{"id":2106,"date":"2017-07-29T02:43:45","date_gmt":"2017-07-29T02:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/?p=2106"},"modified":"2017-07-29T02:43:45","modified_gmt":"2017-07-29T02:43:45","slug":"review-tyler-the-creator-flower-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/29\/review-tyler-the-creator-flower-boy\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Tyler, The Creator &#8211; Flower Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are many things you can say about rapper Tyler, The Creator, but you certainly can\u2019t call him a slouch when it comes to anything he does. In the two years since the release of his last album <em>Cherry Bomb<\/em>, he\u2019s just been keeping at his various endeavors from fashion to tours to other entertainment, and more. Now it\u2019s 2017, and it looks to be another big year for the Odd Future mastermind. In addition to having recently appeared on a new Frank Ocean tune a few months back, he\u2019s also kept himself busy with two brand new television projects: a live-action Viceland show set to premiere next week, and an Adult Swim animated series set for sometime later this summer. It\u2019s about as good a time as any for Tyler to put out a new release, and so here we are with his fourth full-length studio album, <em>Flower Boy<\/em>\u2026 or <em>Scum Fuck Flower Boy<\/em> depending on who you choose to listen to.<\/p>\n<p>The album opener \u201cForeword\u201d gives us an overview of what to expect from this new release, presenting the listener with an ominous heart monitor-esque beat akin to a darker version of Kanye West\u2019s \u201cSay You Will\u201d as the lyrics gloss over a multitude of topics: his love of cars, feelings of intense depression and boredom, imagery of flowers and plants, etc. This sets the stage for <em>Flower Boy<\/em> as an incredibly moody and introspective release, starting with the 2<sup>nd<\/sup> track \u201cWhere This Flower Blooms\u201d. The flower imagery comes into play to describe Tyler\u2019s growth from an underground curiosity to one of the biggest and most successful names in the industry (\u201cFlower boy t\/nigga that\u2019s me rooted from the bottom bloomed into a tree\u201d). \u201cPothole\u201d similarly delves into themes of overcoming obstacles in life, utilizing the imagery of a pothole to describe backstabbing friends who get in the way of potential success, even calling back to the opening song\u2019s allusion to watching cartoons in a mansion alone.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/khMb3k-Wwvg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;start=7&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoredom\u201d taps into Tyler\u2019s feelings of isolation as he begs for any of his friends to give him a call so he can get out of the house and do something to not feel alone. There\u2019s some rather blunt and honest lines in this particular track (\u201cis it me cause I\u2019m not solved\/I\u2019m bored, bored and getting desperate as hell\/and I hope someone will message me with some plans\u201d). These are elaborated on further with the double track \u201c911\/Mr. Lonely,\u201d with the first half showing Tyler begging for someone to call him like it\u2019s an emergency (hence the title), and the second half displaying his desperation for any kind of attention. He acknowledges the frequent references to sports cars across his entire discography as a coping mechanism for dealing with loneliness. In addition, the opening lines of \u201cMr. Lonely\u201d present a rather interesting recurring motif within the album:<\/p>\n<p><em>They say the loudest in the room is weak<br \/>\nThat\u2019s what they assume but I disagree<br \/>\nI say the loudest in the room<br \/>\nis prolyl the loneliest one in the room, that\u2019s me<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Tyler is commenting on how his bombastic over-the-top persona is a coping mechanism for his feelings of anxiety and depression. While the album is very soulful and meditative, there are a couple of bangers on the release in the forms of \u201cWho Dat Boy\u201d and \u201cI Ain\u2019t Got Time\u201d. The former is appropriately menacing and creepy, with Tyler and guest A$ap Rocky rapping about how badass they are with some pretty clever lines throughout, especially some of the humorous Spanish wordplay in the last few bars. The phrase \u201cWho Dat Boy\u201d crops up in what is possibly the album\u2019s moodiest track, \u201cNovember\u201d: a song in which he worries greatly about stagnating and becoming irrelevant, being remembered only for outlandish Twitter antics than any production\/music work. There is also another highly interesting allusion between the two tracks, as both make a rather prominent reference to <em>Summertime \u201906<\/em>, the debut album from rapper Vince Staples. Tyler uses \u201cNovember\u201d as a stand-in for the last time he felt truly happy, saying:<\/p>\n<p><em>Tell me, what\u2019s yo November<br \/>\nIs it a person?