Hip-hop legend Tyler, the Creator released his seventh studio album, Chromokopia, Oct. 28, 10 days after the concept leaked Oct. 18. The 14-track album focuses on the stress of being a celebrity, including the paparazzi and the pressure from fans. Chromokopia’s sound is similar to Tyler’s previous albums, but adds variety through featuring popular rappers, such as Teezo Touchdown, Lil Wayne, Glorilla, and R&B singer Daniel Caesar.
Tyler, the Creator started his music career by creating music with Odd Future (rap group made up of Frank Ocean, Taco, Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, The Creator) and through a feature on 2012 comedy show Loiter Squad, until he released his debut album Goblin May 10, 2011. He has dropped a new album every other year since, with Wolf (2013), Cherry Bomb (2015), Flower Boy (2017), Igor (2019), and Call Me If You Get Lost (2021). Tyler gained significant popularity online and a dedicated following after winning a Grammy for his album Igor.
Tyler’s music takes inspiration from artists Kanye West and Pharell Williams, both of whom he collaborated with early in his career. Similarly to West and Williams, Tyler uses samples for most of his songs, giving them a unique sound. The mellow drums and heavenly Zambian vocals create an ethereal sound on all his tracks, including those on Chromokopia.
The first track and single for the album, “St. Chroma,” released Oct. 16, has a tame beat until the beat drop in which the bass kicks in, with featured artist Caesar laying down his calming vocals. “St. Chroma” has a music video featuring multiple anonymous actors, incorrectly theorized by fans to be the features on the album. The actors appear in the music video wearing masks to look like Chroma the Great, a fictional character who supplied the world with colors, which connects to the album’s name and promotion.
Track two, “Noid,” the album’s lead single released Oct. 21, expresses the paranoia Tyler experiences as a celebrity, including home invasions and paparazzi. “Privacy, huh? Yeah I got a better shot in the NBA / Ain’t no respect for nothin’, voice recordin’ our discussions,” Tyler sings. The song distinguishes itself by featuring a sample of a Zambian choir song by the Ngozi Family titled “Nizakupanga Ngozi.”
“Sticky,” track five, is by far the most random song composed and produced by Tyler. The track features Lil Wayne, Glorilla, and Sexxy Red, with nearly no connection to the main idea of Chromokopia, which is fame and its consequences. The song falls flat, as its chorus is obnoxiously repetitive and graphic.
The 13th track on the album, “Like Him,” revisits Tyler’s childhood trauma of his father abandoning him at a young age. “Mama I’m chasing a ghost / I don’t know who he is,” Tyler sings. Both at the beginning and at the end of the track, his mother Bonita Smith apologizes for her mistakes. It’s an emotional track, complex with conflicting opinions within. The instrumental and vocals are similar to “Are We Still Friends” on Igor (2019), so Tyler seems to have returned to his roots.
Chromokopia is mediocre compared to Tyler’s previous Grammy award-winning projects. The features on the project did not live up to listener expectations, but the mellow vocals and dark themes in the first and last few tracks make up for its shortcomings, earning the album three out of five feathers.
