ALBUM REVIEW
Tyler, The Creator-WOLF
If you have any of a handle on music today, then I don't think I have to tell you who Tyler, The Creator is or how
WOLF is his third solo release following
BASTARD and
GOBLIN.
The thing with Tyler's solo releases is that much of the narrative and content focus on his personal life, both past and present. What makes it different from a number of other self reflective rappers is that Tyler doesn't necessarily go out of his way to explain everything. Alot of the tracks are wrapped up in subtle references to close friends, previous albums, and the OF collective itself. This may be confusing for some people who are just listening to Odd Future now; you may be wondering who this guy he's mentioning is or if he's talking about himself but differently or if what he's talking about is something that happened on a previous album. That being said, Wolf isn't exactly the first album I'd recommend to someone trying to get into Tyler's music or OF in general. I will say though, that there's this article written that more or less explains the "backstory" if you will of this trilogy and has some interesting clues and tid bits that make listening to this all the more intriguing. While I can't completely say that everything here is true, it's still an interesting
read.
The themes central to this release are definitely a shift from some of the subject matter Tyler became well known for on
Bastard and
Goblin. There's still plenty of expletives and insults thrown towards everyone and plenty of "GOLF WANG, WOLF GANG, etc" calls that tells you you're listening to an Odd Future release. What changes here though is how much of Tyler is put in here. You can definitely map the change between the 3 albums from the more brazen and crude tracks that center around rape and cutting up bodies to the tracks that contain much more personal things like Tyler's estranged father, his past relationships and his feelings of isolation and loneliness. These were elements present in
Goblin, and while some really good tracks were made it never really reached it's full potential musically. This is why tracks like
Answer,
Awkward, and
IFHY(I ****ing Hate You) are great and the high point of this album; they really do well to convey the guy behind all the OF shoutouts and the Supreme clothing. IFHY and Answer especially, the instrumentals have this sort of broken melancholy to them, like a childhood toy that has been damaged beyond repair. That, along with his uneasiness and frustrations present in his rapping really do well to covey Tyler's sensitivity to these subjects and are two of the most introspective parts of the album.
It's clear that Tyler is a guy who makes music for himself and his friends, and whether you'll like the lyrical content of this album is highly dependent on whether you're interested or even know about Tyler's background or the inner workings of Odd Future. For people who are just looking for good lyricism though, you'll be able to find some really clever and even funny lines, but in terms of raw rapping it's a bit underwhelming compared to something like Bastard offered up. There's also a bit of overuse of those magical cursewords(f*ck, motherf*ck, who gives a f*ck, f*ggot) that Tyler just loves to use to the point of crutching it. Still, I always felt that his rapping, while pretty good in some points, was just half of what makes him who he is.
Where this release really shines is in its production. Even from the opening track
Wolf, you can tell that the production has really improved and is starting to take shape with what he wants it to convey. The type of sounds you would expect from a release by him are still present(alot of synths, pianos and "cheap" sounding effects) but are more refined and have a certain cohesiveness to them. While some may see this and hate those types of sounds and find them mediocre, I find it as Tyler nailing down his own production style.
Jamba comes up right after and is a pretty good following track, if not already expected, type of song befitting Odd Future. The chorus especially delivers this really cool arpeggio that really brings it together. Plus this is probably the best verse Hodgy Beats has ever done. No seriously; I actually didn't think it was him till I saw the feature, haha.
Slater and
48 both have these smooth RnB chords and sounds, and both feature OF alum Frank Ocean. Slater is a really chill, and to be honest aimless in a (good) way and 48 is something that I enjoy seeing Tyler doing; a legit RnB/rap track. While it talks about dealing drugs and it's less than good repercussions, it still has this nice feel to it that I have no problem playing in my car while I'm out on the town. Tyler has some aggression here, but in a way it's undercut by the production and really nice chorus.
A surprisingly good track on here is the 3 song
PartyIsntOver/Campfire/Bimmer. Normally I'm not into multiple song tracks; I feel that most of the time the pauses between tracks breaks the flow and alot of the times the two tracks don't belong anywhere near each other, but the way these songs come together really works. They have a really nice set of instrumentals that are backed by Tyler's bassy monotone voice, as well as a few features that spice up the songs by adding some really nice melodies. My personal favorite is the group of kids singing on Campfire. At first this didn't really catch my attention but after a few more listens it really grew on me.
Now, don't think that this album is just a bunch of mellow, slow songs and that Tyler has just lost it or something. When
Pigs and
Parking Lot crash through, they deliver an anger laden and rough at best trip, outlining acts of violence with these sinister and almost unsettling beats.
Rusty follows them up and diffuses some of the aggression, but still has it's own aggression to spare. In a way, Rusty really comes through and becomes one of the best parts of this album. Domo Genesis really delivers on his verse and Tyler has some good lines, but Earl Sweatshirt's feature felt underwhelming, where there wasn't as much of a personality that you had on his Earl album. It almost sounds like he's not really all there.
There's also tracks like
Domo 23,
Trashwang and
Tamale which are tracks made to be the offensive and brazen OF you've come to know and love, and while I do enjoy Domo and Tamale, I fully acknowledge that the lyrical content is more shock oriented than clever or thought provoking. Still, Domo 23 is more or less a standard OF song, a la Rella from The OF Tape Vol 2, and Tamale offers a surprisingly catchy hook and the horns with the sample really add to the ferocity, especially when they go to a more sinister set of melodies halfway through. The fact that one of the first lines in this is "Tell Spike Lee he's a f*cking n*gger" really shows that this kid still has some teeth among the more reflective songs.
Trashwang is a different story. Listening to it I felt that they made it to be the Bitch Suck Dick of this album, but while BSD was a sharp and hilarious satire of rapping bravado and flashy posturing, Trashwang comes off as sort of limp. There's definitely some funny lines here, but the beat itself comes off as kind of lazy and too on the nose for something trying to make fun of "going hard" with a song.
That's not the only weak spot of this album, either. There's
Colossus, which is pretty much meant to be Tyler's
Stan, concerning an obsessive TtC and OF fan, but compared to the story with Stan who was obsessive to the point of fearing for your life, this fan just comes off as kind of creepy but ultimately harmless. The beat/composition of the song is nice, but the lyrics and the gravity Tyler is trying to give it come off as slightly pretentious and just ineffectual. I'm not too big of a fan of the song
Cowboy either, it's beat just seems more paltry than purposefully minimalistic, and the chorus gets in your head, but I would just as soon kick it out once it reared it's ugliness.
There's also a point where a couple of songs aren't really that great of a fit for this release.
Treehome95 is an RnB track that features Erykah Badu, but it's tone compared to the rest of the album is too different in my opinion. I like it, mind you, but it feels like this would have been better as a separate single. The closer
Lone is an interesting track too, the production is much more jazzier than previously and almost seems unlike Tyler, but hey, that just means he's really spreading out his influences, right?
In the end, I really enjoyed this album. This wasn't a mindblowing release though(listen to Chance The Rapper's
Acid Rap for that *wink wink*), but this was definitely a fine release from Mr. The Creator.
So I give it an
7/10.
Favorite Tracks-Jamba, Awkward, Domo 23, Answer, 48, PartyIsntOver/Campfire/Bimmer, IFHY, Rusty, Tamale
Least Favorite Tracks-Cowboy, Colossus, Trashwang
And of course here's some tracks to sink your teeth into