Tyler, The Creator loves hip-hop and he doesn’t want you to forget it.
The Call Me If You Get Lost MC caught up with Billboard briefly Sunday at the BET Awards—where he put on a performance to remember of “Lumberjack”—and discussed people forgetting that he can really spit.
“I just love rap so godamn much,” Tyler shared, “listening to [The] Dedication with [Lil] Wayne, and We Got It For Cheap with Clipse, they really shaped me into who I am. I think a lot of people forget that I’m a rapper because I’m so multifaceted. I just had to remind everyone, ‘Don’t let the wig get it twisted, y’all niggas can’t fuck with me.’”
Of course, Call Me If You Get Lost follows Tyler’s 2019 effort Igor, which took home the Grammy for Best Rap Album despite being a sonic departure from his previous records. While he was happy to get some love from the Recording Academy in 2020, he wasn’t all that pleased with the category his album was placed in.
“On one side I’m just grateful that what I made could be acknowledged in a world like this,” Tyler said after winning the award in 2020. “But also it sucks that whenever we—and I mean guys that look like me—do anything that’s genre-bending or anything they always put it in a Rap or Urban category.”
Tyler also opened up to Billboard about his love for Detroit rap, specifically collaborator 42 Dugg, who appears on track “Lemonhead.”
“Detroit guys are different breeds,” Tyler explained. “The way [guys like] 42 Dugg and Babyface Ray articulate stuff, you can hear they grew up around OG pimps. It’s interesting, I love it.”
“On one side I’m just grateful that what I made could be acknowledged in a world like this,” Tyler said after winning the award in 2020. “But also it sucks that whenever we—and I mean guys that look like me—do anything that’s genre-bending or anything they always put it in a Rap or Urban category.”
Tyler also opened up to Billboard about his love for Detroit rap, specifically collaborator 42 Dugg, who appears on track “Lemonhead.”
“Detroit guys are different breeds,” Tyler explained. “The way [guys like] 42 Dugg and Babyface Ray articulate stuff, you can hear they grew up around OG pimps. It’s interesting, I love it.”
