Tyler, The Creator
photo: lygonstreet · cc by-sa 4.0 ↗Tyler, the Creator turned Odd Future's shock-rap provocations into an ever-expanding art project, moving from the horrorcore sneer of Goblin to the lush, Neptunes-indebted soul-pop of Flower Boy and IGOR without ever losing his DIY, do-it-himself production instincts. A rapper, singer, producer, and now fashion and festival mogul, he built a devoted following on pure formal restlessness. Few rappers of his generation have reinvented their sound as many times, or as convincingly.
Tyler has repeatedly named Pharrell and the Neptunes as one of his greatest reference points, praising Pharrell's jazz-and-R&B chord sense and go-anywhere production ear; Pharrell himself later appeared on Tyler's 'IFHY,' a track critics described as outright 'Neptunes worship.'
listen forPlay N.E.R.D.'s 'Rock Star' next to Tyler's 'IFHY' — the same off-kilter, live-band-meets-synth bounce and genre-blind confidence, with Pharrell literally singing the hook on Tyler's track.
Tyler has cited Kanye West as a formative creative influence, pointing to their shared restlessness as producer-rapper-entrepreneurs and Kanye's refusal to stay inside hip-hop's usual visual or sonic lanes.
listen forCompare the dark, distorted intensity of Kanye's 'Jesus Walks' with Tyler's industrial, screaming 'New Magic Wand' — both take the beat somewhere abrasive and confrontational rather than smoothing it out for radio.
As Tyler's own sound loosened into more melodic, jazz-and-soul-inflected territory starting with Wolf, critics pointed to the layered, unhurried song structures of neo-soul artists like Erykah Badu as a clear touchstone for that shift.
listen forPlay Badu's loose, groove-first 'On & On' against Tyler's 'See You Again' — both let a warm, slightly off-center vocal melody drift over a relaxed, jazz-inflected pocket instead of chasing a tight pop hook.