RATING: 9/10
Last week, Tyler The Creator has just dropped his latest album CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST and it's safe to say that once again, he's created a body of work that has you intrigued from the get-go.
Throughout Tyler's discography, one thing that comes apparent is how much freedom he has in the way his music is created. He is constantly playing with genre, sound, vocals to often produce music that feels like it's never been heard before. CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST is another album that demonstrates this. You get a mix of everything, from soul, to synth pop, to jazz, to hardcore rapping, and there's not even a way to specify the particular songs that it shows up in - as there's influences from all these genres in pretty much every single track.
Tyler comes together with DJ Drama to create yet another concept-based album. However, if you don't understand the story it's trying to tell it doesnt take away from the listening experience experience which is a smart move on Tyler's part. The conceptual nature of the album does not take away from the fact it feels like one of his most revealing. He discusses all sorts of topics, from being in the public eye from such a young age on 'MASSA', to the reality of being black in the world right now in 'MANIFESTO'; "Y'all want us dead, just 'cause the skin is the black type (Ah) / Teach me everything and be amazed I don't act right / What the fuck?."
Tracks vary dramatically in length, from some reaching barely over 2 minutes, to 'SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE' and 'WILSHIRE' which are 10 minute long epics. It's difficult to make a song that long is worth the amount of time you spend listening to it, but because of the experimental nature of the album generally, there's no way to get bored even with these lengthy tracks.
What CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST really shows is that Tyler the Creator is still a phenomenal rapper. The way he plays with words and structure is stellar, and places him among some of the best rappers in the game at the moment. Although Tyler is easily slotted in to a lot of genres, with previous release IGOR being as far away as he's ever been from his rap roots, CALL ME WHEN YOU GET LOST shows that Tyler still is, and always will be, a rapper.
CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST can feel dizzying and disorienting at times, and full of clarity at others. This is the third album from Tyler The Creator row that's been pretty spectacular, and just proves that even a decade into his career, he's still a force to be reckoned with.
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