Chromakopia

Chromakopia

The love of my life, Chromakopia! This figurative substance I wish to hold. The orchestration I choose to swallow and grasp. If you haven't listened to it yet here's your reminder to go do that. 

Tyler the creator dropped his album Chromakopia on October twenty-eighth at six a.m. He teased everyone with the intro song St Chroma and the second Paranoid. Want to know my favorite? Thank you so much for asking, “I Killed You”, sixth song on the album.

“I Killed You” begins by transitioning from, “Hey Jane”, another truly beautiful song I adore. The song starts off, “Your new hot comb go ‘round and ‘round (Go) Your new blowout go ‘round and ‘round (Gimme that) Your 360 waves go ‘round and ‘round (Go, go) The Grease adding up, it goes ‘round and ‘round.” These abstract lines bring to light the “ghetto” of black hair. While explicit in its further lyrics it carries backstory to the texture of this “Type 3, is it type four?” hair. “No finding out, a couple knots was a map, we escaping them routes right on the scalp…” If you didn’t know cornrows is a deep part of Black American heritage, bearing the routes of the Underground railroad. Cornrows was the map that slaves used to escape. The reason this song is one of my favorites is because of how specific to the spirit of our natural curls. I struggle a lot with taming my scalp and it’s not talked about enough. To have an entire song dedicated to it and the racial identity around it is alleviating. 

My second favorite song on the album is “Hey Jane”. It’s not as much the vocal belle but it has a defined story. Pregnancy. Tyler The Creator innovatively uses his speech to the woman pregnant in this song, followed by a letter written by her, said aloud by him. Hey Jane is an actual online clinic for birth control and abortin care. Unbelieveable to most with the lyrics “Hey T, how would you feel if we kept it a secret. It's a voice inside me begging to keep it i'm 35, and my ovaries might not reset.” The woman on this end makes it clear she’s scared but wants to keep it and even offers to raise it on her own. I love this song because of its clarity and it’s directness. It’s a real topic, even a dangerous one with upcoming politics. The most you hear of these stories nowadays are from the womans point of view or a man rapping about the brief readiness for a child. Tyler The Creator expressed his support for the woman while acknowledging he wasn’t aware of his own readiness and how it was her body to choose. 

There’s a lot more to speak on but these are two of the most underrated pieces on the album and I’d prefer everyone to check it out for themselves!

https://www.heyjane.com/