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This album was released on December 25th in 2009. I know I probably shouldn’t be starting another marathon right now, but for whatever reason I’ve been in the mood to listen to a lot of Tyler’s old shit, and I’ll only be reviewing his first three albums since I already did Cherry Bomb. I used to be a huge fan of Tyler The Creator, so this should be a lot of fun. This was obviously Tyler’s first project. Nobody knew who he was when this shit dropped. Well, I mean he probably had a few fans because Odd Future dropped The Odd Future Tape in 2008, but nobody was really talkin’ about them. This is the project that really got the ball rolling for him. OF eventually gained a cult following for obvious reasons. They had a very unique style. Honestly, the only reason I ever listened to Tyler in the first place was because I thought he had a cool name. I’ve never actually listened to this entire album. I’ve only heard three songs from it, which I love, so I’m really looking forward to this. Every song is self produced.

Track 1: Bastard

The album begins with Tyler dissing the fuck outta 2DopeBoyz, Nah Right, and corny ass trend followers. I can definitely get behind that diss. I hate trend followers. It’s kind of annoying tho. I mean, when I listen to this album, it’s annoying having to listen to that intro with him yelling all the time. It’s fine on the first listen tho. This is obviously a major nitpick too. After this intro, we’re introduced to Tyler’s therapist alter ego, Dr. TC. TC stands for Tyler’s Conscience. It’s just Tyler with a pitch shifted voice. According to Dr. TC, Tyler will be seeing him for three sessions. The first session takes place on this mixtape. I think the way Tyler laid out this concept is really creative and dope. When he’s rapping you can almost put yourself in the shoes of the incompetent therapist listening to a severely depressed patient’s problems. Also, as someone who’s been diagnosed with severe clinical depression, I just find it really entertaining to listen to Tyler go off about his emotions in such great detail. It also kinda sounds like he’s intentionally trying to scare his therapist, who is a pussy. I mean, there’s really no reason to believe that he’s a pussy; I kinda just made that up. It makes it more enjoyable for me tho. “This is what the devil plays before he goes to sleep.” I just love how fucking dark the lyricism is. Like, he doesn’t give a fuck about anything. That’s what being depressed is like. You stop caring about morals and the feelings of others, and you constantly tear yourself apart and paint yourself as a villainous failure. “I cut my wrist and play piano ’cause I’m so depressed / Somebody call the pastor, this bastard is so possessed / This meeting just begun; nigga, I’m Satan’s son.” I love the dark beat too. It’s not the kinda shit you’d hear on an instrumental project. It’s just the perfect sonic backdrop for the sinister lyricism. This is pretty much the perfect introduction to Tyler The Creator as an artist in my opinion. It’s just like sitting in on somebody’s therapy session, so you get to know him pretty well. It’s very personal. Basically, Tyler’s very close to his mother, he hates his dad—mostly because he’s never actually met him—and he had his heart broken. Wow. I just realized, literally all of those things are true for me as well. Well, I know my dad, but aside from that everything is true. I can’t really relate to the thoughts of rape and murder tho… I guess I never actually thought about how relatable this shit is for me. “I know you fucking feel me / I want to fucking kill me.” That’s my favorite line in the whole song. It’s so simplistic, but it just sounds so dope to me. It’s straight to the point. I love how he says “I want to kill me” instead of “I want to kill myself.” It’s a very slight variation of a common phrase, but it sounds so much cooler to me. I also love the way it sounds a bar or two later when he says “Nigga, I. AM. LEGEND.” It’s just so fucking over the top and dark. It’s awesome. The way this song transitions into the next track is really great. I think it’s pretty clear that I love this song. This shit is dope af. 5/5

Track 2: Seven

Okay, I’ve never heard this track before. At least, I don’t think I have. At the end of the previous song, Dr. TC asks Tyler what he’d say to his father if he could talk to him. It’s pretty obvious that this song is gonna be the answer to that question. It’s starting now. This beat is dope af. His flow is really nice. Okay, I guess this entire song isn’t a direct message to his father. “I’d tell him to eat a dick quicker than Mexicans sprint over borders.” This is really the only line that seems like it’s directed towards his father. The first verse was nowhere near as introspective & emotional as the previous song. It’s a lot less serious & dramatic. In a nutshell, this whole song is basically just a creatively offensive way of saying “fuck you.” The second verse was cool. I really fuck with this song. Tyler killed this shit. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 3: Odd Toddlers Feat. Casey Veggies

