On October 28th, Tyler, The Creator released his anticipated eighth studio album titled “Chromakopia”. The artist first announced the album only 2 weeks before its release with a teaser he posted to his YouTube channel, along with all his other social media platforms. In the days following the release of the YouTube video titled “ST. CHROMA”, Tyler, The Creator would release four more videos advertising “Chromakopia”, one of which was a music video for a song titled”NOID “. With all the teasers, samples, and videos Tyler the Creator was releasing, fans grew more and more excited for the album’s release. Videos surrounding “Chromakopia” were all over social media, predominantly on TikTok, adding to the increasing snowball of hype. Now, a little under a month after the album’s release, the question begs, Did “Chromakopia” live up to its expectations? The short answer; absolutely.
While Tyler, The Creator has been releasing music for years now, there’s something different about “Chromakopia”. The album has a maturity that hasn’t been presented in any of his other works. He takes an honest approach to what it’s like being a famous person in today’s world while also exploring personal issues and experiences. This is a reach from his other albums all of which center around either relationships, his career, or the personas he creates for his music. The personal aspect of “Chromakopia” is what makes the album stand out. Whether audiences relate to the lyrics of “Chromakopia” or just enjoy the sensationalism of it, there’s something for everyone on the album. It tailors to many audiences due to its relatability, style, and talented composition. Tyler, The Creator’s lyricism on this album is also arguably some of his strongest, something that is no doubt due to the passion and truth to the words that are being said. In the rapper’s own words, “This is the first album where everything I said is true”.
Despite all of this there are still some people who are disappointed with the way the album turned out. They don’t believe that the album is everything that it could’ve been. This is mostly due to the fact that the style of “Chromakopia” is a lot different than any of the other albums that have been released. Tyler, The Creator is known for his style of rapping over synthesizers with songs that are loud and passionate. While tracks such as “Like Him” are very similar composition wise to his previous works, for some fans a lot of Chromokopia’s tracks stray too far from what they are accustomed to or simply isn’t what they were expecting. However, these fans and criticisms fail to realize that Tyler, The Creator is largely an experimental artist. While this album is “different,” every album he’s ever released has been different. He always brings something new to the table, whether it be lyric wise or composition wise. “Chromakopia” isn’t supposed to sound like his other albums, “IGOR,” “Flower Boy,” or “Call Me If You Get Lost,” it’s supposed to sound like “Chromakopia”.
With that being said the feedback from fans and general audiences has been largely positive. People on all social media platforms have been praising and sharing how much they loved this album either for the quality of the tracklist, the personal impact it had on them, or for the raw talent and performances from Tyler, The Creator and all of the featured artists behind it. At the time of writing this “Chromokopia” is and has been sitting at the number one spot of the Billboard 200 for two consecutive weeks and his track “Sticky” is number ten on the BillBoard Hot 100. If you haven’t yet listened to “Chromokopia” and are a fan of Rap, Hip-Hop, or R&B, the album is definitely worth the listen.
