Call me if you get found

 

No matter how you look at it, Tyler, the Creator is an outlier. Coming up quite on his own, much in the way a Chance the Rapper did, his persona and artistic production are something else still. From the beginning, it looked obvious that the young man was a multifaceted artist: music, obviously, but also film and TV, fashion, design… You pretty much name it, he’s done it — or will soon. And, in myst cases, with rather remarkable success. Comparisons with Kanye (West) may make sense, with 2 major differences: 1) Tyler is way more subdued and way less antagonistic in his demeanor, although arguably as self-assured. in his craft(s); 2) he’s only 30, so time will tell…

Call Me If You Get Lost is an interesting animal. On the one end, it is refreshingly reminiscent of the highly sophisticated Hip Hop beats of days past. Think 1990’s old school work, when The Roots and Pharcyde came up with eminently polished records, arguably what other phenom J. Cole achieved with his own recent hit, The Off-Season. You may very well enjoy current trap / drill sounds, but you will probably agree it feels good to listen to such stylized work once in a while… Tyler’s voice helps too: its depth clearly adds a sense of urgency, or at least intensity, to the songs on this album. But, what is equally appealing here is the fact that this is not merely an homage or a direct steal: on the contrary, the beats sound fresh, once again in the way Kanye’s always do…

Another key aspect of this LP is its incredible consistency: take any track on there, from singles “Lumberjack” and “WusYaName” to deep cuts like the 8-10 minute-long “Sweet / I Thought You Wanted to Dance” and “Wilshire” (!) and you will very much get different moods on the same stylistic spectrum. You will find more mellow moments, like with “Massa” or “Hot Wind Blows” (featuring none other than Lil Wayne). You will also stumble upon the arguably enjoyable, more triumphant beats on “Lemonhead” or closer “Safari”. Either way, a couple of things are clear: 1) this is, yet again, a resounding success for Tyler, the Creator; 2) it probably won’t be the last…