“I’m a fucking walking paradox, no I’m not” — the ever changing identity of Tyler, the Creator.
Due to word limitations, I will only be discussing Bastard, Goblin, Wolf and Igor.
If you google search “Tyler, the Creator”, you’ll come across many things. The first result is a Wikipedia page that cites him as “an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, music video director, fashion designer and graphic designer.” [1] Whilst all of these things are true, they don’t answer the real question: Who actually is Tyler, the Creator?
Throughout the years, Tyler’s lyrics have exposed a struggle with identity. His sophomore album Bastard paints him as a self-hating, violent teenager with suicidal and psychopathic tendencies with lyrics such as:
“I cut my wrist and play piano ’cause I’m so depressed
Somebody call the pastor, this bastard is so possessed
This meetin’ just begun, nigga I’m Satan’s son” - Tyler, the Creator, Bastard, 2011.
This struggle with depression is something Tyler has always been open about in his lyrics, perhaps one of very few recurrent themes, however, in the preceding years he has moved away from the image of a teenage delinquent who worships Satan, even openly criticising those who took these lyrics too seriously on multiple occasions and closer to adopting an entirely new image. It becomes incredibly interesting then, to take a close look at Tyler’s ever-changing and evolving alter-egos.
Goblin.
Goblin is Tyler’s second full length album and often attributed to his initial success. The video for the first single of this album, Yonkers, currently has 116 million views on Youtube. Throughout this album, Tyler adopts the identity of ‘Wolf Haley’, the masked antagonist who appears at the end of the Yonkers extended cut, wielding a knife and rapping:
“Still suicidal, I am, I’m Wolf, Tyler put this fucking knife in my hand” - Tyler, the Creator, Yonkers, 2013.
Perhaps the most interesting line in Yonkers, however, is the opening line — “I’m a fucking walking paradox, no I’m not” — which is so deliberately and cleverly written to exhibit the paradoxical nature of his existence and displays this split personality to Tyler that we have grown accustomed to over the years.
On the opening track of this album, Goblin, Tyler is seen to be battling with his new found fame and how his own identity becomes lost amongst that — “I’m not a fucking role model, I’m a 19 year old emotional rollercoaster with pipedreams” — and explicitly addresses the issues raised by Bastard
“my brain is an obscenity
I’m fucked in the head, I lost my mind with my virginity
Oh, that’s a triple 3–6 isn’t he a devil worshiper?
’cause I’m too fucking ignorant to do some research”
It’s at this point we really begin to see the boy behind the mask, a challenged, frustrated creative who is being tarnished as evil by society.
“But they wanna critique
Everything the wolf gang has ever released
But they don’t get it
’cause its not made for them
The nigga that’s in the mirror rapping, its made for him
But they do not have the mindset, that is same as him”
Perhaps, this is our first true look into the real identity of Tyler, the Creator.
Wolf.
If Goblin and Bastard are the albums that give us a peak into Tyler’s identity issues, 2013’s Wolf is the album that pulls the curtains on them.
The album begins with a conversation between three different versions of Tyler. The first being the transposed, deepened voice that Tyler frequently uses to display some sort of rational, therapist type inner voice. The second is “Wolf”, a softer voice who simply asks “Are you guys into jazz”, perhaps representative of Tyler’s musical side, and then finally, “Samuel”, the aggressive, violent antagonist of the album who threatens Wolf in this opening track.
Throughout the album, there are various conversations between these voices, even gunshots sounding and screaming as Samuel is heard to scream “Samuel’s here!”. Upon listening to this album, it is quickly evident that Tyler has created these personalities to not only imagine an entirely new world, but also perhaps to remove himself from the music so as to avoid the allegations he received from previous work.
IGOR.
Tyler’s most recent album, IGOR, is entirely based around a new alter ego Tyler has created, named Igor. Tyler wears a blond wig and two piece suit when performing as Igor, and has ensured it has become far removed from his previous releases since before release:
“IGOR. THIS IS NOT BASTARD. THIS IS NOT GOBLIN. THIS IS NOT WOLF. THIS IS NOT CHERRY BOMB. THIS IS IGOR. PRONOUNCED EEE-GORE. DON’T GO INTO THIS EXPECTING A RAP ALBUM. DON’T GO INTO THIS EXPECTING ANY ALBUM,” — Statement released on Instagram by Tyler [2]
This is an important statement. Igor abandons the dark themes of its predecessors as well as the dark voices and splits. Tyler seems completely immersed in this new image of Igor and the visuals that come alongside this release are completely removed from Goblin and Bastard, it is an entirely standalone project AND an entirely standalone identity.
But, has Tyler completely adopted Igor as his personality?
No. It is more of an onstage persona, and it seems perhaps this is a defensive tactic. Tyler is distancing himself from his music, allowing his notoriously outrageous personality to have as little to do with his music as possible — a far reach, again, from the issues Tyler explores in Wolf. In fact, this album, whilst on the face of it comes across as a break-up album, represents an entire concept developed around the creation of this alter ego.
I feel it is near impossible to ascertain the true identity of Tyler, the Creator. Whilst it is possible to piece together footage of him in a more natural setting through Loiter Squad and social media footage, with Tyler being able to so vividly immerse himself in all these other identities, can we ever be sure whether we have ever seen the genuine Tyler?
If you google search “Tyler, the Creator”, you’ll come across many things. The first result is a Wikipedia page that cites him as “an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, music video director, fashion designer and graphic designer.” [1] Whilst all of these things are true, they don’t answer the real question: Who actually is Tyler, the Creator?
Find more of my work on elhudsontyler.wordpress.com
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler,_the_Creator
[2] https://www.instagram.com/p/BxjCbG8lKeF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
