by: Alana Brown-Davis
Tyler, the Creator’s entire career has been in the business of shock value and shameless self-expression. In one of his first music videos ‘Yonkers’ , the rapper ate a roach after rapping over an intense boom bap beat. On a podcast with Vince Staples, Tyler stated that the song was a joke containing production created in 8 minutes that was supposed to poke fun at New York rappers.
This weekend, Tyler returned to his roots of surprising audiences with the announcement of his ninth album ‘Don’t Tap The Glass’. The new project comes less than a year after he released ‘Chromakopia’, a introspective journal like project narrated by his own mother. ‘Chromakopia’ grappled with topics of identity, loss, fear while retaining a braggadocious nature. With ‘Don’t Tap The Glass’, Tyler shifts from that form. Now, he just wants to dance. While ‘Chromakopia’ seemed to be devoid of light, searching for color, this album is full of it. In fact its abundant.
Behind ‘Don’t Tap The Glass’
“I asked some friends why they don’t dance in public and some said because of the fear of being filmed. I thought damn, a natural form of expression and a certain connection they have with music is now a ghost. It made me wonder how much of our human spirit got killed because of the fear of being a meme, all for having a good time. I just got back from a ‘listening party’ for this album and man was it one of the greatest nights of my life. 300 people. No phones allowed. No cameras. Just speakers and a sweatbox.”
In his note he continued to explain his desire to give people a space that was welcoming and enjoyable.” Everyone was dancing, moving, expressing, sweating. It was truly beautiful. I played the album front to back twice, it felt like that pent up energy finally got released and we craved the idea of letting more of it out. There was a freedom that filled the room. A ball of energy that might not translate to every speaker that plays this album but man did that room nail it. This album was not made for sitting still. Dancing driving running any type of movement is recommended to maybe understand the spirit of it. Only at full volume.”
Tyler the Creator is an Artist
It’s clear that with ‘Don’t Tap The Glass’, Tyler just wants us to have fun. One would expect that of any summer album, but this is an album you can carry throughout every season and never tire of it. He wants us to release, to have zero cares and just dance. What’s even greater about this album is that he’s still on tour for his last album. Recently, he appeared on ‘P.O.V’ with Clipse on their return album ‘Let God Sort ‘Em Out.’ They appear in the music video for ‘Stop Playing with Me’ along with Lebron James and Maverick.
The album and it’s aesthetic pay homage to Black music. In ‘Stop Playing with Me’, his outfit bears a strong semblance to LL Cool J in his heyday. ‘Don’t Tap the Glass’ feels like a continuation of Missy Elliot’s ‘Under the Construction’, both of which pay tribute to the early days of hip hop. On the album cover, a figure sports a large ‘Dookie chain’ which were popular at that time. He’s made it clear that this isn’t a concept album, warning listeners not to come with their antiquated expectations. According to Tyler, this album was custom made for “body movement” and its obvious he accomplished the goal.