Late in October famous rapper and songwriter Tyler, the Creator came out with his new album “Chromakopia,” which from the moment of its release, has been an electrifying sensation. People have even been dressing up and running after the “Chromakopia” trucks promoting Tyler, The Creator’s seventh album as it drives around the U.S. I remember being so excited going to bed the night before “Chromakopia,” which was released on a Monday despite albums normally releasing on Fridays.
Tyler, the Creator made “Chromakopia” as a follow-up to one of his previous albums, “Call Me If You Get Lost.” The album was written, produced, and arranged by Tyler himself and the album has guest appearances such as Daniel Caesar, Teeza Touchdown, GloRilla, Sexxy Red, Lil Wayne, and more! People have foreshadowed that there would be many collaborations after seeing the video “St. Chroma” previewed on his YouTube channel as a teaser trailer for “Chromakopia.” Before the album’s release, people speculated the album would be based on the story of Chroma the Great, a powerful conductor whose orchestra creates the colors of the world. And when they don’t play the world doesn’t get color, only black and white. That is why at the beginning of the video St.Chroma, it is in black and white but at the end when the song has a beat drop and the Chromakopia container explodes, the video finally has color.
The album itself is a mix of different tunes and beats, the album opener “St. Chroma” (ft. Daniel Caesar) is one of my favorite songs in the whole album. The song is dramatic and it uses sounds and visuals to tell a captivating story from Tyler’s creative vision.
Now let’s get into some song reviews!
St. Chroma (ft Daniel Caesar)
The album starts with the electrifying (and one of my favorite songs) “St. Chroma” featuring Daniel Caesar. In the very beginning of the song, we hear a woman’s voice, Bonita Smith, Tyler, the Creator’s mom. Her voice is heard throughout the album telling us advice and giving supportive words by saying reaffirmations like “You are the light,” “It’s not on you, it’s in you,” and “Don’t you ever in your — life dim your light for nobody.” We then get treated to a chant of “Chromakopia” over and over again before getting to the main chorus, when Daniel Caesar starts to sing “Can you feel that light inside? Can you feel that fire?” The song talks about how everyone has to grow up eventually and that aging is inevitable. Overall it is a 9/10 song, I would highly recommend this to anyone but it does include profanity to be wary of when listening.
Noid
This second song “Noid” is really unique, for anyone who has listened to Tyler, the Creator before, you know some of his songs are interesting, to say the least. He is well known for incorporating a variety of genres and instruments, he can also switch up the song genre throughout the song/album. Throughout the song, the beat changes multiple times, as well as his voice, from a high-pitched tone to his respective one. In this song he does that and more, throughout the song we can hear lyrics being said in the Nyanja language, those lyrics we heard are samples from a vocal from the Zambian band Ngozi Family’s song “Nizakupanga Ngozi”. “Noid” is about Tyler’s paranoia about being followed by the paparazzi, and how he dislikes being approached by invasive fans. We can infer this from the lyrics “Paranoid, paranoid, paranoid / Things feel out of order / Look and look around, I’m not sure of / Para-para paranoia.” “Noid” is one of the songs more on the serious side of “Chromakopia.” I rate this song an 8/10, it gets a bit repetitive at some points but overall the song is great!
Darling, I (ft. Teezo Touchdown)
“Darling, I” featuring Teezo Touchdown has got to be one of my favorite songs on the whole album. It is a very upbeat, light fun song, talking about Tyler’s perspective on falling in love, commitment, and personal freedom. “Darling, I” starts with Bonita Smith saying, “Whatever you do, don’t ever tell no —– you love her / If you don’t mean it don’t tell us.” Then we get the chorus of “Darling, I keep — falling in love” over and over again before transitioning into the first verse by Teezo Touchdown “Ooh, I got a problem, I don’t know if I can shake / Ooh, they wanna tie me down, that bondage just might break / I can’t sign the dotted line / Just how long is forever?” I think this song deserves a 10/10, which some people may think is a bit much but everything about this song is amazing, I could listen to it on repeat for ages.
In conclusion, I would rate the album a 9/10, many songs hit hard and are very deep and many artists on this album make it so fun. You should check out this album, and keep an eye out for the Chromakopia truck!