For those of you who don’t know, Casey Veggies was actually a member of Odd Future very early on. He left after the release of The Odd Future Tape. This song is starting now. This beat is dope af, but it’s just a slowed down version of One Beer by MF DOOM. Tyler’s vocals are slightly pitch shifted on this song. He’s rapping as his alter ego, Ace The Creator, which is also Tyler’s production pseudonym. This is kind of a braggadocios song. I guess whenever he seems to like himself somewhat, that’s just Ace speaking. The first verse was pretty cool. “Nigga didn’t bother, so my father didn’t help / So when my mom would beat my ass, she would always hit me with Gucci belts / Gucci imprint from leather welts.” Casey’s verse was alright. He’s nowhere near the level of Tyler in any way, but his verse wasn’t bad. It was sufficient. I enjoyed this song. Nothing about it really stood out too much. This definitely isn’t one of my favorite tracks. I enjoyed it tho. This is dope. 4/5

Track 4: French! Feat. Hodgy Beats

I think I may have heard this song before, but I really can’t remember. It’s starting now. Hmmm… Yeah… Yeah, this sounds kinda familiar… I think I remember this annoying ass beat. The flow sounds familiar too. The first verse was dope. “I’m fucking Goldilocks up in the forest / In the three bear house eating their motherfuckin’ porridge / I tell her it’s my house, give her a tour / In my basement, and keep that bitch locked up in my storage / Rape her and record it, then edit it with more shit.” He’s obviously still just trying to be as fucked up as he can. I definitely remember this hook. I’m really not feelin’ this beat. Tyler’s flow is great tho. The lyrics are so over the top and vile that it’s hard to take seriously. It’s like that one disgusting asshole in 5th grade who just does not have a single ounce of respect for anyone other than himself. “Chewing on cum like bubble gum from Hubba / This bitch knew dick like Bubba knew shrimp.” Yeah… Nah… This is too much for me. Pretty much the only thing I like about this song is Tyler’s flow. Well, I liked the first verse from Tyler. I would’ve liked the hook if the vocals were mixed better. Hodgy’s verse was actually pretty dope. I liked the first and third verses. I didn’t like the hook, or the beat, or the second verse. I’m not feelin’ this shit. It’s wack to me. 2/5

Track 5: Blow

This beat is dope. The first verse was cool. Tyler’s rapping about finessing some white girl. He gets her to like him, then murders her, and stuffs her in his trunk. There’s also the implication of necrophilia, but I’m not exactly sure if that happened… “If you wanted a date, don’t come / Now you gotta make it easy for me don’t run / You call this shit kids, well I call these kids cum / And you call this shit rape, but I think that rape’s fun.” Umm… Honestly, this song didn’t really do anything for me. The beat was kinda cool at first. The percussion sounds really cheap, but that’s the norm for a lot of Tyler’s early production. The content doesn’t really interest me much. His flow was nothing special. The hook did nothing for me. It’s an alright song. I guess. 3/5

Track 6: Pigs Fly Feat. Domo Genesis

This beat’s nothing special. I like Tyler’s flow on this first verse. “I was taught to act my shoe size, never my age / I always judge a book by the cover, never the page / I never judge a murder by weapons, only the rage / That he felt when he dealt with the physiological phase.” I really liked that verse. I really like the way the beat evolves during the hook. Domo’s verse was not good. It wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t good. He said absolutely nothing in that verse. The final verse from Tyler was cool. I like this song. Domo’s verse wasn’t great, but aside from that this is good. 4/5

