Two-time Grammy award winner and my personal birthday twin Tyler Gregory Okonma, known professionally and globally as Tyler, the Creator, recently released his seventh studio album “CHROMAKOPIA” this past Monday on the 28th of October. This album features Daniel Caesar, Teezo Touchdown, Childish Gambino, GloRilla, Lil Wayne, Sexyy Red, ScHoolboy Q, and Doechii. Following three and a half years since his last studio album, “Call Me If You Get Lost,” there was much hype among the Tyler, the Creator fanbase. Before the album was even released, fans speculated the album was going to talk about racial representation and issues related to those themes due to “chroma,” or color, and “kopia” meaning “copy” in Polish. Coupled with the more unique sounding name, the album is breaking an unwritten industry standard by being released on a Monday instead of a Friday. As a fan of Tyler, the Creator myself, I thought I’d review the album on my first listen as soon as it was released.
Definitely not what I was expecting right off the bat, though I first heard of this song on TikTok through leaks from a snippet released two weeks before release to the Tyler, the Creator YouTube channel, so I was somewhat familiar with this song. The unique intro and notable beat definitely was an intense introduction to this album, coupled with the unexpected beat switch towards the end. Overall, not sure what I was expecting at all, but it was not this. 7.5/10, plus the Daniel Caesar feature was nice to hear.
I like this song’s switch to a more recognizable rap-style beat, yet again a whip-lash feeling coming right off of the last song’s almost overwhelming sound. I like “or those women!” line after a rap bar, I thought that was funny. This song is about confidence, and dominance. A snippet to this song was released on the “CHROMAKOPIA” YouTube channel in a promotional video on October 22, 2024, with several references to fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar littered throughout. A strong 9/10 for me as a rap fan. I like his repetition of his “paranoia” at the end of the song, directly leading into the next song, “NOID,” and its theme.
“CHROMAKOPIA” kicks off with a single and music video released a week before the album, “Noid.” This song, to me, is clearly about paranoia (obviously, “NOID” is just a shortened form of the word “paranoid”). I think Tyler, the Creator is specifically talking about his paranoia and lacking privacy he’s developed as a music artist. He almost clearly points it out in the line, “Felt it in my aura / Living between the cameras and recorders” and “Privacy? Huh, yeah right, I got a better shot in the NBA.” The music video shows us Tyler, the Creator practically running from—what I perceive to be—his crazy, fanatic fans. He even shows us a visual of someone breaking into his home and threatening him with a gun (in his imagination, of course). This song reminds me so much of Childish Gambino in delivery and production, and I think it’s a very unique sound. Chronologically, this song is the first released, however it is third in the album. Solid 8.5/10 for production, message, and uniqueness.
The beginning of this song gave me an immediate reminder of his song “ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?” off of his 2019 album “IGOR.” I also immediately noticed the Snoop Dogg sample from “Drop it Like it’s Hot.” I like the mellow feel of this song, the production and composition are definitely one I’m a fan of. This song touches on love and monogamy, saying things like “monogamy is not for me,” “life is short, but forever is so [expletive] long,” and “darling, I keep falling in love.” I can definitely see myself playing this song while on a long, relaxing drive with my boyfriend or my friends, or when I need to vibe by myself, honestly. This song gives off a chilled out vibe to me, with much more singing than rapping and very different from a harsher sounding song like “RAH TAH TAH.” Very solid 9/10.
This song off the bat starts off with a woman saying “always always always, wear a condom, don’t trust a …” then it transitions into a song that I believe is about trying to get with a girl, and inevitably leading to talk of love and unplanned pregnancy. He discusses pregnancy a lot, with the start preaching using protection and the line, “there’s a voice inside me begging to keep it / I’m 35 and my ovaries my not reset / I don’t wanna live my life feeling regret,” followed by “I just hope to God I get my period again.” I believe that he’s talking about his mother and the experience of being a single mother. He talks from the point of view of a scared pregnant lady, and contrasts her fears of losing her life to this child to the man’s fear of losing his reputation with his family and friends. I like this song’s story a lot. I think it’s really important to shine a light on this issue in society because of how big of an impact it can have on people’s lives. Solid 8/10 for production and storyline.
This song starts really similar to the children’s song “Wheels on the Bus” with the repeated “round and round” coupled with the—for a lack of a better word—chipper delivery of his lines in the first few seconds of the song. This song beat switches and talks about… killing you. There’s not much to say about the theme, it’s repeated. He seems very angry throughout the whole song, with the background vocals getting louder and more aggressive at some points when he himself is starting to sound “unhinged.” At the end, the song switches to a softer beat, while still somewhat fast, that made me think of inner peace after the rage and anger we hear at the start of the song. I loved the Childish Gambino feature, however. I really think that boosted my opinion of this song a lot because I’m a fan of both artists separately. It’s always nice to see a much demanded collaboration. Solid 7.5/10 because it’s not really my style and did somewhat overstimulate me, but definitely not a bad song at all.
