Tyler, The Creator’s Best Verses On “CHROMAKOPIA”

As with every new Tyler The Creator album, CHROMAKOPIA is a lot to take in. That’s not just due to the manic, genre-fusing, and intricately layered production, but also because of how much his lyrics reveal about his current perspective and his impactful journey as an artist. While the Hawthorne native keeps things exciting with his performances, the thematic density of most tracks leaves a lot of open room for analysis and deep topical explorations. In other words, this new album can feel overwhelming at times, especially when we’ve only had it for a few hours. Furthermore, it’s impossible to define all of its themes succinctly in such a short time span.

But there are many verses on here that immediately stand out as some of Tyler, The Creator’s best writing, his most complete narratives, and his most compelling examples of keenly crafted nuance. Whether it’s about fatherhood (or his own father), Black hair, religion, or identity, the former Odd Future frontman’s pen reached some of its highest all-time peaks. As such, we’ve compiled the five best verses from CHROMAKOPIA that caught our ears in our first couple of listens. We’ll stick to the rapping performances on here for the sake of consistency, and to Tyler himself. Even though these are just early impressions, the statements and reflections on this LP certainly leave their mark the moment they hit your ears. We can only imagine what other treasures they hold, and these excellent verses could point the way.

Relationships, commitment, and fatherhood are big themes on CHROMAKOPIA, so it’s only fitting that Tyler The Creator would outline his feelings on romance on one of the album’s first tracks. With steady flows, he delivers one of his most blunt and direct verses on the album that explains why he’s not a fan of monogamy. First off, the “WHAT A DAY” creative compares partners to all the different cars that he loves for different reasons, which also calls to lingering themes of success and excess from CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST. This isn’t just a playboy anthem, though, as Tyler also points to his own flaws that prompt this perspective.

“Too many grooves, I’m too curious to try to be / Hiding things, feeling shame built inside of me / ’Cause honestly, T is not perfect / So how can I get everything from one person?” Tyler, The Creator raps on the cut. At the end of the day, he really appreciates his love-lorn bonds, but concludes that what will really provide him with long-lasting company is the art he creates. That feeling of love is what he chases and cherishes, even if it’s temporary.

Both verses on “Hey Jane” (named after an abortion-related healthcare company) speak about Tyler The Creator’s relationship with a woman and their unexpected pregnancy, divulging their personal insecurities about it and affirming their commitment to support each other no matter the woman’s decision. They’re both stellar narratives with cutting lines and tender details, but since the second one is from the woman’s perspective, we’d rather let potential mothers speak on that for themselves. Regardless, the Camp Flog Gnaw leader provides a balanced and mature assessment from both sides, and his story shines through beautifully.

Through lines like “We ain’t make it to love yet / Took a shortcut to forever, I’m upset” and “You got to deal with all the mental and physical change / All the heaviest emotions, and the physical pain / Just to give the kid the man last name? F**k that,” Tyler, The Creator swings on the pendulum of fear and fearless support with grace. He knows it’s not the perfect situation, but he’s ready to take accountability for his and his partner’s choices, prioritizing her wants and needs. From a narrative perspective, the letter-like framing of each verse makes this one of CHROMAKOPIA‘s most striking lyrical moments.

Tyler The Creator is a rapper, not a poet, but the first verse on “I Killed You” blurs that line through a common literary device in both art forms: personification. Building off of themes of heritage and identity, he speaks about his hair and remarks on its importance in Black culture. Much like the rest of CHROMAKOPIA, there’s a masterful push-and-pull on display. On one hand, Tyler explains all the things that Black culture and he himself has done to adapt their hair to a society of white supremacy that looks down on them. “No finding out, a couple knots was a map / We escaping them routes” is a particularly cutting line that feels ashamed of trying to erase that history with chemicals, cuts, straightening, etc.

However, by the end of the song, Tyler, The Creator concludes that he could “never kill” his hair, flipping the first line from “If they see you on top of me, I got to leave” to “If they see you on top of me, then I’m at peace.” What was once a passing mention on CMIYGL turned into one of Tyler’s most skilled, proud, and culturally powerful statements as of late.