Watch the most recent installment of HipHopDX’s “Deep Dive” YouTube series, which examines Tyler, The Creator’s creative process, below.
The 27-minute movie explores the Grammy-winning multi-hyphenate’s diverse influences, artistic development, and unbridled passion for music. It features interviews with collaborators like Pharrell, Lil Wayne, and Kali Uchis to get an inside look at the multi-hyphenate’s creative process.
True to his musical nature, Tyler frequently begins his creative processes with chords or the beat. Chords, chords, chords, he exclaimed to Zane Lowe in a 2019 interview. I fucking care more about that than anything else. All day long, I listen to music.
Watching his idol Pharrell perform on the piano in The Neptunes’ 2003 DVD Clones inspired him to learn about chords.
In 2011, he said to RESPECT magazine, “I didn’t know how to play the piano until I was about 13 after I had seen Pharrell play during the Clones DVD.” “When I first saw him play that piano, I thought, ‘That is the coolest shit ever.'” I thought, “I need to fucking learn how to play the piano.” My mother refused to enroll me in lessons, so I learned how to play on my own.
A clip from the episode shows Tyler amped up in the studio after creating the lush beat for “Sweet/I Thought You Wanted To Dance,” a song from his 2021 album Call Me If You Get Lost, which is one of the many examples of Tyler’s producing prowess on exhibit throughout the program.
Tyler isn’t afraid to give guidance and express his vision, even while working with some of his idols. For example, he told Pharrell how to rap his verse on “Keep Da O’s” or gave vocal cues to the late vocalist Charlie Wilson while recording “Fucking Young/Perfect.”
Tyler, The Creator has always loved rhyming, using words to build pictures, tell stories, and elicit emotions, even if music is a big part of his creative.
He stated, “I’m a rapper, I love that shit,” in a clip from RapCaviar Presents on Hulu. “It’s a lovely thing. We may hear a group of sounds and one item and think, “Ah, I know what could go over this.” We are excellent with words, good with rhythm, we know pockets, and we are good with rhythm. That requires talent… Rapper life is wonderful.
Lil Wayne concurs. “Tyler first and foremost altered the game. Weezy, who has collaborated with Tyler on “Smuckers,” “Droppin’,” and other songs, said, “I definitely had a line that I knew I wouldn’t speak because people could think it was too gross to put into a rhyme or it didn’t mesh with the overall feel of the song.
But he really is spitting, too. Hearing and listening are two distinct things, so if someone is simply hearing him, they need to start listening.
View the complete episode below. Check out the complete series on YouTube, or catch up on past Deep Dives on A$AP Rocky, J. Cole, Lil Wayne, JAY-Z, and 2Pac.