As with every new Tyler The Creator album, CHROMAKOPIA is a lot to take in. That's not just due to the manic, genre-fusing, and intricately layered production, but also because of how much his lyrics reveal about his current perspective and his impactful journey as an artist. While the Hawthorne native keeps things exciting with his performances, the thematic density of most tracks leaves a lot of open room for analysis and deep topical explorations.
In other words, this new album can feel overwhelming at times, especially when we've only had it for a few hours. Furthermore, it's impossible to define all of its themes succinctly in such a short time span. But there are many verses on here that immediately stand out as some of Tyler, The Creator 's best writing, his most complete narratives, and his most compelling examples of keenly crafted nuance.
Whether it's about fatherhood (or his own father), Black hair, religion, or identity, the former Odd Future frontman's pen reached some of its highest all-time peaks. As such, we've compiled the five best verses from CHROMAKOPIA that caught our ears in our first couple of listens. We'll stick to the rapping performances on here for the sake of consistency, and to Tyler himself.
Even though these are just early impressions, the statements and reflections on this LP certainly leave their mark the moment they hit your ears. We can only imagine what other treasures they hold, and these excellent verses could point the way. Relationship.