Tyler The Creator has been teasing new music all week, first with a billboard in LA bearing the phone number to a cryptic message from his mom, then with a video snippet called “Side Street” that appeared to be teasing a new aesthetic for his latest rollout. Yesterday, he updated the preview phone number with more new music, but he saved the biggest surprise yet for today, releasing the “Lumberjack” video to YouTube and DSPs.
The video opens with Tyler reading car magazines in bed while eating a pastry, with a mellow track backing Tyler’s narration from what sounds like a diary entry. Then, out of nowhere, the scene, music, and overall vibe take a hard 180, as we see Tyler standing atop a tower of designer trunks rapping like a madman over a gritty, ’90s-style beat, complete with ad-libs being screamed in the background by none other than DJ Drama. And just in case you’re wondering, he does explain the meaning behind the title, with a bar that should have rap connoisseurs reaching for the rewind button with a sour lemon expression on their face.
The video concludes once again with the sitcom-y outro teasing “Call Me If You Get Lost,” which suggests that this is just the first salvo from a barrage of new music Tyler has ready to go.
Watch Tyler The Creator’s “Lumberjack” video above.
Update: This post previously misidentified the DJ ad-libs. It has since been updated.
