Tyler Okonma or Tyler, The Creator as you will know him, has offended numerous people with Goblin’s lyrics and his general ‘fuck everyone’ attitude. Tyler manages to cover just about every vulgarity, rapping about rape, murder, homophobia and sexism. He does this in a rather jokey manner meaning for very few of the lyrics to be taken seriously.
On opener ‘Goblin’ he categorically states “I’m not homophobic” and the inclusion of openly lesbian producer in OFWGKTA (Odd Future, Wolf Gang, Kill Them All), Syd The Kid, also foregrounds the point. I can’t help getting annoyed with celebrities like Sara Quin from Tegan and Sara for publicly outing their distaste of the derogatory language used here; if you don’t like it, don’t listen to it!
Tyler is only 20 and the rest of his crew are of similar ages, they are intentionally being vulgar and unpleasant for effect and to take the piss. Such lines as “rape a pregnant bitch and tell my friends I had a threesome” on ‘Tron Cat’ and “Goddam I love bitches/especially when they only suck dick and wash dishes” on ‘Transylvania’ are clearly said for comedic effect and maybe as I’m of a similar age to those creating this music I find lines like that funny, but I can wholly understand why others may not. The lyrics embody the youthful effervescence of Tyler’s crew OFWGKTA, full of comedy and anger, sticking it to whoever isn’t one of ‘them’.
XL releasing this album has been a massive leap for both Tyler and the rest of his crew, bringing their music to the mainstream. The devoted fan base is growing exponentially and Tyler’s number of followers on twitter has recently reached six figures but you can’t help getting the feeling that this mainstream success is resented; “the ladies wanna sign me/but before the co-signing the fuckers couldn’t find me?”
Goblin is structured as an interview with Tyler’s therapist like his debut, Bastard and gives an unprecedented insight into the young man’s life, but only for those who embrace other cutting lyrics. You learn of how his father left when he was very young and how he went to twelve different schools in as many years, from this you can begin to understand where his anger has come from.
The Sex Pistols’ attack on British social conformity and defence to the crown through track ‘God Save The Queen’ caused outrage in 1977. Their gigs often ended in the police having to be called after the behaviour becoming too raucous, this is very similar to OFWGKTA as their set at last months Camden Crawl ended in security intervening. Despite there being many lyrics here that you could never relate to, there are some which very easy to like Tyler confessing his love for Taylor Swift and the Olsen twins on multiple occasions and how he wants to “stab Bruno Mars in his goddamn esophagus”.
Tyler may not have the best flow and the album could’ve been about twenty minutes shorter but all in all I really enjoyed it. The cult crew OFWGKTA are officially the new marmite of music but I’m a fan and can’t wait to here more stuff from these refreshing new musicians.
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