REVIEW: Tyler the Creator – “Okra”
Tyler the Creator is hot off of his phenomenal album, Flower Boy, and his new single, “Okra,” is his well-deserved victory lap. The album was well received by critics and fans alike, and it shows off Tyler’s growth as an artist and a person. Tyler originally came to prominence with dark subject matter and lyrics so edgy and abrasive that the UK didn’t allow him to enter. He has gone from using homophobic slurs to actually coming out of the closet on his newest project. Flower Boy was a colorful and luscious album, produced entirely by Tyler himself. “Okra” drops almost a year later, with Tyler calling it as a throw away track, but the fan consensus is almost entirely positive nonetheless.
Tyler trades the bright and friendly production of Flower Boy for a heavy, dark, and booming beat. The song opens with an eerie piano riff and Tyler quietly rapping the chorus. This is all before the fattest and thickest 808s come in and saturate the song (but in the dopest way). The 808s contrast with the unnerving piano (and later violin) that are featured on the chorus. This sound is so foreign from what we heard all throughout Flower Boy, and from all of the music Tyler has produced. Despite the change in form, this new sound is a refreshing change and shows off Tyler’s versatility. The beat goes especially well with Tyler’s rapping on the track.
Tyler comes through with some pretty unique cadences. His delivery on the first verse is calm, and he spits with a straight eighth note flow, however, he puts the emphasis on the upbeats, creating a really unique feel. On the second verse, he uses short lines that start on the pickup of beats four or two and end on beats one and three respectively, but he switches up this flow later in that verse, still using pickups but with longer, more traditional lines. The beat and Tyler’s rapping go along perfectly with the lyrical content.
Tyler is super braggadocious, flexing his Grammy nomination, his popular sneaker line, and even his bodyguard. But what shook lots of fans was his announcement of Odd Future’s end. On the hook, Tyler says “I cut off some friends / where they go?” and later in verse two he says “Golf be the set / no more OF.” Odd Future was a hip hop collective spearheaded by Tyler that featured members such as Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis, Hodgy Beats and Frank Ocean to name a few. The group had a few tapes together, and many of the members are still friendly (Jasper Dolphin and Taco can even be seen in the music video for “Okra”), but the music group is formally no more. With their last tape having been in 2012 (and with the well-known beef between members), the group has been dead for a while, but it is still sad to hear a proper statement from its founder.
Despite the disappointment at seeing the group part ways, the end of Odd Future has allowed Tyler to flourish as a solo artist (and embark on fashion and TV endeavors) and move past a lot of the immaturity that OF was founded on. I look forward to seeing Tyler move forward as an artist. Flower Boy was a beautiful project and “Okra” surprised me, displaying Tyler’s real versatility. I hope to hear Tyler come through with more music like this in the future and I’ll definitely keep bumping “Okra” until he does.
-Matt Bandel