Tyler, The Creator has become one of the most influential artists in modern pop music. His soulful sound and unique fashion sense has made him a pop culture icon of the 2010s. He is also a notable figure for the LGBT community, with him coming out as bisexual on his 2017 album Flower Boy. However, Tyler’s current success and popularity is a far cry from how he began his career.
Tyler, whose full name is Tyler Gregory Okonma, grew up in Hawthorne, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. His father was absent from his childhood, and he was raised primarily by his mother. During his school years, Tyler attended 12 different schools in 12 years throughout the Los Angeles area. He was kicked out of drama classes for being too hyper, and was not allowed to join band class because he couldn’t read music. Despite this, Tyler showed a love for music, teaching himself to play piano at the age of 14. In 2007, Tyler formed the hip-hop group Odd Future with other teens who shared an interest in music, including future megastars such as Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt. Odd Future and its members released several small-scale albums, but Tyler received recognition after releasing the song “Yonkers” in 2011.
The surprising success of “Yonkers” was met with backlash, as the song’s lyrics were notably violent and contained multiple threatening lines directed towards other music stars such as Bruno Mars. Shocking and disturbing lyrics were a pattern throughout Tyler’s early music, including Goblin, the album on which “Yonkers” appears. The album was especially controversial for its frequent use of homophobic, racist, and misogynistic lyrics. The public outrage surrounding Goblin came to a climax when Tyler was banned from the United Kingdom and arrested in Austin, Texas for inciting a riot during a live performance. Tyler’s aggressive style was toned down on his next album Wolf, which was Tyler’s breakout album, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 charts.
Wolf brought a new creative direction to Tyler’s work, as the album marked a significant change in sound, and Tyler began to take his work much more seriously. He began to feature members of Odd Future less, and his next album Cherry Bomb featured major artists such as Kanye West and Lil Wayne. However, Tyler’s touring process for Cherry Bomb was derailed by protests and bans based on his shocking lyrics from the past, and the mixed reaction to the album’s experimental sound.
In 2017, Tyler made yet another massive stylistic change to his music when he released Flower Boy. The album was notable for its soulful sound and being much more influenced by jazz, rythym, and blues music than Tyler’s typical hip-hop sound. The album was a critical success, being Tyler’s first album to be nominated for a Grammy award. A major component of the album was Tyler’s self-reflective lyrics about his sexuality and how he regrets the shocking nature of his previous music. The wave of success started by Flower Boy continued into 2019, when Tyler released Igor, a concept album based on a story of Tyler falling in love with a man and entering a love triangle with the man and his girlfriend. Igor became even more successful than Flower Boy, becoming not only Tyler’s first number-one album in the U.S., but also Tyler’s first album to win a Grammy, winning Best Rap Album at the 2020 ceremony.
In 2021, Tyler released his next album, Call Me If You Get Lost. The album was a return to form, as the music shifted back to hip-hop and Tyler’s appreciation for the success he has achieved is a major part of the album. The album became his second to win Best Rap Album at the Grammys, and it pushed him into the status of a pop music icon. In 2024, Tyler headlined the prestigious Coachella music festival along with Lana Del Ray and Doja Cat. Outside of his music, Tyler launched his own luxury clothing brand Golf le Fleur, and his ban from the United Kingdom was finally lifted.
Tyler, the Creator is living proof that anyone can become successful. His art has shown his own personal growth from a rebellious teen looking to offend as many people as possible, to a refined and knowledgeable pop music sensation. He is often credited as one of the most influential musicians of the 2010s, and shows no signs of stopping his rise to the top of the music industry.
