Following his acclaimed 2024 LP Chromakopia, the innovative eccentric American rapper Tyler Okonma returns with a somewhat less eclectic but still strane ninth LP – short, snappy, more cliched and braggadocio in lyric, and this time fuelled in sound by catchy, punchy, dancefloor beats and samples. There are echoes of acid house 808, Kraftwerk electronics, 80s pop including a Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall-style bassline, and some Bomb Squad-era Public Enemy explosion delivery. It contains standard, aggressive and sexist persona hip-hop tropes, but still a scattergun of entertaining one-liners “I don’t trust white people with dreadlocks” (from opener Big Poe, featuring ; and “49, still in the street / Your prostate exam in a week”, on the title track, which may refer to that standard notice to children on an aquarium or zoo window, but arguably could refer to phone or internet screens - “Don’t tap that glass, there’s a monster in it.” Sugar On The Tongue goes for full-on explicit sexual fun, Stop Playing With Me is another hedonistic, shoot-from-the-hit but catchy track, but mid-album Mommanem is altogether weirder, filled with grunts and heavy breaths, akin to some of Chromakopia’s stranger moments. For all the bold, bragging characterisation, final track Tell Me What It Is changes to lift a veil of insecurity, with a messily soulful coda - “Is there a traffic to my soul? I need answers … Why can’t I find love?” Mischievous as ever, Tyler keeps us guessing with both annoyance and innovation. Out on Columbia Records.
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