“Have you listened to the new Tyler album?” was the only thing Iskandar Arias ‘27 heard at Loyola the day after CHROMAKOPIA dropped.
Tyler Okonma, better known as Tyler, The Creator, is a widely successful Los Angeles-born rapper, singer, and producer. With breakthrough fame from projects like Igor, Flower Boy, and Call Me If You Get Lost, Tyler, The Creator has displayed himself as a symbol of modern R&B, hip-hop, and popular culture as a whole. He has a unique sound that Arias described as “uniquely intriguing.”
Right before Halloween, Tyler dropped his newest album, CHROMAKOPIA, and many listeners had polarized views after their first impression. Luis Cartagena-Fuentes ‘27 believes the album was “more experimental than enjoyable.” However, Cartagena-Fuentes also commented that the album has “been growing” on him.
After listening and breaking down the music on the album, two major aspects kept appearing throughout each song: themes centered around hope and a multiplicity of sounds. Tyler repeats lines like “Can you feel the light inside?” as a message of positivity, and the single “Paranoid” hints at the underlying stress that the modern age has brought many.
The introduction song, St. Chroma, starts monotone with repeating lyrics, but layers more melodies and instruments as the track continues. Its alluring chorus of chants brings the listeners into Tyler’s innermost thoughts, and then the song erupts, transcending listeners to another realm of eclectic production.
Many noticed the diverse nature of the tracks and styles of production on the album, with emotional, light songs like Judge Judy being placed next to punchy, collaboration-driven medleys like the standout, Sticky. Enrique Huerta ‘25 stated, “When listening to Sticky for the first time, I was shocked by the features and production. It took a while to grow on me, but now it’s one of my favorites on the album.”
Tyler has always had an avant-garde, continually evolving sound; CHROMAKOPIA feels like a sum of all of Tyler’s past projects. The album is heavily influenced by Caribbean and Afro rhythms, and Tyler employs a multiplicity of time signatures. Like most of his albums, he uses jazzy R&B sounds pioneered by the late Quincy Jones and has a feel for synthesizers like no other producer.
Tyler has yet again raised the standards of his listeners and is now being nominated for Best Rap Album of the Year. In the album, where the interplay of colors and black and white is a major theme, Tyler reveals his true “colors” by announcing his vulnerability through his love life and its various complications. Tyler is a one-of-a-kind artist, and CHROMAKOPIA meets and exceeds all expectations for his performance.
