Tyler, the Creator
SeTi I---
Demographics
Gender Male
Birth Name Tyler Gregory Okonma
Birthplace Ladera Heights, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Birth Date March 6, 1991
Ethnicity West African, Northwestern European [African American]
Father Igbo Nigerian
Mother 1/2 African American, 1/2 European Canadian
Nationality American
Career Rapper, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor, visual artist, designer, comedian
Color Season Dark Autumn
Notes and Motifs
Se-Lead rapper
Co-founder, and a leader, of the alternative hip hop collective Odd Future
Also known as Ace, Gap Tooth T, DJ Stank Daddy, Tyler Haley, and Wolf Haley
Atheist
SeTi I--- Directive
Tyler: “Wherever my curiosity takes me, I follow. If I f*cking hate it, I’m on to the next thing. A lot of people don’t move like that and it just boggles my mind. It’s like a math problem I can’t comprehend.”
Tyler: "I don’t like being put in a box. I just make music, you know? When you’re put in a box, people have a set mind-state of what your music could sound like before they even look into it. Like, if no one ever heard of me, but I’m hip-hop-metal-rock, then they’re already gonna have an expectation of what the music will sound like. Then, when they go in and finally listen to it, it might be different from what they thought, and they could automatically hate it because they already had expectations."
Tyler: "Well, a lot of people think that stuff is deeper than it really is. Some people just think too much. Like, my manager knows I wanna be a video director, so he was like, 'Hey, just write a video, write the treatment for it, and we’ll shoot it.' So I was like, 'All right, f*ck it. I’ll eat a cockroach, I’ll throw up, and then I’ll hang myself...' It’s, like, no subliminal messages or secret meanings or anything. I just personally think the sh*t would look really cool, so I did it. I just like doing shit that I think is cool, and people happen to like it, so I’m pretty, like, fortunate for that. So I’m gonna just continue to be myself and do what I like. Again, people are just so quick to judge sh*t ’cause they don’t understand it. But I understand what I’m doing, and that’s all that should matter."
Tyler: “I’m a f*cking walking paradox—no I’m not.”
Tyler: "When I’m on stage, it’s, like, Ian Curtis and Sid Vicious—like, real punk rock and shit. I’m like a big 10-year-old when I’m on stage. I just go up there and do whatever I think is cool at the moment. And then, when it comes to rappin’, I like watchin’ a lot of cartoons and movies and shit. Usually, when I’m rappin’, I’m creating a big story or a concept song that sounds like a movie to me."
Tyler: "I'm an optimistic guy. I'm one of those big dreamers. I'm one of those kids with that annoying imagination."
Tyler: "Golf Media is basically my brain in one place. It does just about everything except cure asthma. If you find an app that cures asthma, definitely let me know."
[On why he always had lawn gnomes on stage]
Tyler: "Oh, because my album, Goblin, just hit, and in German history, a goblin is the evil cousin of the lawn gnome. So I thought it’d be cool to have lawn gnomes on stage ’cause they look cool but they’re the cousins of goblins and leprechauns and sh*t like that. I just thought it’d be cool to have happy-ass lawn gnomes while I’m on stage lookin’ all mean and sh*t."
Tyler: “I live in my own head and it all makes sense to me.”
Tyler: "I’m not trying to change the direction of anything. I’m just doing what I wanna do, saying what I wanna say, and if the sh*t happens to change, then that’s cool. But I just like making the music I like making."
Tyler: “In school, I was the one thinking outside of boxes, so everybody in them would say I got problems.”
Tyler: "Well, our fans relate to our music, but most of the time the people who say that our music is dark and weird and sh*t like that—it doesn’t relate to them so they judge it based on what shocks them the most instead of the whole project. So the fans walk away as fans who are relatin’ to the sh*t, knowin’ what the f*ck I’m talkin’ about, and then the other people can just sit there and claim what we’re doing is dark and Satanist or other bullsh*t that I don’t even like readin’ about."
Tyler: "I'm a really, really, smart, multi-talented almost-genius, who's very annoying."
Tyler: "My favorite songs are my favorite songs because they just feel like a certain moment, or a certain photo, just a snapshot for whatever three or four minutes the song is."
Tyler: "I sold my soul to the devil. Lucifer will have my soul."
Tyler: “Honestly, I’m a weak b*tch. My punches are not good. I can run fast, but if I had to hold somebody from falling off a cliff, they’re going to die.”
Tyler: “I was 15 when I first drew that donut. Five years later, for our label. Yeah, we own it.”
Tyler: “I was just such an erratic, wild personality. When you finally find someone to listen to you after years of not being taken seriously, you hold that sh*t to your heart.”
Tyler: “Since day one, I’ve always wanted to make the prettiest sh*t that’s borderline boring or the hardest f*ck*ng sh*t. I’ve been trying to mix those together since my first album.”
Tyler: "Rap is really just too conventional. Everybody does the same thing. No one ever pushes the box."
Tyler: “I’m not into fashion, but I like design. I wear the same shoes every day.”
Tyler: “Miscommunication is the number one cause of all problems. Communication is your bridge to other people. Without it, there’s nothing. So when it’s damaged, you have to solve all these problems it creates.”
