9. Wolf Tyler The Creator
Prior to writing this I had to google how old Tyler is. Apparently he's 22. And yet he could easily be pre-pubescent, for the album is anything but mature; the Erykah Badu collaboration 'Treehome95' being the only exception to this statement. Instead of coming across as an adult, Tyler comes across as a petulant child, hurling insults at his absent father and making sexism and homophobia "ironic" so that it's "okay" (apparently having Frank Ocean as a gay friend gives him precedent to say such things). He has a gay friend everybody. Radical. Maybe he would be better off listening to his own track 'Rusty' and taking the advice "purchase a shrink" a real one, not just the fictional therapist, Dr. TC, that his work alludes to. Talking through his childhood issues with a paid professional would certainly be more effective than talking the listener's ears off, not to mention more pleasant for everyone involved. As well as this, the track 'Tamale' seems to be built on the idea of capturing a woman's reaction upon finding him mid-coitus with her sister. That's definitely not normal; and his boasting about receiving oral, reeks of infantile school kids boasting to their mates in the playground about their sexual endeavours. But the problem is, I'm not Tyler's "mate", and I certainly don't want to be either. "Controversial" appears to have become synonymous for "talented" - the latter being something which individuals such as Robin Thicke, as well as Tyler the Creator have certainly benefitted from. He's come a long way from talking about rape and murder (the themes for his other two albums, 'Bastard' and 'Goblin') and yet he's still got a long way to go before he'd be someone you'd want to introduce to your parents. Vulgar is an understatement; if you had to censor the profanity you'd end up with songs comprising mainly of "and", "you" and "I". You could probably listen to the Jeremy Kyle show and receive the same proportion of aural enjoyment. His third album 'Wolf', seems to suggest that Tyler has no intention of breaking from releasing records oozing with angst and frustration with the world. A one-trick pony, his egotistical lost-teen approach may have worked for 'Bastard' and maybe 'Goblin' but by 'Wolf', this trick has got old. Tranquilised piano and synthesised strings are all that his craft relies upon, and frankly, I'm sick of hearing them. Perhaps the clearest indicator that 'Wolf' isn't all that great is the fact that it's self-produced. Is this out of choice? Or do all the smart people in the music business realise how damaging to their career it would be to work with the artist? I'm hoping that people will see the light and stop buying similar self-indulgent drivel in 2014.