When Tyler, The Creator was asked about his rap ambitions in late 2014, he replied with a blunt dismissal: I hate rapping, the 23-year-old explained to a puzzled Larry King, “Im pretty bored with it, its not interesting. These words proved telling in the years to come. Subsequent albums Cherry Bomb and Flower Boy offered increasing moves toward melody before 2019s conceptual IGOR made a bold grab at pop and neo-soul. While Tylers relationship with rap never fully ended, there was a sense that the lights were dimming, that one of his albums would be a final hurrah to the hip-hop that birthed him. Instead, not two seconds into the musicians sixth LP, Call Me if You Get Lost, theres a complete re-affirmation of the genre. Yall ready? booms the voice of DJ Drama, before the iconic Gangsta Grizzilz tag jolts the album to life. Hosted by the legendary master of ceremonies, Tylers 2021 LP imprints all the lessons of the prior eight years onto the raw rap talent of the Wolf era, combining visceral verses with expansive layers of production. Tylers work with the likes of Westside Gunn and Freddie Gibbs has not only brought fun back to his verses -- Aargh, You Look Malnourished -- but completely revitalized their passion, bringing the vivid storytelling of the former contrarian to vastly personal topics. Tylers music has always been a patchwork of ever-increasing palettes, and CMIYGL is his most complex to date. Recurring tricks are masterfully melded into new templates: Runitup! continues the build-and-burst of See You Again, Rise! folds IGORs layered vocal textures into new visions, and Lemonhead channels Cherry Bomb for what sounds like an un-ironic take on Pink Guys Club Banger 3000. Yet its equally clear that Tyler is continuing to expand with the sounds of his collaborators -- an intergalactic warble colors Uzi’s “Juggernaut” tour de force, while yacht-rap lessons from the Alchemist make for a spectacle on “Hot Wind Blows” and “Sir Baudelaire.” These new strides find a potent home in Tyler’s powerful yet familiar productions, “I been switchin gears since Tracee Ellis Ross was UPN” he raps on the digital-only closer “Safari,” its soundscape playing out like a collage of each of his technicolor eras. As with every Tyler record, there are a lot of breadcrumbs to follow. The album’s central thread has a compelling forbidden-desire narrative, while the scratchy vocals of a much-referenced Wolf Haley are enough to make anyone drag their donut-print back out of the closet. In detailing the minutiae, CMIYGL is equally abundant: Sweet is the full version of the interlude at the end of 2017s I Aint Got Time, while the Gravediggaz sample on Lumberjack is a sly wink to a tweet from the Bastard era. That’s saying nothing of the cryptic “Tyler Baudelaire”; fans of Charles Baudelaire may find the poet’s resonance in “Wilshire” and the album’s international escapism. In a 2011 conversation with Nas, Tyler played every part the fan, Nazareth Savage, the rapper exclaims, recalling his favorite sample from the Brooklyn legend, that s*** is, like, legit as f***. Ten years on, Tyler finds himself re-creating the beat for his own “Manifesto -- it is not only an acknowledgement of his icon, but an apt parallel for his return to the mike. Tyler has every ounce of talent to square up with raps greats, and he now has enough confidence to do so. ~ David Crone

Rovi