CHROMAKOPIA [Opaque White 2 LP]

by Tyler, The Creator

Overview

Amid mainstream rap's 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: it's his first since 2011's 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," Tyler's 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 album's 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 Chromakopia's 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 child's mother, "Noid" lashes wildly at parasocial relationships and fame-driven paranoia, and "Like Him" sees Tyler "chasing a ghost" at the recognition of his father's features. The 33-year-old rapper's fear of ageing comes to a culmination on the beautifully nocturnal "Tomorrow"; hypnotically unfurling his regrets, Tyler shadows Kanye's iconic "Welcome to Heartbreak" with a conflicted "my brodie had another baby, that's like number two¿ and all I got is photos of my 'Rari and some silly suits." Chromakopia is less of a cohesive statement than Tyler's fans are used to hearing; it's 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 it's fitting that Tyler can't quite package himself as neatly this time around. ~ David Crone

Product Details

Release Date:	10/31/2025
Label:	Columbia Records
UPC:	0198029264616

Tracks

Disc 1

1. St. Chroma
2. Rah Tah Tah
3. Noid
4. Darling, I
5. Hey Jane
6. I Killed You
7. Judge Judy
8. Sticky

Disc 2

9. Take Your Mask Off
10. Tomorrow
11. Thought I Was Dead
12. Mother
13. Like Him
14. Balloon
15. I Hope You Find Your Way Home

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Tyler, The Creator   Primary Artist
Daniel Caesar   Primary Artist,Bass,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Lola Young   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Teezo Touchdown   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Doechii   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Sexyy Red   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
GloRilla   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
LaToiya Williams   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Lil Wayne   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Santigold   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist
ScHoolboy Q   Primary Artist,Featured Artist
Kevin Kendrick   Piano,Keyboards
Inflo   Drums,Vocals
Justin Levy   Vocals (Background)
Steve Lacy   Guitar
Klynik   Keyboards
Biako   Guitar
Robert Stevenson   Vocals (Background)
Jazmine Freeman   Vocals
Laila S. Freeman   Vocals
Pedro Martins   Guitar
Kebbi Williams   Horn
Jerry Freeman   Horn
Johnny May   Strings,Keyboards
Jason Freeman   Horn
Christopher Burns   Horn
Thundercat   Bass
Willow   Vocals
Donald Glover   Vocals (Background)
Vic Wainstein   Keyboards

Technical Credits

Tyler Okonma   Lyricist,Executive Producer,Composer,Engineer
Quincy Hanley   Composer,Lyricist
Jordan Schneider   Assistant Engineer
Manny Galvez   Engineer
Ashton Simmonds   Composer,Lyricist
Zachary Acosta   Assistant Engineer
Nicole Llorens   Assistant Engineer
Dudley Alexander   Composer,Lyricist
Salvador Majail   Engineer
Romil Hemnani   Engineer
Collin Clarke   Assistant Engineer
Terena Dawn   Assistant Engineer
Jaylah Hickmon   Composer,Lyricist
Dudley Duverne   Composer,Lyricist
Janae Wherry   Composer,Lyricist
JaydaLove   Engineer,Additional Production
Aaron Bolton   Composer,Engineer,Lyricist
Jason Ren   Engineer
Patrick Gardner   Assistant Engineer
Dwayne Carter Jr.   Composer,Lyricist
Garrett Duncan   Assistant Engineer
Danforth Webster   Assistant Engineer
WavyBoyJodii   Engineer
Collin Clark   Assistant Engineer
Julian Asuaje   Engineer
Barry White   Composer,Lyricist
Luther Campbell   Composer,Lyricist
Rick Finch   Composer,Lyricist
Q-Tip   Composer,Lyricist
Jamal Jones   Composer,Lyricist
Adam Clark   Engineer
Timothy Mosley   Composer,Lyricist
Gloria Woods   Composer,Lyricist
Dwayne Carter   Composer,Lyricist
Harry Wayne "K.C." Casey   Composer,Lyricist
Young Buck   Composer,Lyricist
Robert Ginyard   Composer,Lyricist
Chris Carmouche   Engineer
Elvis Williams   Composer,Lyricist
Mikaelin 'Blue' BlueSpruce   Engineer
Paul "Ngozi" Nyirongo   Composer,Lyricist
Mike Bozzi   Mastering Engineer
Rex Zamor   Composer,Lyricist
Zachary Wallace   Composer,Lyricist
K Thomas   Composer,Lyricist
Andrew Keller   Engineer
Donald Glover   Engineer
Tyler, The Creator   Producer
Jonathan Garcia   Assistant Engineer
Neal H. Pogue   Mixing Engineer
Vic Wainstein   Engineer
Greg Cook   Composer,Lyricist
Attitude   Composer,Lyricist
James Brown   Composer,Lyricist