Tyler, The Creator Showcases ‘Chromakopia’ At LA Listening Party

Tyler, The Creator ushered within the Chromakopia period a bit early with a last-minute listening social gathering at Los Angeles’s high-tech Intuit Dome Sunday night time, spending over an hour thrashing on a stage of inexperienced delivery containers whereas a crowd of 17,000 followers listened to his latest album for the very first time.

It was a homecoming for the LA rapper, who advised the gang Sunday night time that Chromakopia “originated with rising up in these areas.” “I used to be like ‘oh shit, no one is aware of something about me from earlier than [I was 17],” Tyler, carrying a inexperienced navy go well with, stated.

Tyler was in his component, marching onto the stage simply previous 9 p.m. carrying his navy garb and the identical plastic masks from the “Noid” music video. Because the album performed, he was pacing forwards and backwards from one finish of the stage to the opposite, flailing his arms round, sprinting in place and mendacity on the bottom, taking the occasional break to stare off into the gang and soak up his second.

His first album in three years, Chromakopia finds Tyler is using a novel method for its rollout, breaking from the trade normal of dropping at Midnight on Friday and as a substitute hoping followers will take the entire week to digest the brand new document with a 6 a.m. Monday launch. “Don’t lose y’all sleep making an attempt to remain up, fall asleep,” he joked to his followers within the enviornment on Sunday because the album was hours from launch. “I’m excited for y’all to listen to the album the second time, that second time when it hits you, you already know in case you fuckin’ assume it’s the worst factor ever or in case you’re actually fucking with it.”

Tyler Will get Introspective
Tyler’s lengthy evolution from transgressive shock rapper into one in every of hip-hop’s most interesting storytellers stays on full show on Chromakopia. As Tyler defined to the gang after the album lastly concluded, most of this document was impressed by the issues his mom would inform him in his youth that he was too younger to grasp. Solely in maturity are these classes really clicking.

“Now that I’m 33, all that stuff is like ‘oh that’s what the fuck she was speaking about,” Tyler, actually dripping with sweat, advised the gang Sunday night time. “‘Oh I’m not the man I used to be at 20. Oh shit, individuals are getting older, of us having youngsters and households.’ All I’ve obtained is a brand new Ferrari, that does really feel form of bizarre. I’ve obtained a gray hair on my chest. Life is life. I simply wished to put in writing about stuff I take into consideration after I’m dolo’ing.”‘

A Rapper Grows Up
These classes have led to some profound materials as Chromakopia grapples with more and more difficult creative themes like maturity, fatherhood, and love. Tyler particularly digs in about being pregnant in addition to the fears of turning into a father. “Who am I to bitch and complain? You’ve obtained to cope with all of the psychological and the bodily change,” he raps. “All of the heaviest feelings and the bodily ache simply to present a child the person’s final identify? Fuck that.”

He poignantly appears to inform a lover to “take off your masks” on one observe, notably becoming on condition that Tyler himself had coated his personal face in a masks till the final tune on Sunday.

New Sounds
Sonically, Chromakopia embraces some new, moodier sounds that match the vibe he’s established on stage with the navy match. Tyler nonetheless retains a number of the acquainted components which have lined his music because the Flower Boy interval, although. A few of Chromakopia’s slower songs are nearly paying homage to Tyler’s raps, like “Wilshire” from Name Me If You Get Misplaced. General, the album remains to be high-energy, and Tyler’s nonetheless fast with intelligent, goofy quips. The group cracked up and cheered as Tyler rapped, “fuck what you heard, I’m that n***a, and I’m that bitch,” as one of many closing verses on the whole album.

Hip-hop’s Buzziest Girls Give Standout Options
Among the many options we caught on the listening social gathering had been Schoolboy Q, Teezo Landing, Daniel Caesar, and Lil Wayne, although it was Doechii, Glorilla, And Sexyy Crimson who earned a lot of the consideration. “Sticky” specifically — which options Glo and Sexyy’s verses — appears to be the album’s runaway hit, if the gang’s response in the course of the present was any indication, not less than.

What’s a ‘Chromakopia,’ Precisely?
That query nonetheless remained unanswered by the top of the night time, nonetheless not defined by means of the navy imagery, darkish inexperienced colours, and industrial vibes accompanying the fabric on the document. Nonetheless, the aesthetic is constant, with the cameras exhibiting Tyler in the identical monochrome gray proven in a lot of the Noid music video final week. The imagery’s symbolism will doubtless grow to be extra clear because the album rolls out.