#92 – Flower Boy

Apple Music Rank: 92

Album: Flower Boy

Artist: Tyler, The Creator

Year: 2017

Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap

Was I familiar with Tyler, The Creator?  Sort of. I don’t live under a rock so I know who he is, but I haven’t listened to much of his music. What little I’ve heard I can only describe as frustrating.

Had I heard Flower Boy before?  No

Thoughts on Flower Boy: In case you didn’t pick up on this in my post about ASTROWORLD, I’m harder on hip hop than other genres because I have high expectations for it. I’m like a coach who’s hardest on the best players. My take on Tyler hasn’t changed after listening to Flower Boy for the first time. In fact, it’s been reinforced. This guy frustrates the hell out of me. He makes cool beats. He can clearly rap when he wants to. Then he turns into the guy who’s being weird for the sake of being weird and starts singing out of key or rapping about stupid shit and he loses me. This album is full of half ass singers who ruin songs. Example: Who the fuck is singing on “Glitter”? I don’t see anyone else credited, so I’m assuming it’s Tyler. I don’t care who it is. It’s a cool beat and then some ass hole gets behind the microphone and sings like a tone deaf 12-year-old who’s embarrassed that they got picked to sing the solo in choir class so they don’t try at all because they can’t be made fun of if they’re just fucking around. At least 35% of the time I feel like they were in the studio saying, “You hear this cool ass beat? Watch me ruin it.” I assume at this point that not giving a fuck and acting like he’s not trying is Tyler’s M.O., but it doesn’t work for me. The ingredients are all there on this album. They’re just sloppily thrown together.

Favorite track: I couldn’t pick one, so I’m not going to type one here just to say that I did. I can’t find a song on this album that I really like.

Will I listen to Flower Boy again?  I want to say “no”, but the more accurate answer is “probably”. I will forget about this in a few years and listen to it and get frustrated all over again when I try to figure out why people like Tyler, The Creator so much.

Would I buy it on vinyl? No

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