I'm Bad Milk, Drink It

Ever since music has existed, it's been evolving. Blues, jazz, punk, metal, rock, indie. All of these genres are connected in some way, melding together and branching off from one another. Inspiring countless musicians to create and innovate. To perform and go against the norm.

That's where Tyler, The Creator comes in. Since he released his first album in 2009 he's been the wolf in the sheep pen, fitting considering his latest album is titled 'Wolf.'



I used to loathe anything hip hop/rap related until I got educated. All you need is someone to lift the veil of commercial music and a whole world opens up to you. Nelly and Puff Daddy got replaced by Tyler, Non Phixion and Jedi Mind Tricks made you forget that Lil Wayne existed in the first place.

Back to Tyler. He was one of those artists that made me take a step back and realise that my musical narrow-mindedness had been causing me to miss out. It was like nothing I had heard before. Rap but dark and moody. Rap but with better, more old school beats. Rap but better than rap. Rap that couldn't have a 'c' added to the front of it.

It's a shame that punk always gets associated with the 'not giving a fuck' attitude because there are other musicians doing exactly that. He spoke about touchy subject matter. Rape, self-mutilation, murder. It makes you uncomfortable, it makes you question, it's music that makes you think.

Like all good musicians, he's progressed from his earlier albums. As he told SPIN magazine,

"Talking about rape and cutting bodies up, it just doesn't interest me anymore. What interests me is making weird hippie music for people to get high to. With Wolf, I'll brag a little bit more, talk about money and buying shit. But not like any other rapper, I'll be a smart-ass about it. Now it's just girls throwing themselves at me and shit, but I got a girl back home. People who want the first album again, I can't do that. I was 18, broke as fuck. On my third album, I have money and I'm hanging out with my idols. I can't rap about the same shit."

In all of this there is a weird disconnect between Tyler as a musician and Tyler as a person. His lyrical content is genius yet reading his Twitter feed feels like you're dealing with an entirely different person. It makes you wonder how much of him is persona and where does the real Tyler start and finish.
Either way, he has spun rap in a whole new direction and who knows where he's going to stop turning.