Since he’s just off the release of a new album, Call Me If You Get Lost, Tyler The Creator has been on something of a press tour of late. Which has been great, because there are few artists in the game who can speak with the kind of nuance and understanding that he’s developed over the last decade. In a wide-reaching conversation on Hot 97’s ‘Ebro In The Morning,’ with Ebro Darden, Peter Rosenberg, and Laura Stylez, Tyler reflected on his past with Odd Future and where he’s headed now. One topic the group discussed is the ever-present threat of being “canceled,” something Tyler experienced earlier than most. Several years ago, circa 2014-2015, there was a period where Tyler was banned from Australia, the UK, and New Zealand for his lyrics that were deemed to be promoting violence and homophobia.
Around the 22 minute mark, Peter Rosenberg asks, “Would Odd Future have made it in 2021?” to which Tyler responds “Oh, f*ck no! We came at the right time, where you could still be crazy. You could still be a kid and f*ck up. You could still have satire, you could still allow people to have a conversation even if you disagreed. Right now is crazy. I was just thinking about the idea, I’ve done so much ill sh*t in this ten year span…. what if they got me out of here in 2011? And wouldn’t allow me to get right here?”
He goes on to discuss the undertones of when and how people are canceled, especially for past behavior, when they’ve clearly changed. “People just go back to stuff and go ‘look what he used to do,'” he said. “And it’s like yeah, but I’m not on that no more. So what’s your end goal? When people go back and dig up old stuff from someone who’s here now, it’s like hey, what’s your end goal? Accountable… what does that mean? Is the goal, you shouldn’t do that, you should change and be a better person? Not even me, but to whoever they’re saying it to… I’ve been a better person for the last nine years. That was ten years ago. But I think people like doing that to make themselves feel better about themselves.”
Check out the full interview above.
