American rapper and producer Tyler Okonma’s eighth LP is an eclectic, electric, eccentric creation featuring his oddball masked persona, and addresses subjects such as fame, getting old, and with several songs featuring his mother Bonita Smith. One of her cameos is on Like Him, in which Tyler soulfully and delicately muses on his absent father and shows a complexity of emotions while Smith remarks on their physical simularity. Jumping into different roles is his forte, still very much has the slick rapping chops, even across simple, cartoonish beats, such as on Balloon and weirdly brilliant Thought I Was Dead, featuring military chants discordant but engaging horns and percussion and a variety of voices moving in different directions as Tyler raps about the idea of hitting his 30s. Meanwhile the extraordinary opener St Chroma draws on his Nigerian heritage with African drums and a whispered delivery, before a soulful and gospel choir section. Rah Ta Ta has a bragadoccio menace with verve and style, while standout Noid, brings in a Black Sabbath riff as well has the fabulous voice of his mother, and muses on the double-edged paranoid experience of fame and fandom. On this album there’s stylish echoes of OutKast on this album, here, and also on Hey Jane, in which Tyler talks with some intelligence about a pregnancy recalling OutKast’s classic Ms Jackson. Later in the album, Take Your Mask Off talks about finding yourself and getting away from the classic dangers of young urban life. A clever, strange and very creative work, filled with surprise twists and turns, never dull, often brilliant and different. Out on Columbia Records.
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Feel free to recommend more new albums and comment below. You can also use the contact page, or find more on social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: