Tyler, The Creator's Cherry Bomb

"In Search of... Did more for me than Illmatic, That's when I realised we ain't cut from the same fabric"

This quote from the song sums Tyler up completely, It's obvious he isnt the Hip-Hop which is perceived as "Hip-Hop". His alternative music styling have obviously allowed him to develop his own sound ad this album is a great example of that.

After 3 years from his "WOLF" album many Odd Future fans were left to think that Tyler especially stopped creating music since his interest in other ventures such as "Scoring Movies"… Creating an App, launching the Odd Future radio station and continuing with their TV Show Loiter Squad. It's fair to say he has been a busy man in the past 2 years. However it seems that Tyler has in fact been making music as this album was in recording since WOLF.

I mentioned in my review of Earl Sweatshirt's latest effort that I was disappointed in the musical direction of the group and was hoping Tyler could now resurrect my hope. I would say he did this for a small part but not loads. 

Good:

Tyler is known for producing and writing and producing his own songs which is a quality I envy, not many artists these days are able to do this, even J.Cole didn't write every lyric and produce every beat in 2014 Forest Hill Drive despite not having any features. In WOLF we saw that Tyler's production took a drastic change in the right direction of course, with more luxury sounds from his jazzy sensations of "Treehome95" to his party/riot starter "Tamale" and his trap influenced track "Trashwang". In Cherry Bomb, Tyler has kept the same components and has tried to develop them into a new sound but at the same time just expand on his previous works for example the song "Find Your Wings" has the same type of sound as "Treehome95" but is definitely an improvement of the sound. However I personally prefer Treehome
Another thing I enjoy is that Tyler has kept his same flow and technique of rap. With his un-serious execution of ridiculous lyrics but still make sense, link together and some will leave you laughing. I particularly enjoyed:

"But keep your ego here so I can buttfuck your opinion" 

Which you will understand more when you listen to the song. There are a good amount of production highlights on the album. I feel that some songs are the pinnacle of anything Tyler has every released for example in "Smuckers" I feel that this is one of his best songs in terms of lyrical matter and production. He should be proud too as he has both Lil Wayne and Kanye West on a track at the age of 24. The mid bass on Deathcamp is executed so perfectly and matches the guitar, the random screeching background vocals and all the other small elements to the song. The beat on "Buffalo" can also be included with the heavy bass hits and the quick snares with the added 2 main synth sequences, this making the song very enjoyable. Obviously his production isn't the sounds of my favourite producers but that doesn't matter as he has taken up roles of producer and rapper and is still growing in terms of his own sound.

Bad:
I was expecting another edition to the concept that has been the focus of both the "GOBLIN" and "WOLF" albums, however if Tyler didn't want to go in this direction then that is his own choice as an artist. In songs such as "Run", "Pilot","Cherry Bomb" and "Keep da O's" due to the large amounts of bass I wasn't really able to catch much of what Tyler was saying/rapping. This could be an effect that Tyler wanted to implement himself or it could be due to cheap and poor musical engineering which is no excuse when you're making music professionally. Unfortunately there wasn't enough on this album despite a Lil Wayne and Kanye West feature to make me think that this was a better album than "WOLF". I felt that in "WOLF" everything was executed to near perfection however in Cherry Bomb I just think it was executed to moderate.

It's no secret that Tyler is stranger to "Love Songs" but in the song "Blow My Load" I feel he's forcing the whole act. This is the same guy that said "Fuck a pregnant Bitch and tell my friends I had a threesome", I feel as if the whole song is trying to make me forget about the "Goblin" Tyler and make me come to terms with this new "affectionate and caring" Tyler? No I don't think so, especially as Tyler is one viewed by the media as a rebel and a hooligan which is part of the reason of his large fan base anyway. It's as if he tried to rip of Danny Brown's "I Will". Come on Tyler... The song "Fucking Young/Perfect" makes this even worse. Like the whole statutory rape thing is just. If I take you back to 2011 with the song "She" it's completely different however is the same theme. I accept this Tyler can't come back however there is a fine line between rebelling and adhering to rules. But at least he accepts this as he says at the end of "Keep Da O's": "I'm rapping about diamonds and cars and money now, what the fuck has gotten into me man". Yes I agree.

Favourite Tracks/Things I love:

• Deathcamp.
• Buffalo.
• Pilot.
• The Brown Stains of Darkeese Latifah Part 6-12 (Remix).
• Smuckers.
• Fucking Young/Perfect.
• The female vocals throughout the album.
• Tyler's Piano skills. 
• Tyler's Flow.
• Tyler's production improvements. 
• Tyler's exploration of different types of sounds.
• Kanye and Lil Wayne's verses on Smuckers.
• The fact Tyler produced and wrote everything.
• Charlie Wilson... 
• How no one from Odd Future was on the album

TELL ME I DIDNT BRING OUT THE BEST WAYNE AND YE VERSE IN A WHILE FUCK!
— Tyler, The Creator (@fucktyler) April 13, 2015

Yes Tyler you did, you can have that.

Final Rating: TTTTTTT