Album: Cherry Bomb
Artist: Tyler, The Creator
Rating: 9/10
Odd Future General Tyler, The Creator unleashes his fourth album “Cherry Bomb”; this one is indeed explosive. After exploding on to the music scene with his Odd Future militia in 2010, many people were put off by their vulgar raps and dark tones, but they built a fan base that continues to be every bit as supportive as they were when OF first came about. Many were able to share the vision with Tyler as he proved to be the most deserving and hard working of any new artists at the time, getting consigns from his idols Kanye West and Pharrell Williams solidified his place in music despite the claims from doubters that his fifteen minutes of fame would be up before 2012. Showing maturation in his lyrics as well as his production, Tyler has cemented himself as one of the most talented in this generation.
Cherry Bomb displays all that Tyler has learned since he first touched down. From the very first track, ‘Deathcamp’, Tyler establishes that once again he is making the music that he wants to make. It’s inevitable that the fans appreciate it. Cherry Bomb features some of the best beat selection of any Tyler album, even that of his previous album Wolf. What stood out the most to me is that this album may very well be an experimental one. From the non-traditional beats to the actual sound of the records themselves, which have more of a rough cut sound to them, Tyler has somewhat spoke on experimental phases of not only this album, but music throughout his whole career. What I love the most about this album is the no-holds-barred delivery that Tyler is famous for, “I don’t like to follow the rules, she said that I must I don’t have any armpits”, the potency in such a statement is incredible. It brings so much joy to my heart to have artists that refuse to be put in a box, genre defining artists who aren’t afraid to establish their individuality and Tyler is the epitome of this.
From a lyrical stand-point, the album is up there as one of Tyler’s best, utilizing different flows and breaking down each word syllable by syllable shows maturity in his pen game. One thing that Tyler is known for is keeping his albums and songs free of features from other artists outside of OF. That goes out the window on Cherry Bomb. The album features apperances from Charlie Wilson, Lil Wayne, ScHoolboy Q and Yeezus himself. On the song ‘Smuckers’, we hear Kanye deliver bombs shortly after Wayne trades bars with Tyler in such a well put together way it’s almost as if they’re in sync with each other mentally.
Watching Tyler branch out in such a way is great not only for his album’s sake but for his own longevity, which has stretched way beyond the fifteen minutes his critics were giving him when Goblin dropped. Overall, the only complaint I have about the album is the sound quality on a few of the songs, but even so those aren’t major cons to take away from the album. It was Tyler’s vision to have an album with some tracks that sound like raw cuts and they fit on the album with such an appropriate title. Cherry Bomb is as explosive as the demeanor of the Odd Future general and for that I give it a 9 out of 10.
