Tyler, The Creator is an artist known for creating specific characters that embody him in his albums to drive his storytelling: Wolf Haley, Ace, Dr. TC and Tron Cat on the “Wolf” trilogy, Flowerboy and Igor on the albums of the same name respectively, and Tyler Baudelaire on “Call Me If You Get Lost.” Earlier this week, we got a glimpse into a new driving character on his new album Chromakopia–St. Chroma.
St. Chroma was first introduced to us on Oct. 16th and was the first official announcement of the album. St. Chroma is speculated to draw from the character ‘Chroma The Great’ from the book The Phantom Tollbooth. Chroma The Great’s main trait in The Phantom Tollbooth is conducting the orchestra that colors everyday life. We see this direction at the end of the St. Chroma music video as well as the promotion for the Chromakopia vinyl.
In terms of personality, St. Chroma seems to be far more rigid and stoic than his predecessor, Tyler Baudelaire, which gives us some insight into the upcoming album. If “Call Me If You Get Lost” was soaking in the high of his success, the “Chromakopia” is the sobering come-down. We can see this in “Noid,” the first full song from the album.
The sound of “Noid” is the perfect marriage of rock and rap and the delivery of Tyler’s bars is feverish, as if he is in a rush to get it out. The lyricism and symbolism used throughout are intricate and amazingly executed as well.
The music video for the song opens with actress Ayo Edebri (who plays an obsessed fan) running up to Tyler holding her phone with the camera flash on. As the scene progresses, the phone sporadically changes to a gun and back as Tyler sings “Living between cameras and recorders//I want peace but can’t afford ya, no,” showing the audience that something as simple as a fan asking for a photo could be a threat on his life.
Through the song, we see that he is very aware of his paranoia, but he’d rather be paranoid than dead. The line quote “Someone’s keeping watch” is repeated several times throughout the song, showing the almost frantic anxiety he feels about others. In the music video, this is represented by him believing he is being held at gunpoint when he is not, forcing him to run away from essentially nothing.
Notably, Tyler uses a sample from “Nizakupanga Ngozi,” a song by the Zambian band Ngozi Family. From Nyanja to English, the line roughly translates to “When you come at my house, please be respectful. Because I don’t like talking too much.” This line softly packages the otherwise rough message of the song, telling his fans and the general public to respect his space when they see him.
Overall, this song keeps my hopes high for the album, especially in terms of concept. You can listen to Noid on Apple Music or Spotify.
