I’ve been a fan of Tyler, the Creator since IGOR dropped. His music is just phenomenal and completely spread out like you cannot predict what he will drop next and I like artists like that because then you won’t expect their next work to be completely repetitive. His latest work that dropped Call Me If You Get Lost is a vibe and summer bop, something worth listening to when you’re traveling. Flower Boy is something worth listening to during the fall. Wolf and Cherry Bomb are pretty great as well. Something I appreciate about Tyler is that he’s one of the few kings of shock culture and literally based his entire career off it. His music is not for everybody though. Some people who are die-hard trap fans won’t enjoy Tyler as much as I do. I enjoy Tyler because his music kind of speaks to me as an Alternative. Trap music is fun to enjoy when you’re at a party, driving in your car with friends, or you’re trying to kick up a vibe but it’s not music you want to listen to all the time. That's where artists who are more conscious in their lyrics like Tyler come in. His lyrics offer an introspective that requires you to think. Oftentimes you can’t listen to a Tyler album once you have to give it like 2-3 listens to completely appreciate and get into it, I made that mistake with Igor because I wasn’t a Tyler fan then I just gave it one listen and singled out a few songs as favorites but wasn’t aware of the story it carried and because of that, I misinterpreted one of the songs “A Boy is a Gun” but once I gave it another listen I said to myself “wow this is art” and it became one of my favorite albums of all time. And then slowly I began to listen to other works of Tyler and recognizing his place within the industry because I didn’t know who he was until one of my friends told me what was up with him.
Like practically most people I haven’t gotten into Lil Nas X until Old Town Road got its popularity and even then I didn’t know who he was and how he rose to fame until my big day at Senior Prom when they played the hit song and we were all dancing to it. I was still not the biggest fan of his work even after he dropped 7 but I did recognize he really did have a good come up in the music industry and is pretty creative with his work which is one thing I really appreciate about him. One thing about Lil Nas X is that like Tyler, his visuals are completely out of this world. When he came out gay I didn’t really care but one thing I noticed about people’s reactions to it is that a few people actually expected him to keep his gayness to the side and not delve into it within his music. But he did the exact opposite and completely put it onto the spot becoming a very controversial figure within the music industry, he raised a lot of questions and discussions on people’s stance on Queer Hip-Hop and homophobia. Not only that but he’s also a master of social media and uses the platform to his own advantage, oftentimes using it not just for entertainment but also to turn an internet troll’s argument around. After Montero (Call Me By Your Name) dropped alongside a music video I was perplexed at his work which featured him dropping down to hell and lap-dancing on the devil. I thought about canceling him but giving some thought as well as hearing his intentions on the video were not of malice but to help other rising closeted gay artists like himself to become more open and upfront about their sexuality in music especially as a queer black man. Give the gay kids a hero to look up to even if in the process people will see him as a villain or spawn of Satan. That actually made me a true Lil Nas X fan because I now understand he’s literally a walking paradox, people expect him to fail after CMBYN dropped but it only helped boost his popularity and he used the negative publicity to his advantage when he trolled everyone into thinking he was going to jail for his Satan Shoes when it was actually a publicity stunt to promote his next single Industry Baby.
I think of these 2 like one of the kings of shock culture, everything they do only adds to their popularity because they’re unconventional as musicians, Tyler and his group Odd Future were literally the opposite of what society viewed as normal, most of them were atheist and refused to adhere standard traditional behavior rather just being themselves and his group’s stance encourages other people to do the same even inspiring musicians like Lil Nas X and Kevin Abstract of BROCKHAMPTON, Lil Nas X also came off as unconventional because he’s gay and also a successful musician, most people were fine with him being gay until he started putting it into his music and visuals that’s when some people were done with him and awaited his downfall which hasn’t happened yet and thanks to his knowledge of social media and what people desire or despise managed to work everything in his favor and confidently raise the bar in his music, character, and the way he presents himself. Tyler also raised eyebrows when he cryptically but not explicitly implied himself to be gay or bisexual and moved off from his questionably homophobic lyrics in fact IGOR is literally about his key character in a love triangle with another guy whom he’s losing to another girl in order to preserve his appearance as a straight man. I actually want these 2 to get on a track together because they’re both pretty unconventional and extremely “sus”. I believe a song with those two would be like the male version of Wap given how Tyler is especially known to intentionally make other guys uncomfortable by jokingly shooting his shot whether in his lyrics, on his tweets, or even freestyling live.
