By Lupe Duran |Staff Writer|
Tyler, the Creator fans received the expected outlandish antics of the Odd Future member in his newest album, along with a pleasantly surprising look into his personal thoughts on love, relationships and fame.
Wolf contains the same comedic elements and explicit language over mellow beats, courtesy of Hodgy Beats, which are similar to his previous albums.
What we love and appreciate from Tyler and the Odd Future gang is that they remind listeners to look beyond mainstream music. Originality is not dead.
Avid OFWGKTA listener and student James Reynoso agrees. “If you’ve never heard Tyler the Creator and you’re expecting some ‘ringtone rap’ trash, like Drake or Lil Wayne, you’ll be disappointed.”
The album features artists such as Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu and Pharrell, who each bring their own flare to add onto Tyler’s creative venture.
In “IFHY,” (an acronym for I f***in hate you) Tyler and Pharrell explore the ins and outs of loving and hating a person at the same time, giving listeners something to relate to as it is a situation many know all too well.
Wolf is Tyler’s longest album, containing 18 tracks. Tyler’s lyrics on Wolf exemplify his talent, but his amateur style in production sound sloppy and poorly put together.
Let’s just say they could use a bit more ‘oomph’ and a little less ‘blah.’ The dull beats do finally seem to make an attempt to showcase power and energy at track 15.
“Trashwang,” begins with a big bang and continues with a fast upbeat pace that listeners can finally rock a little after the previous tracks hold minimal “wow” factors.
Once you move past the flat beats and focus on the stories within the songs, the witty lyrics will make listeners laugh, think and, at some points, a little uncomfortable.
“I didn’t really like the homosexual comments he made in a few songs,” student Cristen Morales said. “It kind of comes out of nowhere too. I was like whoa, ok, that was kind of wrong.”
It’s true that songs on the album such as “Rusty,” do make homophobic comments which when considering Tyler’s lyrical ability to express himself render unnecessary, makes listeners question the Odd Future member’s choice of words.
As far as the contribution featured artists made to the album, some made more of an impact than others. Erykah Badu, accompanied by male voices in the background on “Treehome95” is refreshing and even if the song is short and the beat is mellow the addition of a female voice was much needed and the perfect lead into the next song, “Tamale.”
“I’m not much of a Tyler, the Creator fan,” student Alyssa Morris said. “But, after listening to the CD in my friend’s car, that song stuck with me.”
Regardless of the extra attention that was missing in production and the negative sexual references made on a few of the tracks fans agree, for the most part, that Wolf is an album with a story.
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