Tyler, The Creator has had one of the most prolific and consistent catalogs in hip-hop, and with the release of Chromakopia on Oct. 28th, his catalog has expanded to add on another amazing project. With 14 songs worth 53 minutes of listening, Tyler makes the most of his track-list, exploring a wide variety of themes and genres.
The announcement of Chromakopia was out of the blue, as the release of Chromakopia in 2024 broke Tylers schedule of an album releasing every two years, having released a deluxe for his previous album the year before. The album was announced on October 16th, 12 days before the release via an Instagram video previewing the song “St. Chroma”. The song was received exceptionally, gaining 2.5M likes. Following this, Tyler would release snippets of multiple songs on the album. Finally, 3 days before the album was released, Tyler released the song “Thought I Was Dead” on Instagram, getting similar reception to St. Chroma, and holding fans over till the release of the album.
Unlike his other albums, the album only has a couple of songs where other artists have full verses, with most other features performing background vocals. However, there still are feature verses from the likes of GloRilla, ScHoolboy Q, Lil Wayne and more. Tyler uses his features to his advantage, putting features on songs that are closer to their usual styles, such as ScHoolboy Q on Thought I Was Dead. The album overall is much more focused on the production as well as Tyler’s performances, resulting in a more personal album.
The album is structured as a conversation between Tyler and his mother, covering a wide variety of topics ranging from Tyler’s relationships, his personal struggles and his absent father. The album begins to really get into Tyler’s personal life on the song “Hey Jude”, where he reveals he may be having a child with his girlfriend, which is surprising as on “Call Me If You Get Lost” Tyler raps a lot about being free, not having a wife or a child to have to take care of. A good bit of the album then focuses on Tyler’s fear of being a father, and his struggles with settling down with one person.
From Hey Jude, the album moves on to “Judge Judy”, one of Tyler’s saddest songs. The song focuses on Tyler’s relationship with a woman named Judy. Throughout the song, Tyler goes further with Jude in multiple ways, never judging her, and feeling genuine love and affection for this woman. However, in Tyler’s last verse he reveals that she had died due to a condition of some sort.
With sadder songs on the album like Judge Judy and the apprehensive “Tomorrow”, Chromakopia made sure to sprinkle in lighter and somewhat funny songs like “Sticky” and “Balloon”, both songs made to boast and raise moods. Balloon is a song featuring “Doechii” which is more lighthearted with some of the lines said by both Tyler and Doechii. Sticky is a song with a heap of features, similar to many songs on Call Me If You Get Lost.
The album ends with the song “I Hope You Find Your Way Home”, a lighter song recapping the main themes of the album, and closing the album perfectly. The song has a nearly 2 and a half minute long instrumental section, letting Tyler show off his production prowess and ending the album with an introspective moment to allow the audience to listen to the music and think about what they just listened to.
Overall, Chromakopia is an album with very few to nearly no bad spots, with Tyler trying out many different styles and genres. The album is a perfect representation of his growth as a musician as well as a person, and is even better upon re-listens to grasp the different themes and topics being discussed.
