There’s little more intriguing than an artist who manages not just to move through the world in a way that is pure and unguarded, but to create in a similar fashion. That’s Tyler, the Creator. Once the founder (and loudest member) of provocateur crew Odd Future, Tyler has evolved into one of music’s most consistently interesting auteurs and—as much as I hate the word—multihyphenates. For T’s annual “The Greats” issue, Adam Bradley unpacks the many, many layers of Tyler Okonma.
In these early songs and videos, Tyler announced himself as an artist unafraid of being misunderstood. He made things to amuse himself and his close friends, which gave his art authenticity — and, once it found a fan base, an uncommon intimacy. That intimacy endures. All you need to do is read one comment below the “Goblin” video on YouTube: “As a kid I thought this was terrifying, now I just see this as normal Tyler behavior.” Many of Tyler’s fans have grown up with him. Over the years, he’s instructed them — sometimes implicitly through the work, sometimes explicitly through his public comments — on how to engage with his art. And because his back catalog lives on, a new generation of fans has caught on too.
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