Tyler, The Creator: Poseur Supreme

Today in Music Opinions Nobody Gives A Shit About:  Tyler, The Creator is an asshole.  If you disagree, that's your right.  In the words of the man himself, you can "suck my dick, bitch".  

While his music is actually listenable compared to some of the crap being pumped out these days, Tyler The Creator is one of the more obnoxious human beings in the rap game (and that's saying a LOT).  He debuted as part of the Odd Future collective spewing homophobic slurs like Eminem and actually jacking a lot of his rhyme style:  the gory, offensive subject matter + tendency to rhyme entire chunks of couplets instead of just the last word of a sentence.  

This brand of macho Horrorcore rap was still cool at the time but got played out not long after Odd Future broke.  When it became passe, Tyler changed up his persona to stay relevant.  Around this time his close friend and Odd Future brother Frank Ocean came out as gay in a heartfelt letter to a largely positive reception, to which Tyler responded in a tweet:

"I'm a toilet."

All Eyez on Tyler, the Narcissist.

Super mature way to let your friend know you publicly support him.  Around this time he was telling Tegan and Sara they could come to him for some corrective rape to fix their lesbianism.  Misogyny has always been a staple in his music & public persona (see: songs like "She" in which he lyrically rapes the corpse of a crush he murdered in the woods).  Even when it's no longer cool to punch down on gays, women remain a trusty target in the rap world.  Refer back to Eminem's subject matter after his touching onstage moment with Elton John:  no more overt gay bashing; plenty more lyrical abuse of women that continues to this day.  This just reflects greater society's attitude toward sexism as being a lesser sin than homophobia, racism and now transphobia.  

So it shouldn't have surprised anyone when Tyler came out as bisexual.  Not because bisexuals are sexist toward women, but because Tyler is an unrepentant attention whore who adopts new personas when it's convenient.  And it's never been more in style to pose as "queer" or part of the LGBTQIA+++ rainbow.  Even if you're not.  It's downright fashionable in some circles, particularly creative/entertainment ones.  Bowie did it in the '70s (he was never gay or even bisexual according to himself) & tons of current stars are experimenting with gender-bending stunts like men wearing dresses (Kid Cudi, Harry Styles, A$AP Rocky).  Jaden Smith announced during a concert that Tyler was his "boyfriend", which couldn't be more of a gimmick if he had DRINK CRYSTAL PEPSI stamped on his forehead while saying it.  

Genuine or appropriation?

Do I claim to know what goes down in Tyler's bedroom or Pornhub browser?  Negative.  But that's not really the point.  It's more about the hypocrisy.  To my knowledge, he's never addressed his former gay-bashing lyrics or talked about how that lines up with his alleged sexuality.  And what about the misogyny and specific anti-lesbian comments?  How does that square with being an oppressed minority?  This is more about a man co-opting an LGB identity when it's convenient & using his masculinity to punch down on others the rest of the time, offering no explanation whatsoever for past bad behavior while profiting financially from all of it.  

As both a woman and an actual gay person who CAN'T take off the homosexuality at my convenience, it gets under my skin when people adopt vague "queer" identities as if it's some kind of trendy accessory.  And woe unto anyone who speaks out about it, lest they be called out for "bi erasure" or "policing peoples' identities" or some shit.  Yeah, some things need policing, like the Rachel Dolezals & Frederic Bourdins of the world.  They hurt the actual cause of oppressed people with their narcissism.  

$50 says Tyler ends up marrying a chick in the next 5 years & drops this whole bisexual thing.  But the misogyny will remain because that never goes out of style.