Tyler, The Creator – Flower Boy 2017 (Review)
Flower Boy aka Scum Fuck Flower Boy is the fourth studio album by Tyler, The Creator. Tyler is showcasing a new level of maturity with this masterpiece. I’m not talking about the subjects on the album, but rather the production. He’s possibly the best producer in the music industry at the moment.
The lyrics caught attention before the album was even released, with a lot of hints of Tyler being either bisexual or homosexual – It can be a PR stunt or maybe he’s just being honest, either way, it doesn’t change anything for me.
I will describe the production as “beautiful” and “heavenly” except for “Who Dat Boy?” featuring A$AP Rocky, which was the first single from the album. If you’re only into “hip hop” or “rap”, then that’s possibly the only track you’ll like on the album. That particularly track feels out of place to me, it doesn’t fit the overall sound of the album – it should’ve been on A$AP Rocky’s album instead.
A little fun-fact, that beat was meant for ScHoolboy Q originally.
The album overall got some very postive reviews with HipHopDX giving it 4.5/5 and AllMusic giving it the same rating as well, just to name a few.
Tracklist:
01. Foreword (ft. Rex Orange County)
02. Where This Flower Blooms (ft. Frank Ocean)
03. Sometimes…
04. See You Again (ft. Kali Uchis)
05. Who Dat Boy? (ft. A$AP Rocky)
06. Pothole (ft. Jaden Smith)
07. Garden Shed (ft. Estelle)
08. Boredom (ft. Rex Orange County, Anna Of The North & Corinne Bailey Rae)
09. I Ain’t Got Time!
10. 911 / Mr. Lonely (ft. Steve Lacy, Frank Ocean, Jasper Dolphin, A$AP Rocky, Schoolboy Q & Lionel Boyce)
11. Droppin’ Seeds (ft. Lil’ Wayne)
12. November (ft. Jasper Dolphin & Lionel Boyce)
13. Glitter
14. Enjoy Right Now, Today (ft. Pharrell Williams)
I would call this album perfect from start to finish if the chorus on “I Ain’t Got Time!” was different (I can imagine it will get people hyped during concerts though) and the album was without “Who Dat Boy?”. It’s not a bad track by any means, it just doesn’t fit in as I mentioned previously.
Go into this album with an open mind, forget everything you know about Tyler, The Creator and just appreciate this work of art. I would call the genres of the album jazz rap and neo soul (some of my absolute favorite genres).
Another fun-fact is Tyler wrote “Glitter” for Justin Bieber originally, but Bieber never returned the call. You can hear Tyler talk about that and the rest of the album in this very interesting indepth interview about Flower Boy:
Flower Boy was album of the year for me in 2017 and I don’t think Tyler got enough acknowledgement for this gem. Kendrick Lamar ran with all the prizes with his album “DAMN.”, which doesn’t add up to me, since I consider that album one of the worst albums Kendrick has done. I guess the brand is more important than the product in the mainstream universe.
I give this album a
9.5/10
What do you think of the album? Let me know in the comments below and if there is an album you would like me to review, also feel free to type it in the comments below.