It’s Black History Month, and it’s important now more than ever to give credit to the Black artists that are carrying and innovating the music industry right before our eyes. So, for this week I wanted to spend some time paying respects to Tyler Gregory Okonma, more popularly known as Tyler the Creator who hasn’t stopped moving up in life since mine started. Debuting in 2009, Tyler is now known as a successful singer-songwriter, rapper, producer, director, actor, and fashion figure. Since the very moment he has stepped into the public view, he has faced backlash and controversy for his transgressive style that included lyrics, visuals and musical stylings categorized under the “horrorcore” genre that produced a shock factor for the audience. But what I feel gets misconstrued or overlooked is his artistic expression and hard work that has made him considerably one of the best/most talented artists of our time.
Especially prevalent through his debuting albums, his music consisted of lyrics that portrayed irritation, negativity, and offensive language, a lot of listeners took his messages as an attack on themselves. Tyler did not care and provided little explanation for a lot of his actions, but stood true to the fact that he has no real intentions to hurt anyone and that his “music isn’t offensive”, he just “likes to piss off old white dudes”. The careless impression he gave seemed to only outrage the media more, but with Tyler’s music, I urge you to look on a deeper level before jumping to conclusions.
Tyler has spoken in his songs of his own struggles he has faced throughout his life and his feelings or frustrations towards them. He has shared about his life growing up without his father present and how that affected him, and his struggles with mental health including paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression.
He also has spoken and illuded to a lot concerning his sexuality, and the struggles he’s faced coming out, which is something a lot of people overlook or are unaware of when going to attack how he speaks about homosexuality in his songs. All of these topics are hard enough alone to handle but together, leaves a lot for a person to think about and work on.
Tyler’s music is a reflection and artistic expression of what goes on inside of his mind. A lot of his lyrics refer back to personal moments that don’t register with you unless you have background knowledge of the things he has gone through in his lifetime, and the emotional intelligence he shows by understanding the ugly truths of his emotions is more beautiful and impressive than offensive; people just don’t take the time to understand his art on that level. His successes as an artist show that despite the adversity he has faced for not being afraid to be different or “strange”, he is exactly why I think he is this generations most influential and brilliant minds that is evolving the music industry for the better.