Tyler, The Creator's New Album is Being Inspired by Stevie Wonder

Tyler, The Creator’s profile in the upcoming issue of Fader reveals several tidbits about a new album the Odd Future leader has been quietly crafting over the last year. While Tyler claims that the project is in its early stages, he has a slew of guests that he’d like to feature on the album, including Jay Z, Rick Ross, Willow Smith, and more. Other Odd Future contributions are up in the air as the crew’s members are each on their own island, according to Tyler.

The Wolf emcee, who hasn’t worked with Earl Sweatshirt since their collaborative material on Doris, is reportedly drawing inspiration for this new album from Stevie Wonder. “Stevie’s my competition,” Tyler explains. “Not these niggas on the radio.”

While his sound may be influenced by Wonder’s “Where Were You When I Needed You?,” his lyrics for the new project are reportedly inspired by the negative effects of gangs and consumerism. “The Tyler you’re used to is, ‘Fuck, I hate my dad!'” he says in the article. “You know where I’m at right now? I hate everything.” And he draws parallels between his messages and those of rappers’ songs from the past, including Nas’ “Second Childhood” and Clipse’s “Hello New World,” which you can hear below.

Tyler’s new project was meant to be released as a surprise at Odd Future’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, which took place this weekend. That would have made sense, since Tyler has said he wanted to release a previous project that way. However, those plans were scrapped because the album is “still nothing,” according to Tyler. In the meantime, listen to the songs below for some of Tyler’s reported inspirations behind his upcoming work.

(Fader)