Record Review: Tyler, The Creator Exits Puberty with ‘Scum Fuck Flower Boy’

Tyler, The Creator's Fourth LP Reviewed.

While I’ve never necessarily disliked Tyler, The Creator as an artist, I will say that one of the things that has prevented me from being able to fully get behind his music is that I sometimes find him childishly aggressive and obnoxious. For example, more than ever, with his previous effort, 2015's Cherry Bomb, Tyler goes into hiding behind a firewall of Death Grips-ian distortion, where he lays down what really is just an hour long temper tantrum regarding his fame. It seems as though he wasn’t taking being famous too well. With tracks like “Death Camp”, Tyler spits complaints about the lack of privacy, and the frustration with being approached by fans. Familiar territory for him (i.e. Wolf), but this was the most in depth he had gone in with it. Much like Kendrick on DAMN, we were looking at a post-fame Tyler, The Creator. While I would say that was easily his most personal album at that point, it also was (and still is) his worst album yet. It’s repetitive, it’s sloppy, and worst of all, it’s just un-ambitious.

Two years following the release of Cherry Bomb, Tyler is coming through with a new project, Flower Boy (AKA Scum Fuck Flower Boy). Tyler, The Creator has always been hit or miss for me. Bastard is a nightmarish delight, Goblin was average, Wolf was excellent, and Cherry Bomb, as said above, was general trash. With that all said, I didn’t really know what to expect with this album. So, on July 21, when the album dropped, I quickly downloaded myself a copy and gave it a listen.

With Flower Boy, Tyler, The Creator presents what really is his most personal, emotional, and psychological album yet. And that was shocking to me considering that I was honestly expecting more of the same. With previous releases, Tyler spits verses of rage, anger, even violence; after all, half of the tracks on Goblin were about stalking, rape, and murder. But with this LP, Tyler tales himself in a different direction. The songs on this are cries of loneliness, and internal distress. In many respects, this is Tyler’s answer to fellow Odd Future member, Frank Ocean’s, album, Chanel Orange.

The opening track, “Forward”, features Tyler exclaiming his discontent for material possessions. How much could he possibly have? How many cars does a man really need? He’s seeing friends come and go. He’s realising that nothing lasts forever, and it’s making him feel empty. He dreams about “The woods with flowers, rainbows and posies”. He then gives a “shoutout to the girls that I lead on / For occasional head and always keeping my bed warm”; an attempt at offering apologies to the women he’s taken advantage of.

This leads us to the second track, “Where The Flowers Bloom”. Tyler talks about his own progressions as a person, comparing it to a flower in bloom. He talks about how he started from the bottom, but worked his way up to the top. With that, however, there has also been a lot of doubt and resistance. People have questioned his legitimacy. He also speaks of wanting black kids to be who they are, and not worry about preconceived norms, such as hyper-masculinity, and heteronormativity. He doesn’t want them to feel like he did when he was growing up: confused, misplaced, unsure of himself. This song ties into a big part of not only Tyler’s music, but also him as a person. Tyler once stated in an interview with Larry King that the thing that frightens him most are people who are fake, and who aren’t comfortable with themselves. He truly channels that ideology through the lyrics in this track.

With the third track, “Sometimes”, featuring singer, Kali Uchis, Tyler is fantasizing about his own dream person. He doesn’t have anyone to call his own, and vice versa. This track is the album’s epitome of loneliness. He chases them throughout his dreams, but can’t grab a hold of them. He wants them to come back to reality with him. As he’s about to wake up, he asks them for a kiss, as he’s about to “go to war”, and he’s not sure if he’s gonna come back. The “war”, in question, is reality; the public, the hustle and bustle of his life. He doesn’t want to go back to it, though. He doesn’t know if he’ll be able to dream of her again, to see her again, to feel her again. He wants his kiss, their love, to last forever.

These tracks present Tyler at his most vulnerable. Tyler, The Creator is coming to terms with the state of his life. His temper has cooled down, and he is observing the true, emotional aftermath of his climb to the top. While Tyler has gotten vulnerable on the mic before, as with the songs “Answer”, and “IFHY”, from Wolf. But this is the first time that that attitude has taken up this much of the overall LP. It’s also the calmest he’s been in relating these feelings. I think this shows off Tyler’s true talents not only as a rapper, but as a songwriter. This is the Tyler I’ve been waiting for. Not since Bastard has Tyler really driven into us with his personal psyche. But even then, he was going in hard with that. Full force. Here, we’re seeing the softest that Tyler has ever been.

Things really start to get interesting with the track “Garden Shed”, in which it seems that Tyler is coming out of the closet. Now, with that said, it’s not necessarily his sexuality that makes it interesting, but rather, the level of personal, emotional depth. Here, Tyler uses the image of a common garden shed as a symbol for a hiding place. He’s been using it to guard his emotions.