<br \/>\nMine was the summer<br \/>\n\u201906, I remember<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Vince has described the meaning behind the title of his debut album thusly: \u201cSummer of 2006, the beginning of the end of everything I though I knew. Youth was stolen from my city that summer, and I\u2019m left alone to tell the story.\u201d He could very well be using the allusion in conjunction with November to describe the last time he was ever happy or satisfied with life. The track also makes reference to track 7, \u201cGarden Shed\u201d, which has been a massive source of discussion for the music press for being seen as an explicit attempt for Tyler, The Creator to possibly come out as gay. There\u2019s been much debate on this topic, and while I\u2019m not the most comfortable making a definitive judgement call here, I will say that given Tyler\u2019s constant persona of being in an unhealthy emotional\/mental state (combined with the album\u2019s themes of growth and maturity), I accept it\u2019s possible that this could be what he\u2019s trying to get across.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"747\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FUXX55WqYZs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;start=4&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>While the lyrics are strong as always, presenting over-arching motifs and references while getting you into a really moody headspace, the production is equally strong. <em>Flower Boy<\/em> veers back into the soul\/R&amp;B influences that make up the bulk of his discography that were somewhat tuned down on <em>Cherry Bomb (<\/em>with plenty of soulful keys and great R&amp;B vocals from guests like Frank Ocean, Jaden Smith, and even Estelle)<em>, <\/em>and they sound absolutely fantastic and better than ever. There\u2019s quite a few neat touches sprinkled throughout, with probably the most interesting touch being in \u201cGarden Shed\u201d. The beat incorporates quite a bit of guitar work in a way which evokes, oddly, the aesthetics of \u201890s alternative rock, with the clean chorus-laden chords and the distortion-heavy flanger effects near the end. It adds a cool twist to his style, evoking the idea of intense detachment and apathy through completely different means. The aforementioned \u201cWho Dat Boy\u201d and \u201cI Ain\u2019t Got Time\u201d are appropriately over-the-top rap bangers, with the latter having a Latin-flavored clustering of percussion and horns akin to mariachi\/ the image of a Spanish bullfight. On top of all this, the album avoids the main pitfall of <em>Cherry Bomb<\/em> by actually having Tyler audible in the mix instead of buried massively underneath the beats.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, <em>Flower Boy<\/em> is an absolutely fantastic album, presenting a great collection of somber and emotionally melancholic rap tunes that present a rather emotionally honest and depressing image of Tyler, The Creator. While I will admit that my personal taste veers towards <em>Wolf<\/em> still being my favorite album of his, this new release is a big step up from <em>Cherry Bomb<\/em> and is easily the tightest and most thematically cohesive record that he\u2019s put out to date. Do not skip out on this one.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Verdict:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><em>Buy it. Tyler may not have time for these niggas, but you all have (or should make) time for this album.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Flower Boy is available from Odd Future Records\/Columbia Records on CD, digital download (iTunes, Google Play, etc.), and streaming services.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are many things you can say about rapper Tyler, The Creator, but you certainly can\u2019t call him a slouch when it comes \n<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/29\/review-tyler-the-creator-flower-boy\/\"> [...]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2107,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[548,549,543,545,503,550,294,295,546,542,544,547],"class_list":["post-2106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-911-mr-lonely","tag-boredom","tag-flower-boy","tag-flower-boy-review","tag-hip-hop","tag-i-aint-got-time","tag-rb","tag-rap","tag-scum-fuck-flower-boy","tag-tyler-the-creator","tag-tyler-the-creator-review","tag-who-dat-boy"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.surrealresolution.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/tyler-the-creator-flower-boy-review-thumbnail.png?fit=1193%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8GYHU-xY","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2106"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2115,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106\/revisions\/2115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.surrealresolution.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}