved my point that you can’t knock it until you try it, so don’t look past an artist until you listen to them, because you may find a real treasure, like Chromakopia.
