Nicholas Otte

English 210

April 16 2023

Tyler Okonma

Tyler the Creator, also known as Tyler Gregory Okanma, was born in Los Angeles, California, and was raised by his mother, Bonita Smith, in Ladera Heights. Growing up, Tyler was a self taught artist and musician. Tyler’s interest in music was sparked by rapper Eminem . He said that his album “Relapse” released in 2009, was his favorite album in 2011. He learned to play the piano and design covers for his albums. He was first introduced to his love for the arts when he made a MySpace profile, began to socialize with public figures, and posted his earliest songs, with “Bastard” being his debut mixtape. 

In 2007, Tyler had officially created his own record label, “Odd Future Labels,” with 11 skateboard members. After his label was created, he directed and released the music video to his song “Yonkers’ ‘ which reached over 2.5 million views. He released this song as a parody of New York Hip Hop and the title is a reference to the city north of the Bronx, where 90s rappers like DMX and Lox Hail are from. On the track, Tyler is fighting with his alter ego, Wolf Haley. You can identify this alter ego by the deep voice used in his songs. He says that “This Wolf Haley guy is the guy that I really wanna be. When you go back and listen to the song, every line that I say is like contradicting itself”. The verses in the song included a number of paradoxes and namedrops OF members. An example of this is when he says, “Swallow the cinnamon, i’ma scribble this sin and shit while syd is tellin’ me that shes been gettin’ intimate with men.” In this first line of this verse, Tyler mentions the cinnamon challenge, a viral trend at the time, that a former OF member had gone viral for.

Golf Wang, a clothing line that Tyler created in 2011, has reached great success in today’s age. Tyler coined the name “Golf Wang” in his raps about youth rebellion and dark humor by calling his friends “Odd Future Wolf Gang.” With this new term, he started a new sensation of streetwear marketed towards adults and teens that want to relive their adolescence with bright colors and eccentric branding. When Tyler created this line, he wanted it to be something completely separate from Odd Future. The name GolfWang was then shortened to “GOLF” and the message that he wanted to spread was happiness and living life to its fullest extent.

Tyler is an internet sensation when it comes to his incredible stage presence and his free spirit. In a 2016 interview for “Hollywood Reporter,” Phil Toselli spoke on Tyler’s creative process and stated that “he’s not trained in any way. He just has wild ideas that he taught himself to make reality. He’s very rapid-fire bouncing off walls, and hyper as shit. It just works.” He puts all his efforts into making sure that these sets and performances are well thought out and put together. In 2022, Tyler held a concert for people in the Capital One area, and his stage presence took everyone’s breath away. For the beginning of his set, Tyler built up the audience’s anticipation as he rose from beneath the stage while a 1939 Rolls Royce car was on stage. He performed songs from each of his albums and brought in other artists, such as Kali Uchlis and Vince Staples. Tyler furnishes his set with a green house, and alongside it is a silhouette of musicians in the windows. He has split the stage into two different sections. On the second side of this set, there was a yacht that was going through an open path that led from the main stage to the secondary one. Around the path lay shrubbery to really give the audience a sense of being inside the music video or in tune with the music. To throw even more excitement into the performance, Tyler brings in pyrotechnics, and when the flames are set ablaze, the crowd goes absolutely insane. The crowd’s feet are showered in sparks, and it feels euphoric. The stage lights made his eyes seem as if they gleamed a different color, as did the way he threw himself around the stage. His reckless dancing, transitioned into a smooth moonwalk, and the columns of flames ascending behind him were otherworldly. He has one of the most powerful stage presences that I have ever seen. 

One thing about Tyler is that he does everything for a reason. Every bit of chaos and disorder was an effort to display excessive absurdism that differs from his hopeless romantic character on stage. In his new song “SORRY NOT SORRY” he is showing a progression of mentality that represents the pursuit of the best version of himself. In the music video, multiple forms of himself are displayed on a desert, which represents his discography. In the song, Tyler apologizes to the multiple people that he has hurt. While doing so, he takes out multiple iterations. Some people believe that even though he is apologizing, it still comes off as a statement of defiance. Tyler has begun to realize the effect that he has on others and continues to reinvent himself to become the best version of himself. Though Tyler may seem to have a defiant nature, he is a man of art. A man who puts his everything into the work that he puts out and stays unapologetically devoted to himself and the people that he cares for. He was once a young boy dreaming of the life that he could make for himself and his family, and now he has officially turned his life around and is living better than he could ever imagine. With that, I say, thank you Tyler, for being the person I aspire to be in the future and showing me that no matter what you may believe, if you put your all into something, you have no worries for other people. Your dreams and efforts will be recognized.