Tyler, The Creator is not new to the music industry but he is new to winning Grammys. This past Sunday, the 28-year-old artist took home his first Grammy for Best Rap Album for his latest album IGOR. He also performed two of his songs, “Earfquake” and “New Magic Wand,” on the Grammys stage and his performance did not go unnoticed. An artistic fusion of R&B and pop, strobe lights, flames and a lot of doppelgängers sporting his avant-garde blonde wig and multicolor suit set him apart from many traditional rap artists. He was also joined by Charlie Wilson and Boyz II Men to create a rhythmic blues feel for his performance.
Courtesy: Kevork Djansezian
After Tyler’s Grammy win where he thanked musical collaborators and his family, he went on to a backstage press interview, where he was asked the question: “In recent days there has been a lot of news about the voting process at the Grammys, has any of that affected the way that you are looking at winning this award today?”
Tyler responded, “On one side I’m very grateful that what I made could be acknowledged in a world like this, but also it sucks that whenever “we” – and I mean guys that look like me – do anything that’s genre-bending or that’s anything, they always put it in a rap or “urban” category which is – and I don’t like that “urban” word, it’s just a politically correct way to say the ‘N-word’ to me.”
Tyler has gone through several musical changes in the past two decades. He went from being a notable member of a collective musical rap group called Odd Future, to releasing rap solo albums detailing darker narratives about social and racial prejudices and, finally, his latest albums that experiment with a blend of musical genres. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Tyler says that his musical inspiration for IGOR came from “eighties pop” itself. Tyler states, “The Eighties is becoming my favorite time — not just music, but overall, and I used to hate it. But now it’s slowly becoming my favorite ’cause of the sector of music that I’ve found over the years.”
Courtesy: Forbes
There are other known individuals that share Tyler’s wariness about the Grammys and its alleged reputation of prejudiced categories and illegitimate voting processes. Deborah Dugan, former CEO of the Recording Academy in affiliation with the Grammys, filed a 44-page report of all of the voting and nomination inconsistencies two weeks before the Grammys aired. No one is yet aware of whether or not this information is true.
Other famous musicians have boycotted the Grammys, including an Odd Future member and now solo singer, Frank Ocean. In a New York Times interview, Frank states that he believes the Grammys “doesn’t seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down.”
Looking past the controversy surrounding the Grammys, Tyler had made it his goal to win a Grammy, previously announcing his wishes on Twitter in 2011. When a negative tweet arose on his page, he did not hesitate to comment back 9 years later.
Congratulations on the win, Tyler!
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