I’m not sure who Tyler
was yelling at. Maybe
our crew, who was pack-
ing up after the shoot.
Maybe his friend Jasper
or tour manager who
followed behind us in a
car. Maybe the random
janitorial staff who was
exiting the building in
front of us. It was one of
many, many outbursts
that day from the boy
genius. All topped off
with his deep, comical
villain laugh and cat-
that-ate-the-canary grin.
WERE YOU
ALWAYS THIS
ENCYCLOPEDIC
ABOUT MUSIC?
Tyler, the Creator: Yeah.
I didn’t play with toys
as a child. I just want-
ed CDs for my birthday
and Christmas, and I
would always just sit
and read the credits.
And to this day, I’ll look
at an album, listen to it
once, just preview it, and
know the track list and
sometimes, depending
on if I like it or not, who
wrote it. Just little stu-
pid facts about it. When
the person died, maybe.
YOU HAVE HARD-
CORE FANS, AND
YOU’RE A PRETTY
HARD-CORE FAN
YOURSELF.
One time a fan walked
up to me and said, “Hey,
Tyler, could you sign
me?” I was grabbing
pens, and he was like the
fourth person. So when
I went to grab it, it was
a razor blade, and I was
like, “What the fuck?”
and I looked at his arm
and he had cuts all over
it. And my security was
like, Nah. And threw him
the fuck out of there.
WHERE’S
THE BIGGEST
FRUSTRATION IN
YOUR CAREER
AT THIS VERY
MOMENT?
I think everything that
has happened thus far
was supposed to hap-
pen. And everything is a
learning experience for
me. I’ve been trying to
get on the radio. I hav-
en’t been super success-
ful with that, but that
time will come. If it’s not
the next album, then
it’s the three after that.
YOU HAVE
MILLIONS OF
FOLLOWERS ON
SOCIAL MEDIA.
YOUR OWN DAMN
CARNIVAL, MAN.
WHY IS RADIO
IMPORTANT TO
YOU IN 2018?
I grew up listening to
it. Although it’s not the
most important thing,
there’s still a percentage
of me that wants to lis-
ten to the radio one day
and say, “Oh, that’s my
song!” A lot of my favor-
ite artists I heard for the
first time because of the
radio. I first heard ”Mau-
reen” by Sade on the
radio. Maxwell’s Urban
Hang Suite, his first al-
bum, co-written by Leon
Ware. I first heard that
on the radio. I first heard
“Tape You” by N.E.R.D.,
my favorite band in the
world, one of my favor-
ite songs ever, on the
radio. And that’s how I
got introduced to that,
and that shaped every-
thing for me, so. It’s still
a piece of me that not
only wants to be on the
radio, but it’s probably
some 11-year-old in the
middle of fucking no-
where who might hear
a song, look me up, get
introduced to a whole
world—and that could
change everything he’s
into for the rest of his life.
I’D LIKE TO TALK
ABOUT THE
THEORY THAT
YOU HAVE ABOUT
YOUR VOICE
ON THE RADIO.
IS THAT WHY
YOU THINK YOU
HAVEN’T BEEN ON
THE RADIO YET?
I hate my voice and
I think—it’s not a full
thought or theory yet—
but I think there are
certain voices that can
make it into a main-
stream world because
of the tone that they’re
in. People like Jay, ‘Ye,
Drake, you know, Ken-
ny. It’s a world that their
voice lives in. It’s not too
high and squeaky, and
it’s not too low and bassy,
it’s not too abrasive and
raspy. It sits in this space
that’s easy listening for
humans. And I’m still try-
ing to figure out the sci-
ence behind it. When I
do, I’ll let you know, but I
definitely don’t have that
voice. And I fucking wish
that I did. Stevie Won-
der has it, too. It’s a tone
that I’m tryna pinpoint.
Like, Lloyd Banks was
the hardest rapper from
G-Unit to me. And you
know, he probably didn’t
have the same charis-
ma and blah, blah, blah.
I FEEL LIKE WITH
FLOWER BOY AND
CHERRY BOMB,
YOU’VE FOUND
YOUR VOICE. AND
IT’S BEAUTIFUL—
IN THE CLASSICAL
SENSE.
Yeah. I just stopped yell-
ing and stopped saying
crazy stuff, honestly. Like,
niggas act like “Analog”
wasn’t on Goblin. Or I
wasn’t wearing tie-dye.
Or like the “Yonkers” vid-
eo, I didn’t have a bunch
of chains on, wearing
cutoff shorts with this
hot-pink
button-up
tie-dye shirt. And, like,
I do think that I’ve pro-
gressed in just making
perfectly crafted stuff.
But a lot of this stuff isn’t
too out of character if
you really study a artist.
Twisted Fantasy. Emi-
nem: number 14…2002.
It was supposed to orig-
inally come out in June,
I think it came out May
26 because it leaked. The
Eminem Show, number
14, “Hailie’s Song.” He’s
singing on it. And, like,
the hook is the blueprint
for the Recovery album.
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