The Genius of Music Persona
Publication #1
Personalities are everywhere in music, either directly or indirectly, and they tend to leave a mark on the listener’s mind. Some have found fame with this tactic, either using a persona that shook the internet or just growing on people’s souls & playlists. I will dive into the many examples that have risen from the graves of mystery to the fame they used to put a new wave in the music industry…
The Early Stages
Tyler Gregory Okonma, well-known as “Tyler, The Creator”, An American Rapper and one of the founding members of the music collective “Odd Future” and an interesting take on how he will reach the top of the food chain in the music industry. Interestingly that his stage name came from his Myspace Profile. His first mixtape as an individual artist was the mixtape “Bastard” in 2009, which gained a lot of praise from many publications such as Pitchfork, which slammed him a record deal.
This shows the potential of the tactic he used. From the first minute of listening to “Bastard,” we can listen to the heavy, dark and sensitive message that Tyler talks about his childhood, self-harm, and many more things. Still, he is talking to someone, a character called “Dr. TC” is supposable to the therapist treating Tyler for his “Misbehaving.”
Well, Tyler, hi, I'm Dr. TC, and um, I'm guessing.
That your teacher sent you here to talk cause you were misbehaving
Um, it's gonna be three sessions, today, tomorrow, Wednesday
So, just tell me something about yourself
Well, look, if you don't talk, I mean these sessions are going to go slower.
Tyler opens up about how he reals about the things that are affecting him as he falls into this deep loop of anger, depression, and trauma. Experiences such as him not having a father present in his life include things from his mother’s struggle and taboo topics you won’t usually hear in Hip Hop like self-harm.
My wrist is all red from the cutter
Dripping cold blood like the winter, the summer
Is never that's equivalent to me and Sarah…
Throughout “Bastard”, we realize the artist's objective and was to catch the listener by surprise because listeners do not usually listen to music where the character is screaming slurs and talking about his feelings. Some people hated it, and some Loved it cause of that Tyler has created this slap to the music industry, that he does not care about anyone or anything.
The Response
“Tyler, The Creator” goes on with two more albums with the tactic of shock until the album “Cherry Bomb” in 2015, in which he started experimenting with his music. Still, many of his hardcore fans didn’t take it lightly and started bashing him, and some were interested in this new side of Tyler, which he later explores. Even due to the mixed feedback about the “Cherry bomb,” According to Rindner (2018), “Everyone hated it. Except for, like, real music lovers who cares about drums, he said: Like, I opened a rap album with a rock song.”
The Transition
He proceeded in the following years to drop one of his successful albums, “Flower Boy,” where in this album, he took a tone down, going for a new take on his music, calmer. He takes on the unique character as this album tackles one of the main themes: Tyler, The Creator’s sexuality & even mental issues, as an example in his first song in the album, “Foreword”.
About his mental battles…
How many cars can I buy 'til I run out of drive?
How much drive can I have until I run outta road?
How much road can they pave until I run outta land?
How much land can there be until I run in the ocean?
About his sexuality
See, I was never into the beaches and all the sands
See, I was in the woods with flowers, rainbows and posies falling outta my pocket
But y'all wanna know if I swam to cool down
In these two verses, we can believe how many hobbies and materialistic things he can keep doing and getting until he realizes he is running away from his depression and his sexuality, even though this has no contribution to this album's storyline.
In “See You Again” we understand Tyler’s feelings for a boy mentioned in the skit, and he starts describing the first details of this person.
It's them rose tinted cheeks, yeah it's them dirt-colored eyes
Sugar honey iced tea, bumblebee on the scene
Yeah I'd give up my bakery to have a piece of your pie
This shows the new side of Tyler, The side where he is vulnerable about how he feels, which was very well taken. As mentioned, this Persona continues battling these feelings and thoughts from the surface of loneliness, depression, and these new feelings that he is trying to comprehend.
In “Garden Shed”
The truth is, since a youth kid, thought it was a phase
Figured it'd be like the Frank; poof, gone
But it's still goin' on
Throughout this album, the character shown to us is his Battles but in the most captive and gorgeous way…
“Peak fiction” of Tyler, The Creator
On May 17th, 2019. The Album “Igor” dropped after long waiting since “Flower Boy” success. A self-produced album featuring musicians from the Hip Hop scene such as Kanye West, Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, and many from the R&B/Soul and Pop like Charlie Wilson, La Roux, Ryan Beatty, and many more. This album had so much just from the production, and the story and persona Tyler takes in this album make it even better.
“Igor” is a complex character that we start understanding leading up to track 7 “A Boy Is a Gun”. From tracks 1-6 story revolves around a love triangle, Tyler has an interest in a guy that is seeing some girl. Tyler is frustrated about the guy because he won’t commit, which causes Tyler to fall into this limbo zone of wanting love and the fear of being unloved, but the alter-ego takes place in track 7…
Take your hoodie off, why you hide your face from me?
Make your fuckin' mind up, I am sick of waitin' patiently
Tyler is calling out the guy for not being the person he is hiding from, In this case hiding from his true feelings. As much as he is frustrated, he still wants him even though he knows how much damage he has caused him…
No, don't shoot me down
You so mother******' dangerous (you started with a mere hello)
You so mother******' dangerous
You got me by my neck (a boy is a gun)
In the track after “Puppet”, a rejection was presented to Tyler, where the guy once again can’t focus on him and is concerned about his girl, which he uses an exciting way to elaborate about, as the girl is presented as “Rudolph” and the guy is “Santa”.
You're number one, one on my list, to you I'm Santa
Where is Rudolph? You're parasitic
I do not have self-control
I am starting to wonder
Is this my free will or yours?
In the ending of “Puppet” we can hear Kanye telling Tyler to breathe, Someone saying “CUT ME LOOSE” and Jerrod Carmichael stating, "But at some point, you come to your senses.", and the infamous transition of “Igor” has finally settled in Tyler’s mind. Tyler unlocked a less romantic and more dark side of him due to the hiding pain he had been hiding until he couldn’t, and he snapped on this track with the infamous Kanye influence of production can be found during this fantastic track.
And the next few tracks are the aftermath of the mental breakdown he had, a calmer state of mind after what he had felt during this whole journey, and ends with the track “Are We Still Friends?” the song revolves around that Tyler still has the urge to stay friends, because he would rather be friends rather than nothing at all and that is due to him feeling that it would be wasted potential which is more upsetting than any other outcome, Is this a cry for another chance to capture this guys heart or is he finally moving on?
Conclusion
The beauty that was found in making personalities, pushing a story without telling it by only using the beats and a significant amount of figurative language to create multiple alter-egos to show what is his deepest fears, what is he feeling and what will he do about it. We do not see this type of artist much from how hard pulling a stunt like this, a stunt that will be known not only in the circles of fans but even in music history.