Mixtapes – the playlists of the 2000s. Artists like Lil Wayne, Fabolous, Ludacris, Gucci Mane or The Diplomats generated buzz on the streets with their off-the-cuff releases every month, if not every week. DJ Drama also got in on the act, giving the rappers of the moment a platform on his Gangsta Grillz tapes. This era of hip-hop probably left a lasting mark on Tyler, The Creator as well. “I want a Gangsta Grillz tape so fucking bad got damn,” the 31-year-old wrote on Twitter in June 2021 to announce the completion of his sixth studio album Call Me If You Get Lost. DJ Drama appears on it as toastmaster. He was allowed to speak such witty sentences as “Welcome to the disco”, but Call Me If You Get Lost still has the quality of a studio album. Tyler refrains from hammering out B-ware and song sketches with a freestyle character. Rather, he seems to regard the mixtape as a collage. Synthpop, boom bap, jazz or soul – Tyler mixes the styles. On Lemonhead menacing Jeezy fanfares amplify poisonous lines, Ty Dolla $ign transforms WUSYANAME into 90s cuddly R’n’B and Sweet/I Thought You Wanted To Dance creates a reggae atmosphere with a one-drop beat. Tyler creates structure through blocks. Three hardcore rap tracks are followed by two neo-soul songs. The fact that he produced almost everything himself underlines his musical evolution since his 2009 Goblin. Back then, Tyler, The Creator limited himself to bass-heavy beats minus any flourishes or polish. Today, he produces out, giving the instrumentals multiple layers and sections. “I came a long way from my past,” he says in Manifesto. What Tyler achieves on the production level, he also succeeds in with the lyrics. The Odd Future frontman raps playfully about what moves him. The mental leaps he makes in a song can be immense. One moment he’s musing about Christianity within the African-American population and the next he’s apologising to Selena Gomez for offensive tweets. »Call Me If You Get Lost« can do it all.
Tyler, The Creator
Igor
Columbia