BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition December 2018

MUSIC REVIEWS
TYLER, THE CREATOR
Music Inspired by Illumination & Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch
Columbia Records
Christmas music is a polarizing topic. Some like to
start blasting it at the first sign of leaves turning
colour, others boycott it until it can be boycotted
no longer, unavoidable through the speakers of
décor-drenched shopping centres everywhere. It’s
kitschy and overplayed, and the lyrics have been
engrained in our collective minds since we first
learned to put language to melody, regardless of
which holidays we personally celebrate. It’s a genre
of its own that has evaded evolution – the same set
of songs are perpetually remade and covered. To put
it simply, songs of the season are hardly inspired.
Enter Music Inspired by Illumination & Dr. Seuss’
The Grinch, a surprising holiday offering from Tyler,
the Creator. It diverts the aforementioned formula,
laced lightly with cheer and tinged with holiday
references but not over-the-top chipper with bells
chiming and carolers singing. “Hot Chocolate” is, as
its name states, an ode to the cozy, marshmallowtopped
treat, and “Lights On,” featuring Santigold
and Ryan Beatty, is upbeat and merry.
“Big Bag” is a standout on this album as the track
most recognizably created by Tyler, the Creator.
From the beat to the lyrics, it leans on the darker
side, referencing holidays past in which Tyler’s
“mom was always honest, [he] ain’t never had a
Santa Claus.” According to him, the song is actually
written from the perspective of the Grinch himself.
Perhaps fittingly, a track that didn’t make the album
but is featured in the soundtrack of The Grinch is
titled “I Am The Grinch.”
Tyler has had a big year, from expanding his
fashion line Golf Wang in a more mature direction
to curating yet another impressive lineup for his
seventh annual Camp Flog Gnaw festival, this
time in partnership with YouTube Music. He’s
becoming something of a corporation in his own
rite, a Renaissance man with boundless energy and
inspiration to channel into whatever strikes his fancy
at a given moment.
2018 seems to have inspired in him a drive to
focus more heavily on production. In October,
he re-released an expanded version of his 2015
album Cherry Bomb and included an instrumental
alongside each track, feeling it had previously
gone underappreciated. That shift is obvious on
Music Inspired by […] The Grinch, as vocals take
a back seat to production. The album’s intro,
“Whoville,” and outro, “Cindy Lou’s Wish,” are purely
instrumental, encapsulating the other four tracks
like a warm stocking.
Tyler, the Creator is a man of many talents.
He’s been making music since founding Odd
Future in 2007, with the collective’s first mixtape
being dropped in November 2008. Ever since, his
evolution has been constant and, for those paying
attention, blaringly obvious. On his first solo studio
release, Goblin, in 2011, he was writing lyrics like
“Rape a pregnant bitch and tell my friends I had
a threesome.” His intention was to be ironic and
make people talk – it’s hyper-exaggerated satire,
rooted not in reality but in a commentary on
perceived notions of hip-hop culture. Many of
the controversial remarks he’s made have been
called homophobic – according to The Fader, the
homophobic f-slur appears on Goblin nine times.
But Tyler isn’t homophobic; he isn’t even straight.
By 2017 he was more confident in his own sexuality,
stating on Flower Boy’s “I Ain’t Got Time!” that
he’s “been kissing white boys since 2004” and on
loosie “Gelato” that he “just pop[s] models, boys or
girls these days, shit, it don’t matter.” And while he
may not always have been as outspoken about his
sexuality as he has been since Flower Boy, he hasn’t
exactly been keeping it a secret, either – in 2015,
for example, he told Rolling Stone that he was “gay
as fuck” and “one hundred per cent would go gay
for ‘96 Leonardo DiCaprio and Cole Sprouse.” In
that same interview, he said “One day when I stop
talking about fucking people in the ass, I’ma go into
children’s books.” Perhaps The Grinch is his first step
in that direction.
This latest release from the Creator is short and
sweet – six tracks, none of which exceed two and
a half minutes in length. In total, it’s just over 10
minutes long. As far as holidays go, it’s about as long
as you’d want dinner with the extended family to
run: long enough to reminisce and drink some rum
and eggnog, but not quite long enough to touch
on any topics deep enough to stoke an argument.
Music Inspired by Illumination & Dr. Seuss’ The
Grinch steers free of controversy, too.
According to a tweet from Tyler, “Making
Christmas themed music, but not making it too
xmasy was the goal.” He wants these tracks “played
in June too,” and it’s feasible that they will be – their
holiday undertones are understated enough that
it won’t feel as blasphemous as it would to bump
“Let It Snow” while wearing shorts and a tee on
the beach. The songs are cheerful enough to evoke
images of Christmas without being in-your-face
about it, shoving that cheer down your throat. For a
Tyler production, it’s surprisingly understated.
• By Jordan Yeager
• Illustration by Carole Mathys
December 2018 31