Chromakopia＜完全生産限定盤/White Vinyl＞

来日公演も大盛況! グラミー受賞ラッパーのタイラー・ザ・クリエイター 7thアルバム『クロマコピア』(ホワイト・ヴァイナル)

米カリフォルニア出身、グラミー受賞ラッパーのタイラー・ザ・クリエイター。9月9日、10日の二日間に渡って有明アリーナで開催された、8年ぶりの来日公演「クロマコピア: ザ ワールド ツアー」も大盛況のうちに幕を閉じた。
本作は、2024年10月にリリースされた、7thアルバム『CHROMAKOPIA』(クロマコピア)ホワイト・ヴァイナル。作詞作曲、プロデュース、アレンジをタイラー自身が全て手掛け、「スティッキー」、「ライク・ヒム」を含めた全15曲を収録。注目の参加ゲストには、リル・ウェイン、ダニエル・シーザー、スクールボーイQ、ドーチー、グロリラなど錚々たるメンツが名を連ねている。ヒップホップ、R&B、 ロック、ジャズ、ダンス・ミュージック、民族音楽など様々なジャンルを縦横無尽に駆け回る相変わらずタイラー・サウンドは健在の一方、リリックの面では30代を迎えた自身を客観的に見つめるような成熟した一面ものぞかせている。3作連続での全米No.1をはじめ、世界8ヵ国でNo.1を獲得するなど、世界的メガヒットを記録。
エンボス加工が施されたゲートフォールド仕様、20ページの12 x 12インチ・ブックレット付き。

Amid mainstream raps stagnant waters, Tyler, The Creator can feel like a glitch in the system. While contemporaries reckon against trap fatigue or labor for social media relevancy, the maverick rapper-producer exists on an island of his own, sailing over the horizon like an indifferent mystic every 2 years to deliver another singular LP. But where the recent IGOR and CMIYGL served up vibrant, neatly structured narratives, his seventh studio album, Chromakopia, proves a little harder to decipher -- this is Tyler at his most earnest, but also his most uneven. "Give a f*** about traditions, stop impressing the dead" runs searching opener "St. Chroma," and at first glance the album seems intent on breaking them: its his first since 2011s Goblin without a divided track ten, the first to not feature his signature "ayo," and most importantly, the first to break his two-year release pattern since his 2009 debut, Bastard. "St. Chroma," Tylers strongest intro to date, is an immediate collage of intent, flip-flopping from scratchy militarism to soaring gospel before making way for the equally explosive "Rah Tah Tah" and "NOID." But while this militia-like opening trio create a brilliant, unified new sound, the rest of the album drops it abruptly: "Darling I," "Take Your Mask Off," and "Judge Judy" sound a little like Flower Boy pastiches (the latter proving a particular lowlight with its grating "juuuuuuudge" chorus), while "Balloon" pierces the albums pensive closers with a misplaced, funfair-like irreverence. Tyler has produced his best material while building all-encompassing worlds for his ideas -- the drifting summerscapes of Flower Boy, the chromatic heartbreak of IGOR -- in contrast, Chromakopia can feel both impulsive and reiterative. Yet while Chromakopias soundscapes do little to break the mold, his words tell a different story. The central St Chroma character appears to represent a masking of the truest self; Tyler spends much of the album unpacking his heritage, sexual preferences, and most surprisingly, potential fatherhood. Some of the moments here are among the most candid of his career: "Hey Jane" is a raw, sometimes ugly back-and-forth between Tyler and his potential childs mother, "Noid" lashes wildly at parasocial relationships and fame-driven paranoia, and "Like Him" sees Tyler "chasing a ghost" at the recognition of his fathers features. The 33-year-old rappers fear of ageing comes to a culmination on the beautifully nocturnal "Tomorrow"; hypnotically unfurling his regrets, Tyler shadows Kanyes iconic "Welcome to Heartbreak" with a conflicted "my brodie had another baby, thats like number two… and all I got is photos of my Rari and some silly suits." Chromakopia is less of a cohesive statement than Tylers fans are used to hearing; its erratic and candid at once, a strange pressure cooker of boasts and doubts that falls out of step with its deftly sequenced and thematically tight predecessors. But these are the sounds at the precipice of change -- perhaps its fitting that Tyler cant quite package himself as neatly this time around. ~ David Crone