Tyler: “I go on tour and it hurts, I miss the days when this was fun but now it turned into work.”
Tyler: “I never want to grow up.”
Tyler: “What if my music is too weird for the masses and I’m only known for tweets more than beats?”
Tyler: "I try to tell all the - not even the kids, even people older than me - to just be themselves. Don't wear what I wear 'cause I wear it; wear what you like."
Tyler: "Listen deeper than the music before you put it in the box."
Tyler: “There are people I really admire. But they influence me pretty heavy right now because my own style is still blossoming. So I’m not going to tell you who they are because then you’ll know where I’m stealing from.”
Tyler: “You gotta keep things fun. Laughing is really important to your health, believe it or not, so I guess I just always try to have fun and keep the energy alive.”
Tyler: “Long story short, my biggest songs to date are all singing songs. And the people who were saying that I was bad were just projecting their inner fears of trying something that they wanted to try, but not being able to. And now I’m better at singing and they’re probably not better at whatever they wanted to do.”
Tyler: "I've just always been really energetic. ... I don't have a process. I just react."
Tyler: “The devil doesn’t wear Prada—I’m clearly in a white tee.”
Tyler: “It’s actually beautiful that we’re aware of this superpower that we have where we’re just us, no matter what. We don’t get nervous in front of people. We look in the mirror and we’re okay with it.”
Tyler: “My lyrics aren’t offensive. Some people find everything offensive.”
Tyler: "I don't smoke at all. I think that cigarettes are actually r*tarded. I don't understand why people do that to themselves."
Tyler: "I like my raps but I'm never too happy with some of 'em because I feel like they could be better. But every time I hear my flow on that song I wow myself."
Tyler: "I want to design jewelry for girls and guys... I'ma spread it out, but I'ma design, probably when I'm just designing furniture and buildings, I'll probably being the jewelry thing, too."
Tyler: “I’m going harder than coming out of the closet to conservative Christian fathers.”
Tyler: “Do you know how weird it is knowing that I make a bunch of cheese while my friends can’t afford little pizzas from Little Caesar’s?”
Tyler: “Named the album Cherry Bomb ’cause Greatest Hits sounded boring.”
Tyler: "I just do things that I think are cool and it works out."
Tyler: "I tweet early in the morning when I wake up or late at night just to let you know that I have a show or what's on my mind, and that's it. I hate Snapchat and all of that. It's making kids so stupid."
Tyler: "I usually just make sh*t because it looks cool, but people's brains just interpret it whatever way they want it to."
Tyler: "I'm not a follower. I'm a leader. And anyone who speaks their mind is always criticised."
Tyler: “I really want to sing, but my tone of voice is really too deep to do what I want.”
Tyler: "I wasn't shy, but I was really hyper. Nobody got my sense of humor. I was a black skater kid."
Tyler: “I’m f*ck*ng stoked. My life is sick. I get to still skate around like I did three years ago. I might have to take a couple of pictures, but whatever. I have money to go do stupid sh*t. I couldn’t ask for nothing else.”
Tyler: "Youth is something I never wanna take for granted. I just want to smile and live life."
Tyler: “Tell these black kids they can be who they are. Dye your hair blue. Sh*t, I’ll do it too.”
Tyler: "If the world was ending, I think I would grab some Cinnamon Toast Crunch, a bunch of water, and I’d probably just . . . I’d probably go crazy. I’d find some shelter and a bunch of guns. An arsenal . . . And I would probably need an iPod."
Tyler: "Humans have voids, and you need things to fill voids... I didn't have a dad to fill that male model void, so when I heard Eminem or freaking seen Dave Chapelle, that's what I gravitated to."
Tyler: "I think I'm cool. That's all that matters."
Tyler: “I just want everyone to be awesome. That’s all it is. I want everyone to be cool in their own way.”
Tyler: “And this is where the story and confusion begin, ‘cause I was in Nirvana but I had to pretend that I wasn’t.”
Tyler: “Do what the f*ck makes you happy. Because in the end, who’s there? You.”
Tyler: “I love talking about music. I’ll show you a song and break it down for 50 minutes. I’m a geek about it.”
Tyler: "I don't like people around me sad. I like making people happy."
Tyler: “I want to do films and have my name mentioned next to Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino. I don’t want my name mentioned next to other rappers at all.”
Tyler: "I'm a pretty nice dude. I have fun, and people take it the wrong way."
Tyler: "I want to make as much money as I possibly can so that when my day comes, my mother and sister is fine. My close friends are fine. They don't have to worry about anything ever again."
Tyler: "For the record, I don't worship the devil. I just hate religion."
Tyler: "I want to take Justin Bieber for a month and just lock him up in a cage where we sit and make music. He's one of the most successful people in the world, but his music could be so much tighter."
Tyler: "The thing is, I make music I like. So it's just weird if someone says they don't like it."
Tyler: "I like my raps, but I'm never too happy with some of 'em because I feel like they could be better."
[On if he actually does the stuff he talks about in his lyrics]
Tyler: "Well, I don’t rape chicks . . . I have punched a girl in the eye . . . Um . . . What else? I say a lot of sh*t and it just depends . . . Sometimes it’s just ’cause sh*t is funny."