Track 7: Parade

When this song started the beat sounded like it was all over the place. This album isn’t really mixed very well. It’s better once Tyler starts rapping tho. Jesus. The reverb on Tyler’s voice sounds really bad. This sounds so cheap. Well, I guess it literally was cheap since he didn’t have much of a budget for this album. I don’t know. I feel like if this song was polished & mixed properly it could be enjoyable, but, as it is, this shit is nearly unlistenable for me. I’m not feelin’ it. 2/5

Track 8: Slow It Down Feat. Hodgy Beats

This beat is dope. There’s no reverb, so the vocals sound a lot cleaner. You can actually understand what they’re saying. Hodgy’s on the first verse. He did his thing. The hook is nice. Tyler’s flow on the second verse was really dope. I liked his verse. This is a good song. It has a really simplistic structure. I don’t really have any problems with it. This is dope to me. 4/5

Track 9: AssMilk Feat. Earl Sweatshirt

This is one of the few songs from this album that I’ve already heard. First of all, that beat is incredible. It’s easily the best beat on the whole album. Damn near every line in this song is extremely quotable. I love the way the beat gets all smooth and light when Earl’s rapping, and then gets heavier and darker when Tyler comes in. The way Earl started this shit off was awesome. “Addicts arise when I arrive / In this cracked crack fag back slab in disguise / Fat sack of knives in the passenger side / Bitch, reach for the door; get your access denied.” The ONLY thing that I dislike about this song is that ANNOYING. LONG. UNNECESSARY interlude where you hear Tyler punching Earl. Why the fuck is that in there? It completely erases all the momentum the song had. This would almost be my favorite song if that shit wasn’t in there. The way it’s incorporated thankfully makes it easy for me to edit it out with GarageBand. Earl kinda stole the show for me on this song. “Known narcissists, sipping on arsenic / Carved carcasses in the garage; don’t park in it / Hard as finding retarded kids at Harvard / It’s Wolf Gang barking; keep you up like car alarms and shit.” Just look at that fucking rhyme scheme. Dude is crazy. It’s not like Tyler got ethered tho. He had some dope shit in there too. “White girl, you can ask her what the dick be like / At monster madness doing drive bys on a fucking fixie bike / Fuck it; moron snorting oxycontin, wearing cotton / Oxymoron like buff faggots playing sissy dykes.” I feel like I should take away a point for that fucking ANNOYING ass interlude, but I REALLY fuckin’ like this song, so I’ll go easy on him. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 10: VCR / Wheels

This beat is kinda cool. Okay, this is a song about sex, but of course, since it’s a Tyler The Creator song, things can’t be consensual. Even if it WAS consensual, there’s no way I’d like this song. I’m just not into songs about sex unless it’s done REALLY well. It just doesn’t interest me. It’s not like I’m asexual or anything. I just don’t really care to hear rappers talking about it. It usually just makes me uncomfortable. I’m not feelin’ this. God, the mixing on this album is terrible. Wheels is starting now. No. This beat is fucking awful. It just sounds like a louder, pitch shifted version of the previous beat, which was already terribly mixed. This production is cacophonous. Lyrically, it’s another attempt at romance. Nah… I’m sorry. This shit is wack af. 1/5

Track 11: Session Feat. Hodgy & Mike G

This beat’s alright. Tyler’s flow on this first verse is nice. “I’m a self-racist / You should tape this / Ask Sarah, I’m the rapist / I’m a fascist / Fuck fashion / Gucci belts is for them faggots.” Hodgy just went in about smoking weed. His verse was fine I guess. I don’t know. It’s just boring to me when rappers talk about weed. Everything I just said about Hodgy’s verse applies to Mike’s verse as well. It did nothing for me. I’m not really into this song. It’s not doin’ anything for me. Nothing really stands out. I liked Tyler’s verse. That’s it tho. It’s decent. 3/5

