Tyler, the Creator – IGOR (2019)

Tyler, the Creator – IGOR

Tyler, the Creator first emerged as a solo artist back in 2009 with the mixtape Bastard, but it wasn’t until 2011, when he released his first studio album Goblin that he came to my attention. He was still not at the point where he was being discussed as anything approaching a top 40 artist and I can still remember a friend of mine showing me the video for “Yonkers” in a “take a look at this guy” kind of way. Regardless, that song specifically stuck out to me as more than just provocative, it was good! I downloaded both Bastard and Goblin and poured over those albums while I was in high school. After Wolf and Cherry Bomb failed to live up to the hype he had created, I became more engrossed in the other Odd Future members; Earl Sweatshirt released two of my favorite albums of 2015 and 2018 respectively and Frank Ocean’s Blonde is probably a 10. But once Flower Boy came out in 2017, everything seemed to change, Tyler had become more nuanced in his lyrics, he had figured out his mixing issues and he knew how to employ his features much more seamlessly (something he would perfect on IGOR) I liked Flower Boy a lot, but it wouldn't be until his follow-up that everything seemed to be fleshed out. 

IGOR truly is his finest hour, the moment where all of his experimentation and wrong turns have paid off. It starts off simply enough with “IGOR’S THEME” an interlude which is really more of a song, and nevertheless, it is a great statement of intent and it does its job well making it clear that this is much different music. To hammer down that point, the second song “EARFQUAKE” was written for Justin Bieber of all people, and you can hear it. It’s a smart and overt pop song, and if he was any less confident Tyler would get buried underneath it, but he pulls it off and knowingly introduces his muse. From there, Tyler begins to flex his influences and new production insight. “I THINK” could have come straight off of Graduation and is complete with a perfectly understated Solange singing back-up (Kanye won’t actually show up until a couple of songs later). Tyler also manages to combine his new style with what some of his older fans might be looking for. “WHAT’S GOOD” and “NEW MAGIC WAND” are the closest thing to the old school Tyler, the Creator but with that noticeably lush production which blends the tracks into IGOR seamlessly. The latter of which especially features some distinctive Santigold backing vocals and rising synths, that only just slightly brighten the mood. Kanye’s influence again rears its head with the sound-alike “A BOY IS A GUN” that samples Ponderosa Twins Plus Ones’ 1971 song “Bound” famously used by West on his litigious “Bound 2”. Kanye eventually does devote a verse to the track “Puppet”, which also features a pretty great excerpt from Part Time.  Tyler manages to sequence and link all these songs together both thematically and based on the guest’s contributions, so none of the tracks really sound too out of place amongst the huge guest list.

One of the best tracks here: “GONE,GONE/THANK YOU” utilizes a genius sample of “Hey Girl” by Cullen Omori and completely transforms it into the brightest and most bittersweet song here and I don't think Tyler has ever been more relatable. He is so utterly human and conflicted on this track, it’s one of the moments on this album and on Flower Boy where it’s hard for people not to completely rethink his earlier material. This song is almost perfectly paired with “I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE” in a way where the listener can examine the two conflicting views of this breakup. This point is taken either further with the final track on the album “ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?” which kind of speaks for itself. These last three songs are easily the most overt references to the dissolution of Tyler’s relationship, and the way they are sequenced takes the listener from acceptance, through anger and eventually into a screwed up form of denial and bargaining. It’s a fitting end to this album and one that leaves me rethinking just how we got to this point, rehashing all the drama and the highs and lows of Tyler’s discography and asking the question that centers around most break up albums but especially one as dark as IGOR can be: “was it all worth it?”

~9.5