“That is where I was hidin’ / That is what love I was I in / Ain’t no reason to pretend / Garden shed, garden shed, garden shed / Garden shed for the garçons / Them feelings that I was guardin’ / Heavy on my mind”

He’s tried coming out before, but the people around him haven’t taken him seriously. They’ve just written it off as a mere phase. The irony in this is that now that people on a mass scale are catching on, people like Jake Boyer, of HighSnobriety.com, have called Tyler out for simply trolling people. They see this as mere publicity stunt — a phase. For people like that, Tyler is far too problematic to be a member of the elite, queer culture. It’s a downright gorgeous song that’s made even better with a feature by Estelle, better known as the voice of Garnet on Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe. She adds this real atmosphere to the slow-jam production, and it just gives you this sensual, lush, goose-bumpy feel.

Now, at this point, the theme of Tyler’s sexuality, his lust, his desire for human companionship, is kicked into high gear. With songs like “I Ain’t Got Time”, Tyler continues to allude to his sexuality, stating how “this next line will have em’ like whoa / I’ve been kissing white boys since 2004”. “911/Mr. Lonely”, one of the album’s lead singles, also provides a simple, yet charming, look at Tyler’s desires for love, stating that his “thirst levels are to infinity and beyond”, and how he’s “sippin’ on lemonade, [he needs] a Beyonce”.

The track that I really want to talk about, however, is the track “November”. This is, in my opinion, not only one of the best tracks on the album, but one of the best songs that Tyler has added to his discography. With this song, the pressure of Tyler’s life is starting to crush him. He’s questioning what will happen if, or even when, he loses his relevancy. What if he can’t pay the bills with his art anymore? Will he have to return to the projects? He wonders if his manager, Clancy, a father figure to him, is actually secretly fucking him over. He’s worried that “all [his] day ones turn to three, fours ’cause of track seven”. Track seven is “Garden Shed. He’s worried about the people turning on him because he’s coming out of the closet.

Throughout this song, Tyler is constantly talking about how he wants to go back to “November”. November, in this case, is symbolic of the simpler days of Tyler’s life. At the halfway mark of the song, we hear overlapped audio of various interviewees saying what their “November” is. This is the part that I think really makes the song work. I like to think of this as Tyler’s attempt at trying to relate his emotions to the audience. He’s not watering it down by any stretch, but he’s trying to give us a clear notion of what it means to yearn for “November”, the simpler days in our lives. And I think it works effectively. It’s easily one of the most human tracks that he has put out.

The album is accompanied with a few singles, most notably “Boredom” and “Who Dat Boy”. Both are just absolutely great. With “Who Dat Boy”, we are provided with a haunting, yet hard, trap inspired beat, complimented by a well-versed feature by A$AP Rocky. “Boredom” presents a call-back to the track, “I Ain’t Got Time”, in which Tyler yearns for the free time he used to have to partake in hobbies. The song is about Tyler no longer experiencing boredom, since, now that he’s a public figure, he’s always busy doing something, stating that “boredom got a new best friend”. From a production standpoint, its a softer track than “Who Dat Boy”, but still just as high in quality.

The production on this thing is just excellent. One of the main gripes that I’ve had with many of Tyler’s releases, especially with Goblin, is that the production itself has always felt somewhat muddled and kind of hollow; and if that wasn’t the problem, then it was the opposite. It felt like too much was going on (i.e. Cherry Bomb). Here, there is a real jazzy, soulful sound to the instrumentals. Tyler seems to have really worked on his skills at the controls, and it shows. Everything has this rough edge with a lavender center, and its just pure ear candy.

The main critique that I came away from this album with is that it doesn’t have the best finale. The song “Glitter”, while produced, sang, and rapped well, doesn’t really offer any sort of major retrospect to what he’s been saying during the past, tight, forty-seven minutes. It’s not a huge deal, as the track before this is “November”, but still. However, it’s a nitpick, for me anyways.

I honestly loved Scum Fuck Flower Boy, and I actually think it might be Tyler, The Creator’s best album yet. It’s the first time that we’re seeing Tyler express himself in a mature, considerably vulnerable way. He’s not hiding behind that wall of distorted anger. He’s not getting all up in your face. He’s not kicking and screaming. He’s just kind of being honest with the people. Not since Bastard has Tyler so thoroughly exposed himself on the mic. With this project, Tyler has finally exited puberty, and in the process, becomes a man. He’s truly grown up. It’s a beautiful album, complete with great production, excellent features, and honest retrospects on his fame, his life, and himself. I can only hope that Tyler gives us more of this in the years to come.

Download: Scum Fuck Flower Boy
1. "Foreword" (featuring Rex Orange County)
2. "Where This Flower Blooms" (featuring Frank Ocean)
3. "Sometimes..."
4. "See You Again" (featuring Kali Uchis)
5. "Who Dat Boy" (featuring ASAP Rocky)
6. "Pothole" (featuring Jaden Smith)
7. "Garden Shed" (featuring Estelle)
8. "Boredom" (featuring Rex Orange County and Anna of the North)
9. "I Ain't Got Time!"
10. "911 / Mr. Lonely" (featuring Frank Ocean and Steve Lacy)
11. "Droppin' Seeds" (featuring Lil Wayne)
12. "November”
13. "Glitter"
14. "Enjoy Right Now, Today"

Originally released July 21, 2017