Tyler, The Creator has dropped another banger of an album. ‘CHROMAKOPIA,’ features a funky mix of different vibes, sounds, and deep meanings. The album ranges from genres like jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and even choir. Some of the songs are boasting, like a diss track to the haters, while others have deeper meanings, like celebrity struggles when trying to navigate a life of fame.
Most of these songs are really fire, with some even making their way into my daily rotation of music.
Track seven on the album, “Judge Judy,” starts off with a story about a girl named Judy, who Tyler met at a cafe, and the song goes into details about their love life. The whole song is about not judging people for being in need of a relationship. The song has a slow, funk vibe. It is very melodic, and all the lines flow well together, as well as the chorus. It’s not repetitive, and the story is really interesting to listen to. Also, a bonus is the background vocals, which sound freakishly like Frank Ocean, who hasn’t come out with any new music since 2020 and is a close friend of Tyler.
The song “Tomorrow,” track 10 on the album, starts off with a spoken skit by Tyler’s mom. It’s basically her begging Tyler to give her a grandchild. This song is on the slower, more sentimental side. When he’s comparing himself to all his other friends who have families and children while he’s out being busy in Hollywood, the verse that really hits me is, “All I got is photos of my ‘Rari and some silly suits.” This is the first song that officially made it onto my playlist.
Tyler has great experimentation on this album, and some of the sounds he puts together are pretty mind-blowing. However, not everything he tries works, and some of his words and sounds are so repetitive that it’s hard to listen to.
Starting off with my least favorite of the bunch, the song “Thought I Was Dead,” featuring ScHoolboy Q and Santigold. The main reason I hate this song is its repetition. Tyler repeats the N-slur an incomprehensible amount of times, to the point that it takes away from the enjoyment of the song. This song is a ‘diss track to the haters’ type of songs, which are usually not my favorites… it is just a stream of hate and cursing. Sometimes it can be humorous, but in this case, it is just annoying.. I just think it’s unnecessary, with him cursing 63 times.
Next is the title track, St. Chroma, which begins with another spoken skit, and then just a loop of the word ‘chromakopia,’ which is really annoying and made me want to immediately turn the song off. Later in the song, however, we can understand the deeper meaning of the song which is basically that to dim your light or personality just to fit social norms can make your whole life feel gray and dull, like the title with the word ‘chrome’ in it suggests. The concept is good, but the repetition is just too much.
“Sticky,” featuring GloRilla, Sexyy Red, and Lil Wayne, has gathered some mixed opinions. You either love it or you hate it…but for me, it’s the latter. The song begins with whistling, which is obnoxious and can even hurt your ears if you’re wearing earbuds. While the song touches on confidence in taking down the haters and getting through sticky situations, it suffers from over-repetition like the last one. Like the last song, there’s the use of over-repetition of cursing…again.
“CHROMAKOPIA” features Tyler’s funky style and diverse genre inclusion, which lends to a great listen. I definitely recommend taking a listen to at least a few of the songs, even if this genre of music isn’t your style. I think everyone could benefit from listening to some of the messages in these songs, and I think it’s enjoyable.While not every song is perfect, my overall rating is 6/10. The diss tracks and cursing get a bit repetitive (but, hey, it’s more acceptable for the rap genre), nonetheless, “CHROMAKOPIA” is a solid album from Tyler, The Creator. Even if this genre isn’t your style, the range of sounds and deeper meanings on this album make it worth a listen.