As black men, because of the social stigma, religion, and hypersexualized music that encourages solely straight men to after women and sometimes condemns gay or bi men for going after men, it’s understandable that music like Lil Nas X and Tyler, the Creator is not for everybody and some people just don’t fuck with them either because of their music or the way they present themselves to the public (I.e. painted nails for example). But it’s increasingly obvious they’re trying to break social barriers and feel that kids and even adults today need to open their eyes and form their own opinions, beliefs, and thoughts instead of taking on the same beliefs their parents want them to have. Tyler’s song from his recent album “Manifesto” briefly touches upon this subject at the very beginning of the first verse, the lyrics, “That ain't your religion, you just followin' your mammy, She followed your granny, she obeyed master. Did y'all even ask up questions? It's holes in them stories Is it holes in your blessings? Yeah, I'm bold with the message. I know I ain't got the answer.” this refers to the fact that in the early times of the slave trade and European colonization many slaves were forced by their colonizers to forsake their original culture & folk religion and convert to Christianity due to their misguided beliefs of getting everyone on a righteous path and the slaves were threatened with violence if they did not comply. This led to their children being taught the same views leading to their children being taught the same religion eventually generations following, the same religion being followed blindly was forcefully implanted by colonizers long ago. Many years later no one ever questions, “Why? Why do we follow this? Is it because a man who forced our ancestors into labor made us this way, do we even have a say or a choice to follow this faith?” Christianity was taught to black and brown slaves because it is thought to be the key to salvation, however, the Bible itself states that salvation is in fact a “free gift”. In fact, the same book has stated multiple times to love and bless those that aren’t following the righteous path, but there are many Christians out there who use it as an excuse to oppress people in numerous ways such as racism, homophobia, and sexism. One example of racism is how Jesus Christ, the sole savior of humanity and son of God, is depicted in different adaptations or churches. He was born Middle-Eastern so his skin was likely tanned with dark hair, however many adaptations in films, books, stories, even artistic rendering depict Jesus as a white, long-haired, bearded man. Because the Bible declares homosexuality to be an abomination, many Christians often misinterpret it as a meaning to actively condemn those who practice it regardless of their character, often backhanded comments are made judging and oppressing them. Certain conversion camps were even created to “convert” gay/bi people back to straight as they are under the belief to be of influence of the devil and those who cannot be helped are condemned to hell. When Lil Nas X released Montero (Call Me By Your Name) the visual was heavily influenced by Biblical undertones, with Lil Nas X being in a fictional land called Montero (the rapper’s birth name) with a snake seducing him leading to being judged by his peers and sentenced to death via stoning (humorously dying due to thrown butt plug) while ascending to heaven he instead grabbed a stripper pole down to hell where he enters Satan’s palace and managed to seduce him via a lap dance before snapping the being’s neck and stealing his horns. The video itself was highly controversial and provoked uproar from many conservative officials and devoutly religious folks believing the video to be an example of the Gay Agenda poisoning the minds of children or destroying society. Lil Nas X merely shut down all these accusations and claims by replying on twitter “i spent my entire teenage years hating myself because of the shit y’all preached would happen to me because i was gay. so i hope u are mad, stay mad, feel the same anger you teach us to have towards ourselves.” This is a prime example of taking a stand against the same oppressive system against the people that forced our ancestors to convert a long time ago. I applaud Lil Nas X for trying to help stand up for queer lives and Tyler for trying to raise questions for people born into religious families and blindly following them without a second thought. I honestly think a collaboration between these 2 is much needed and would be an interesting track to hear and added bonus if a visual was included.
Honestly, if I ever come up as an artist, my goal is to collaborate with both Tyler, the Creator, and Lil Nas X even have the 2 in the same song and visual if applicable, and make one big queer made song inspired off Montero the album, the song, and the person alongside Tyler.
Commenti