Tyler, the Creator - CHROMAKOPIA

Tyler, the Creator's career comes in two phases, with 2017's 'Flower Boy' serving as the boundary between the two. Before that album, Tyler (and Odd Future, the group he first found fame with) was known for close-to-the-bone subject matter, slur-peppered lyrics, and a kind of messy genius which was, in turn, celebrated and excluded from rap's mainstream narrative. Nobody denied the talent on display across 'Goblin', 'Wolf', and 'Cherry Bomb', but lyrics which were at times misogynistic and homophobic, and a general sense of anarchic chaos, weren't exactly fodder for award ceremonies and stadium tours.

From 'Flower Boy' onwards, this reputation has faded as Tyler seems to have… well, grown up somewhat, alongside getting better and better both lyrically and production-wise. A series of mature, thoughtful albums, which also manage to pack in more bangers than most artists have across their entire career, has pushed him to a level few rappers reach. As Tyler himself raps on new album 'CHROMAKOPIA''s 'Rah Tah Tah', he's the "Biggest in the city after Kenny [Kendrick Lamar], that's a fact now", and it's a sentiment few would disagree with.

So why the history lesson? Well, because 'CHROMAKOPIA' is indebted to everything Tyler has done up until now, possibly more so than any other individual release of his. 'Rah Tah Tah', 'St. Chroma' and 'Thought I Was Dead' are spikier than anything he's made since 'Cherry Bomb'. 'Judge Judy' throws back to the mellower sounds of 'Flower Boy'. 'Sticky' is the kind of glorious, multi-layered mess we haven't heard since his Odd Future days - complete with guest verses from GloRilla, Lil Wayne, and Sexy Redd, which give it the off-the-cuff energy of a rap cypher.

It's an album that bulges at the seams, and a lesser artist would struggle to mould something coherent out of so many competing influences. Yet Tyler somehow wrangles it into something cohesive, with each song making sense in context, and the transitions between tracks like 'Rah Tah Tah' and 'Noid' being so fluid you might not realise they've even happened.