This song starts with a beat that reminds me of “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE” from Tyler’s 2021 album, “Call Me If You Get Lost.” This song is a story of Tyler, featuring Gambino again, meeting “Judy” and talks about their relationship. He calls back to his song “DOGTOOTH,” which was released on the 2023 “Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale” deluxe of the original album, with the lines “you can ride my face, I don’t want nothing in return / your body count and who you [expletive] is none of my concern,” directly mirroring the “DOGTOOTH” lyrics, “she can ride my face, I don’t want nothing in return / her body count and who she [expletive] ain’t never my concern.” The end switches up a little bit and discusses their hardships and her suicide, I think. “This past year has been rough / It spread into my head” and “If you’re reading, it’s too late / I’m on the other side,” directly imply she killed herself, as those lines are quoted from a letter “Judy” wrote Tyler. 7.5/10 for story, not really my cup of tea, but the story was interesting.
I’m not really the biggest fan of this track’s start, but the addition of the album’s highest number of features in a single song, the features being GloRilla, Lil Wayne, Sexyy Redd, Timbaland, and Red Buck were welcome surprises, though I wasn’t a fan of some of the verses themselves Tyler wrote a comment on Instagram saying “NO FEATURES,” so I was a little shocked to hear so many on one track. Regardless, I think it’s one of the weaker tracks on this album, 5/10.
I like the sound of this song. It was produced and composed by Tyler and Greg Cook, who also helped with writing the lyrics of this track. Like the name implies, this song is about hiding yourself and being hyper-defensive. He discusses others as well as taking digs at himself in the lines “Tryna sell them weird-ass clothes, nobody buyin’ that” and “Your beats ain’t placin’, them songs ain’t slappin’, your raps ain’t rankin,’” referring to struggling artists and trying to release merchandise while juggling a music career, which applies to Tyler, with his clothing line “Golf.” I liked this song, solid 8/10.
This song is much more low key, not really too energetic. It has more harmonies and lower volume of delivery. This song is about maturing and thinking of settling down. This track was written by Tyler and fellow R&B singer Daniel Caesar, who featured on “St. Chroma.” A low-key 7/10 for me based on vibes, not too much to say about this track. This song’s backtrack samples the 1971 song “Summertime” by Rosinha De Valença.
Off the bat, I’m not really too big off a fan of the beginning instrumental and backing vocals, however I do like feature SchoolBoyQ’s verse. This track is very energetic with a borderline overstimulating instrumental. The rapping is overall delivered very well by Tyler, SchoolBoyQ, and Santigold. Musical and lyrical analysis site, Genius, describes this song as a “boisterous manifesto of his mentality,” which I can definitely see with someone as big and famous as Tyler is. This track is one of the songs that Tyler posted snippets of, along with. confirming the track number. Giving this track a rating is very difficult due to the great features and rapper, however the instrumental and backing vocals were pretty distracting to me. 6/10 for the overall, but 7.5/10 factoring out the background noise. I really think this track could grow on me.
In stark contrast to how the last song ended, this song starts with piano and soft singing from Tyler, definitely a shocker when listening for the first time (from the start differences).This track was another that was released in a snippet on October 22. I think this song is about chasing perfection, “I’m chasing a ghost / I don’t know who he is” and “I’m chasing a ghost / Do I look like him?” seem to imply that he’s chasing something and trying to imitate it. The fourth quarter of the song is his original, more fast paced rapping again, asking the same questions about this “ghost.” This track is interesting to me, both the start and end begin with a woman comparing Tyler to someone, and in the beginning, she’s praising him and saying that he has everything this other guy has and more, but by the end, she’s talking about the other man and calling him a good guy. Decent 7/10 from me, not horrible.
This song starts with a singing-voiced Tyler rapping, along with a backtrack that reminds me of a children’s carnival or circus. This song features Doechii, a relatively new face on the hip-pop scene, only gaining prominence on TikTok in 2021. I don’t really enjoy the second half of her feature verse, but it’s not horrible. My main complaint is her yelling or shouting half her lines in an aggressive tone, not my favorite delivery of any music in my opinion. I actually like Tyler’s verses on this song. I wasn’t expecting to like it too much. It’s a little silly lyrically, with lines I can’t repeat here, but I thought this song was a little funny in all honesty. 8/10.
[I HOPE YOU FIND YOUR WAY HOME]
This track discusses not wanting to have a child with a woman again, seeming to continue the story of “Hey Jane,” which is also about the topic of becoming a parent. This song contrasts with “Tomorrow,” which is about him considering settling down to start a family. This song wasn’t my favorite, just a little too slow for me. Weak 6.5/10 in my opinion.
This album was very well written and produced overall. I like the groundbreaking aspect of not releasing on a Friday like the majority of artists do, which kind of fits in with Tyler, the Creator’s aesthetic of being a more out there and unique kind of guy in my opinion. I would give this album a 7.5/10, not because I think it’s bad or plain or anything, but it’s mostly just not my style overall. I definitely think hat this album could grow on me however, much like how Travis Scott’s “UTOPIA” album grew on me so much. Songs that I had previously rated low like “I KNOW ?” and “MY EYES” are now some of my favorite songs that I stream daily, so a lot could change the more I listen to this album. I would recommend this to a typical Tyler, the Creator fan.