Track 12: Sarah

This beat is dope. Okay, I actually like this so far. On the first verse Tyler was goin’ in about how much he liked this girl, and right at the end he gets rejected. Shit gets a little sinister on the second verse… “I want to tie her body up and throw her in my basement / Keep her there, so nobody can wonder where her face went.” Um… You remember that shit I said about Tyler being super relatable? Uh… I take that shit back. When I get rejected the only person I wanna hurt is myself lol. Jesus that’s fucked up. Okay, I take that back. I don’t wanna hurt anyone when I get rejected. I’ll put it like this; the only person I’m mad at when I get rejected is myself. It doesn’t make sense to get mad at her for something like that. Anyway… Wait, hold up… “I got a big fetish with the feet.” Yeah, okay, he’s DEFINITELY not as relatable as I thought he was lol. “Your heart literally is what I do want for lunch.” This is REALLY fucked up. If I was a girl and I heard this song I’d probably be terrified of men. Jesus fucking Christ… Okay, that last verse was FUCKED up. I’m not gonna quote anything, but uh… Necrophilia. Yeah… So… This shit isn’t really for me. I mean, I like Horrorcore when it’s done well, and I don’t think he did a bad job with this… I just don’t really like the story that much… Also, it wasn’t good enough sonically to make me wanna come back to this shit. I don’t think it was bad tho. It’s just alright. 3/5

Track 13: Jack & The Beanstalk

This is the only other song from this album that I’ve heard before. I like the beat a lot, and the Jay Z sample is dope. He did his thing on the first verse. I really like the hook. “Besides me, nobody likes me / Mainly because I am not a fucking HypeBeast.” Okay, he’s being relatable again. This is definitely one of the best songs on the album. His flow is really good, the beat is dope, and I fuck with the hook too. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 14: Tina Feat. Jasper Dolphin & Taco

Okay, if you’re familiar with Odd Future, you should know that any song with Jasper & Taco is parody rap. It’s basically a spoof of Trap music. This beat is terrible. This song is objectively wack, but I can’t be mad at it. It’s kinda funny. “Think I’m happy? Think I’m sad? Bitch you fucking know my dad / He wears his pants up in his ass / Touch his ass, grab his dick / You’s a fag; you like that shit / OF is the fuckin’ clique.” I’m never gonna listen to this shit ever again, but I enjoyed it. 3/5

Track 15: Inglorious

This beat is really dope. Session 1 is about to end, so Dr. TC just asked Tyler if he wanted to say anything else before they left. Tyler’s goin’ in about his dad. “My father never seen me; the nigga probably Stevie / He bought me a hoodie, a couple albums / Like that’s going to make up for the years and the tears / And the money that my momma spent on rent and clothes / You fucking dipped out; I swear to God if I see you / I’m a get out the M-16 and let a fucking clip out / ‘Cause in 16 years, you let your kid doubt the existence, none / I don’t give a fuck either like father, like son; I’m done.” There’s not really much for me to say. Tyler went the fuck off about his father not being around over one of the better beats on the album. I have no problems at all with this track. I love the dramatic ending. Tyler contemplates suicide, and then you just hear him say “bang.” This is dope af. 5/5

Final Thoughts:

This album is dope. It’s NOWHERE near as good as I thought it would be tho. I’m honestly really disappointed that the concept wasn’t more fleshed out. Dr. TC didn’t have as much of a presence as I was hoping he would. I guess my expectations were unrealistic. I wanted every song to be like Bastard. I was hoping that he’d just focus on a specific topic for each song. That would’ve been awesome. Shit like that is too good to be true tho. This album isn’t as serious as I thought it would be. Bastard is easily the darkest song on the project. Everything after that just seems too ridiculous or forced to take seriously. Also, can we talk about the fucking production? What the fuck? Why do people not talk about how bad the production and mixing on this project is? The percussion & the synths are so fucking tinny, and the reverb on the vocals sounds absolutely catastrophic. I really thought this shit would be a lot better. I liked most of the songs. I was just expecting something else I guess. It’s a dope album tho. I enjoyed it. I think it’s really impressive that he made this when he was 18. I’M 18, and I could never be as good of a writer as him or Earl. I think if the production was more polished, and he took the entire project as seriously as he took the title track, this would be an amazing album. That unfortunately isn’t the case. However, it’s still a good project with a lot of good songs. It’s worth listening to. I fuck with this album.

Favorite Song: Bastard

Least Favorite Song: VCR

Verdict:

72%

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