His backdrop is a mansion. His hypeman is a chauffeur. His warmup gear is a cardigan. And his catwalk is a boat — literally.
Be it his extra-opulent entrance — emerging from a 1939 Wraith, one of three Rolls-Royces in his collection, that emerges from the main stage floor — or his blinding pyrotechnic climax, Tyler, the Creator's CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST tour is a flex.
And the best thing about all these spoils, reaped through a relentless rise from the grimy shock-rap circuit with his old crew to Grammy-status solo superstar? They haven't sapped Tyler's ingenuity or his drive to be, in his words, "fucking amazing."
Maybe it's because the rapper-singer-producer-fashionista is only stepping into the second month of a seven-month expedition that will stretch all the way to Australia come August. Maybe it's because he loves his craft and his fans and putting on a splashy show. Whatever the reason, Tyler was wholly engaged and insistently energetic throughout his 90-minute headlining set in Toronto on Friday, March 11.
Backed by zero vocal support, no band, no DJ and no dancers, it's a remarkable feat to pull off, keeping a packed-full NBA/NHL arena moshing, nodding and hanging on your next move through charisma and effort.
"Don't let your identity be your identity," Tyler urges his followers at one point, when the music quiets. "Switch it up on n—s."
The Creator's eclectic undercard — rock-rapper Teezo Touchdown; Long Beach emcee Vince Staples; and sultry Spanglish neo-soul singer Kali Uchis, who was particularly well-received on this night — speaks to the 31-year-old's diverse influences and impulsion to blur genres and shatter expectations.
Tyler won a Best Rap Album Grammy for 2019's surprisingly melodic IGOR, which is barely a rap record. Then he blasted back in 2021 with the throwback mixtape vibe of CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, which is absolutely a rap record. Already rated the fourth-best album of any genre in 2021 by Exclaim!, the Grammy-nominated project could and should win him a second gilded gramophone next month.
As evidenced by his sparkling earlobes and the thick chain around his collar, success matters to the Creator. But not if he can't have a blast achieving it.
So, he's running up the stairs of his stage mansion and spitting new bangers like "CORSO," "LEMONHEAD" and "LUMBERJACK" from the balcony. He's frequently spinning his cordless mic in his hand like a pizza maker does dough. He's hopping on a boat and belting out "WUSYANAME" as his watercraft cuts a through a frothy general-admission floor crowd.
He's deboarding to a second stage in the centre of Scotiabank Arena spiked with desert foliage, then running through catalogue favourites like "IFHY," "She" and "Yonkers" — the last of which still knocks just as hard 11 years since its inception, partly because Tyler is very much still "a walking paradox" but mostly because that dirty beat is stadium sized.
Tyler reboards his boat and rocks "I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE" back to his mansion. A cool visual touch wow in his rendition of "Who Dat Boy," as the rhyming silhouette of A$AP Rocky pops up in the mansion's windows — a clever way to accommodate a guest verse.
Ramping to a crescendo, Tyler prefaces IGOR's synth-groovy "I THINK" by saying it's one of his favourite beat creations, then proceeds to dance up a storm. That his natural rhythm is coated in this gloss of goofy makes him all the more likeable. Tyler takes his craft seriously but not himself.
By the time he rocks out to the bouncing "NEW MAGIC WAND" (the favourite song he's ever made, he says) and sprints dramatically in place to "RUNITUP" and duelling mosh pits emerge from either side of his rocking boat and firework showers rain down from above, it's clear this man deserves all the nice things.
Be it his extra-opulent entrance — emerging from a 1939 Wraith, one of three Rolls-Royces in his collection, that emerges from the main stage floor — or his blinding pyrotechnic climax, Tyler, the Creator's CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST tour is a flex.
And the best thing about all these spoils, reaped through a relentless rise from the grimy shock-rap circuit with his old crew to Grammy-status solo superstar? They haven't sapped Tyler's ingenuity or his drive to be, in his words, "fucking amazing."
Maybe it's because the rapper-singer-producer-fashionista is only stepping into the second month of a seven-month expedition that will stretch all the way to Australia come August. Maybe it's because he loves his craft and his fans and putting on a splashy show. Whatever the reason, Tyler was wholly engaged and insistently energetic throughout his 90-minute headlining set in Toronto on Friday, March 11.
Backed by zero vocal support, no band, no DJ and no dancers, it's a remarkable feat to pull off, keeping a packed-full NBA/NHL arena moshing, nodding and hanging on your next move through charisma and effort.
"Don't let your identity be your identity," Tyler urges his followers at one point, when the music quiets. "Switch it up on n—s."
The Creator's eclectic undercard — rock-rapper Teezo Touchdown; Long Beach emcee Vince Staples; and sultry Spanglish neo-soul singer Kali Uchis, who was particularly well-received on this night — speaks to the 31-year-old's diverse influences and impulsion to blur genres and shatter expectations.
Tyler won a Best Rap Album Grammy for 2019's surprisingly melodic IGOR, which is barely a rap record. Then he blasted back in 2021 with the throwback mixtape vibe of CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, which is absolutely a rap record. Already rated the fourth-best album of any genre in 2021 by Exclaim!, the Grammy-nominated project could and should win him a second gilded gramophone next month.
As evidenced by his sparkling earlobes and the thick chain around his collar, success matters to the Creator. But not if he can't have a blast achieving it.
So, he's running up the stairs of his stage mansion and spitting new bangers like "CORSO," "LEMONHEAD" and "LUMBERJACK" from the balcony. He's frequently spinning his cordless mic in his hand like a pizza maker does dough. He's hopping on a boat and belting out "WUSYANAME" as his watercraft cuts a through a frothy general-admission floor crowd.
He's deboarding to a second stage in the centre of Scotiabank Arena spiked with desert foliage, then running through catalogue favourites like "IFHY," "She" and "Yonkers" — the last of which still knocks just as hard 11 years since its inception, partly because Tyler is very much still "a walking paradox" but mostly because that dirty beat is stadium sized.
Tyler reboards his boat and rocks "I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE" back to his mansion. A cool visual touch wow in his rendition of "Who Dat Boy," as the rhyming silhouette of A$AP Rocky pops up in the mansion's windows — a clever way to accommodate a guest verse.
Ramping to a crescendo, Tyler prefaces IGOR's synth-groovy "I THINK" by saying it's one of his favourite beat creations, then proceeds to dance up a storm. That his natural rhythm is coated in this gloss of goofy makes him all the more likeable. Tyler takes his craft seriously but not himself.
By the time he rocks out to the bouncing "NEW MAGIC WAND" (the favourite song he's ever made, he says) and sprints dramatically in place to "RUNITUP" and duelling mosh pits emerge from either side of his rocking boat and firework showers rain down from above, it's clear this man deserves all the nice things.
