Somewhere between sadistic humor and a homophobic slur, Tyler, The Creator became the face of a generation of edgy internet kids. Through the Wolf trilogy, alter-egos and characters like Wolf Haley became vessels of his personality to varying extremes in ways that felt reminiscent of Eminem and Slim Shady. He struck a visceral reaction when he emerged with the video for “Yonkers” yet his subsequent efforts proved that the shock value remained secondary to his art.
Still, misogyny and homophobia unintentionally became a focal point of his brand to the blind eye who, understandably, couldn’t overlook Tyler’s twisted juvenile humor for the sake of storytelling. But, as Tyler matured, so did the characters in his work including Saint Chroma, the most forthcoming alter-ego that the Odd Future frontman adopted for his new album, Chromakopia . Roughly 15 years after Tyler transported us to his therapist’s office on Bastard , where his teenage angst and childhood trauma became the central force of the Wolf trilogy, the L.
A.-based artist invites his mother to assist in this chapter of closure. Her voice rings out through the album as a guiding light of affirmations, echoing words of uncut positivity and tough love that stuck with Tyler through his formative years in Hawthorne to global stardom.
More importantly, she becomes a gateway for a deeper exploration into who Tyler became. She’s the first person who speaks on “ St. Chroma, ” telling him, “Don't you ever in yo.
