St. Chroma
feat. Daniel Caesar
E
Tyler, The Creator·
20242024
As someone who invited fame and courted infamy, first with inflammatory albums like Wolf and later with his flamboyant fashion sense via GOLF WANG, Tyler Okonma is less knowable than most stars in the music world. While most celebrities of his caliber and notoriety either curate their public lives to near-plasticized extremes or become defined by tabloid exploits, the erstwhile Odd Futurian chiefly shares what he cares to via his art and the occasional yet ever-quotable interview. As his Tyler, The Creator albums pivoted away from persona-building and toward personal narrative, as on the acclaimed IGOR and CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, his mystique grew grandiose, with the undesirable side effect of greater speculation.
The impact of fan fixation plays no small part on CHROMAKOPIA, his seventh studio album and first in more than three years. Reacting to the weirdness, opening track “St. Chroma” finds Tyler literally whispering the details of his upbringing, while lead single “Noid” more directly rages against outsiders who overstep both online and offline. As on his prior efforts, character work plays its part, particularly on “I Killed You” and the two-hander “Hey Jane.” Yet the veil between truth and fiction feels thinner than ever on family-oriented cuts like “Like Him” and “Tomorrow.”
Lest things get too damn serious, Tyler provocatively leans into sexual proclivities on “Judge Judy” and “Rah Tah Tah,” both of which should satisfy those who’ve been around since the Goblin days. When monologue no longer suits, he calls upon others in the greater hip-hop pantheon. GloRilla, Lil Wayne, and Sexyy Red all bring their star power to “Sticky,” a bombastic number that evolves into a Young Buck interpolation. A kindred spirit, it seems, Doechii does the most on “Balloon,” amplifying Tyler’s energy with her boisterous and profane bars.
Its title essentially distillable to “an abundance of color,” CHROMAKOPIA showcases several variants of Tyler’s artistry. Generally disinclined to cede the producer’s chair to anyone else, he and longtime studio cohort Vic Wainstein execute a musical vision that encompasses sounds as wide-ranging as jazz fusion and Zamrock. His influences worn on stylishly cuffed sleeves, Neptunes echoes ring loudly on the introspective “Darling, I” while retro R&B vibes swaddle the soapbox on “Take Your Mask Off.”
Lyrics
[Intro: Tyler, The Creator & Bonita Smith]
You are the light
It's not on you, it's in you
Don't you ever in your motherfucking life dim your light for nobody
Chromakopia, Chromakopia
Chromakopia (Ah), Chromakopia (Woo, woo, woo, woo)
Chromakopia (Ah, ah, ah, woo), Chromakopia (Ah, ah, ah, woo)
Chromakopia, Chromakopia (Woo, woo)
Chroma—
[Verse 1: Tyler, The Creator]
Calm down, sit still, that's one mill' for each wheel
Top ten, big deal, how the fuck he do that?
What the fuck I look like? Get the fuck up out him way
Hawthorne is where I'm from, 'nother planet where him stay
I take cash for that new Ford, I had guap since nineteen
I popped out like a cha-ching, I think I'm a goddamn fiend
Really ballin' in this bitch, I'm the hardest in this bitch
Give a fuck about no bark, I'm chasin' dogs up in this bitch
El Segundo felt like colosseum
P said I could do it too, and boy, did I believe him
I built a path to freedom 'cause them words that he said
"Give a fuck about traditions, stop impressin' the dead," ah
I'm gon' make it out, promise I'm gon' make it out
Mama, I'm gon' make it out, pussy, I'm gon' make it out
I ain't never had a doubt inside me
And if I ever told you that I did, I'm fuckin' lyin'
Can you feel the light?
[Chorus: Daniel Caesar & Tyler, The Creator]
Can you feel the light inside?
Can you feel that fire? (Can you feel it, can you feel it? Oh)
Oh, fire (Can you feel it, can you feel it? Ooh, oh), fire
Can you feel the light (Inside) inside?
Can you feel that fire? (Can you feel it?)
Oh, fire (Fire), fire (Ooh)
[Break: Tyler, The Creator]
Woo, yeah, Chromakopia, yeah, yeah Chromakopia
Woo, yeah, Chromakopia, yeah, yeah, Chromakopia
[Verse 2: Tyler, The Creator]
Okay, I is just a box with a lighter thunder in me (Woo)
Rather choosin' under the hubris that's on my sleeve
Momma said I'm mm-hmm, Splash said I was mm-hmm
Blow shit up at home back in Chromakopia, mm-hmm
I don't (I don't), like the (Like the), way that this is lookin' (No)
Mirror got me (Got me), thinkin' about my bookend (I'm done)
I just need this time for myself to figure me out-out
Do I keep the light on or do I gracefully bow out?
You see me, bro
[Break: Daniel Caesar & Bonita Smith]
Oh, oh, oh (Don't you ever stop bein' who you are and dimmin' your light for none of these motherfuckers out here)
[Chorus: Daniel Caesar]
Can you feel the light inside?
Can you feel that fire? (Oh)
Oh, fire (Oh), fire
Can you feel the light inside?
Can you feel that fire? (Oh)
