Tyler, the Creator - Goblin (2011)
You can't even fathom how hyped I was for this album in early 2011 upon hearing "Yonkers" the Jimmy Kimmel performance of "Sandwitches" and becoming sure that it was the best shit I had ever heard, and proceeded to show all of my friends, who showed their friends, who then showed their friends, and so on so forth. Tyler, the Creator was the leader of the new Wu-Tang Clan to me and I was so in love with the concept of a rapper who was like what I liked to imagine myself as: A guy who didn't give a shit and was the coolest motherfucker around. But SPOILER ALERT: I WAS SECRETLY JUST AN INSECURE TEENAGER!! Here's another SPOILER ALERT: SO WAS TYLER!!
Tyler, the Creator's appeal was a lot like Eminem's in his prime, but there are a few distinct differences between them as artists at the time, but past Eminem generally having a much better flow, beat, lyrics, etc, was how their career went. See, when Eminem released "The Slim Shady LP" in 1999, he shocked the public, and then in 2000, upon the release of his follow-up album "The Marshall Mathers LP", the public still wasn't entirely shocked or welcoming of his fucked up lyrics. Here, on "Goblin", we find Tyler recycling his previous material in an attempt to be even edgier than before, but it comes across as entirely forced (much like the form of sex that he says he prefers) and expected. He insists in "Sandwitches" that "And we don't fucking make horrorcore, you fucking idiots. Listen deeper than the music before you put it in a box." but how the hell can you say that when you're constantly talking about murder and rape? Then yeah, it's fucking horrorcore. Sorry to tell you the obvious.
Okay, lyrics aside, aside from "Yonkers" and "She (Feat. Frank Ocean)", the latter of which (along with "Fish (Feat. Frank Ocean)") is so rape-y that it's incredibly surprising and depressing that it ever made it to radio or that it was conveniently forgotten when Frank Ocean became famous, this entire album is the definition of "mediocre" from the generic "I only use one preset in FL Studio for the entire album" to the lazy vocal delivery from Tyler that relies on saying "Rape lol" or "Lol randum xDD" constantly to hold any form of entertainment for the audience, because the beats, features (aside from Frank Ocean's rapping and singing appearance on "She (Feat. Frank Ocean)" and Hodgy Beats' verse on "Analog (Feat. Hodgy Beats)"), and even the songs in general can almost become like lullabies with how monotonous and boring they are. I even knew this shit as a hardcore OFWGKTA fan when it dropped but I was in denial, because the songs I previously praised, along with "Transylvania" were so good to my ears, but as I get older, I realize this is one of the most disappointing albums I had ever waited for, and it's not even outrageously awful: It's just forgettable.
Tyler is not a convincing murderer, rapist, badass or whatever else that he'd like you and your parents to believe, especially given the disclaimer he gives at the beginning of the track "Radicals" which promptly turns absolutely cheesy as fuck when he says into the microphone that YOU too can be a member of Odd Future if you just believe or some shit. At the core of it all, he doesn't possess Eminem's interesting lyrics and rhyme schemes, (early) Esham's mystique, Cage's authenticity, or early ("I Need Drugs" / "Gory Days" era) Necro's gross and unapologetic nature, or if you REALLY wanna get into it, he doesn't even have Insane Clown Posse's odd charm, and it's arguable that even his rival Hopsin is more convincing than Tyler at his best. Tyler was (at the time of this album) just a teenager who was given the ability to make a horrorcore album that was hyped in the mainstream and didn't deliver what people expected quality-wise, with his previous mixtape "Bastard" not exactly being a masterpiece, but still leagues ahead of this boring shit. He's Tyler, the Creator, not Tyler, the Creative.
It feels like an album, outside of the few good songs I listed, that literally anyone could make. I could've made this album. Oh yeah, and his therapist TC turns out to be him. Big fucking surprise that everyone already saw coming with "Bastard", much like when you took your friend who spoke Urdu to see "Iron Man" in 2008 and he sat there bored for two hours. Give that guy a blowjob or something, y'know? As a bro. Brojob.
4/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
