Nothing before the centre-track ‘Garden Shed’ leads us to believe this is an album about a man coming out to the world but track seven knocks vigorously on that metaphorical door of open sexuality. And yes, surprisingly being the operative word there Smith doesn’t usually come across as an artist, more like a guest actor thinking out-loud whatever he’s been told to (see Kauai by Childish Gambino). Surprisingly, Smith really does add a well needed third dimension to track six. But with one pothole and the exclamation of “f***”, we’re lead into the following song – Pothole – which features Jaden Smith. With I Ain’t Got Time it’s not just about having no time for people - it’s more to do with having no time for “b*****s” since Tyler’s “been kissing white boys since 2004″.įor Who Dat Boy’s music video we see Tyler blazing along and the song epitomises this aggressive drive for a fast paced life. The former uses brand-drops like there’s no tomorrow while the latter reminds one of ‘THE BROWN STAINS OF DARKEESE LATIFAH PART 6-12 (Long-winded name). ‘Who Dat Boy’ and ‘I Ain’t Got Time!’ – two lead singles – both express a previous - more relative - side of Tyler braggadocios and unapologetic in approach and leaving little to imagination. One critique of his music in the past has been its awkward-randomness and off-key messages, but then again that’s also what makes Tyler the success-story we see today. With Flower Boy’s first two tracks we’re introduced to a new version of Tyler, one that is more open and honest, clear about what it is he wants to talk about. Ironically an Ocean follows in the form of Frank on ‘Where This Flower Blooms’ – a melodic blooming of piano chords turns into an explosive chorus.īoth these artists have expressed their love for vehicles over people and love to build metaphors around cars: Frank’s ‘White Ferrari’ stands out in last year’s Blonde. “If I fall and don’t come back” almost implies that he isn’t willing to carry on, running out of road and land before reaching the inevitable drown of an ocean. Towards the end of Foreword it’s as if the swaying of synths and odd chords are leading us down a dead end, much to Tyler’s despair. Where we left Tyler on his previous album is where we pick up on Foreword, on ‘KEEP DA O’s’ Tyler joked that he’s not used to rapping about materialistic things like diamonds and cars but that becomes Flower Boy’s roots.Įxcept, it’s also his void-filler where he may have had people to accompany him this isn’t the case anymore – materialism has replaced partnership in his life. ‘Foreword’ – the opener – immediately installs the idea that this is a different project ‘DEATHCAMP’ opened Cherry Bomb and set the precedent for an insanely whacky set of tracks. So this begs the question when approaching Flower Boy: “Does it follow the narrative of a typical Tyler, The Creator creation or change the course of a career?“. Perhaps what has been lacking from Tyler’s music over the years is a level of maturity and sincerity towards himself and others. While Flower Boy’s predecessor lacked in a final stage of engineering (Tyler admitted this myself) the same can’t be said this time around.Īlthough, what can be said is that these two albums share a wealth of talented guests: A$AP Rocky, Frank Ocean, Steve Lacy and Lil Wayne all appear on Flower Boy. When you compare that to the radical Cherry Bomb – Tyler’s last album – it’s quite a stark contrast the 2015 release had an overall positive message but delivered in a notoriously loud and brutal fashion. Flower Boy is the fourth studio album from Tyler, The Creator and it may just be the most mature release to date by Odd Future’s co-founder.Īs the title and album cover hints towards, this is a tale of someone finally blooming and able to show their true colours.
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