West coast rapper/producer Tyler The Creator released his third solo album “Wolf”, a highly anticipated release from his previous album “Goblin” in 2011. Since Goblin’s release, Tyler and his group, Odd Future, have created a unique sound in the alternative hip hop genre. Tyler has made a very bold appearance in the hip hop scene with his vulgar language in his raps, throwing around homophobic slurs, rape, misogynistic ideas, and a lot of other lines for pure shock value. However, once you get passed that initial want to turn away from this sound and really listen to Tyler’s lyrics, you will see that much of his songs go deeper than you would have expected from this kid. There are many themes played out on this album: insecurity, psychotic breaks, identity crisis, Tyler’s want for his father, love (surprisingly), social awkwardness, and death. This album, when received correctly, is a very depressing and personal work that gives a glimpse into the softer side of this very in-your-face rapper.

The first track Wolf starts off us off into the story introducing us to Sam, a character Tyler has created for himself. Jamba is the first hype track on this album, collaboration with group member Hodgy Beats. The instrumental used for this song is very heavy hitting with a few weird quirks like an oddly moaning female. Tyler jumps right into rapping about his image in the media, mainly stemming from his infamy from eating a roach in his Yonkers video (2011).

Coincidentally he also mentions this video in Colossus, saying how he hates that’s what he’s known for and wants people to step away from that view of him. Colossus is Tyler’s version of Eminem’s Stan (2000) with a crazed fan running up to him glorifying him in a way and him not wanting to brush the kid off, but basically telling him (and listeners) “You don’t know me”. On Awkward, we get back into the story of Tyler talking about a girl who he mentions in quite a lot of his music (“Her name is my password”) and how he finally gets chance to be with her and kiss her but it was completely…awkward. The following track Domo23, is another hype track on this album with an almost annoying instrumental with consistent high pitched beeps, but plays well with the female chorus vocals.

There are a few flops on this album that sucked in all honestly, but were placed well in the whole scheme of things. The Party Isn’t Over/Campfire/Bimmer track is a jumble of Tyler comparing a woman to a car, giving me the whole R. Kelly “You remind me of my jeep” vibe but didn’t transfer over as successfully. Tyler’s features list was quite impressive with the Afrocentric singer Erykah Badu on the Treehome95 track, but (strong but) this song was weak. Ms. Badu’s verse wasn’t one of her best. The airy instrumental with the jazzy elements and synth sounds didn’t mesh well; something was lacking altogether. Another weak one was Parking Lot, but tolerable for the most part.

I do have my favorites, one being Answer. Tyler goes into depth of his hate for this father while still trying to hide the fact that he misses him. A very slow track with a lot of clunky synths that Tyler throws all over this album, but works well for the depressing delivery on this one. He raps about telling his father how he has a show but he won’t get tickets, but he’ll call anyway and hope he answers. A situation many of Tyler’s fans can connect to. My favorite line on this track ironically had nothing to do with his dad, but the one mention of his grandmother where he says “I would like to tell my grandma/but she just nostalgia/I’ll call her number/but she won’t answer” and then goes into the chorus “I hope you answer”. Which goes well with my other favorite Lone, a track dedicated to the death of his grandmother and how he sat in the hospital room with her and how awkward it was to be there, and leaving it at “She died that night”.

To not be an Tyler The Creator fan for his supposed homophobia and raunchy lyrics about rape is understandable, but this 20 year-old had done more growing in the past two years musically (and even emotionally) than many people do in five. This album had a few low points, but it most certainly had its high. He’s matured technically making better beats, but not so much lyrically with certain themes in most of his music. I give this album a 7 out of 10 rating purely because the good points are REALLY good (Rusty and Trashwang), but those extra tracks (Pigs and Slater) could have been left in the lab.