Flower Boy

Really is a classic by now 5

I feel bad singling out one Tyler album as his “best”, but this one sure does make a great case to get people into him he’s come such a long way, and has put so much effort into reinventing his sound and entire aesthetic, but I think this is a decent point to jump into purely for accessibility as his earlier stuff can definitely be a bit daunting but yeah I love all of it, one of the most talented musicians around - 10/10

A good time and a nice break from the 2010s generic rock that has been plaguing this user list lately. Probably actually a 3 for me but it hit at just the right time and the variety was needed

Flower Boy is a good rap & neo-soul album by Tyler, The Creator. Laidback songs with personal lyrics and tracks sound effortless. Sometimes a bit too harmless, but it just so nice and relaxing.

🌻

Love this perfect album!!!

My brother is a huge fan of tyler and tbh I really like Igor and Chromokopia (if both of them get on the list they’re instant 5/5’s) suprised I’ve never heard flower boy before but I simply just haven’t. But it was yet another 5

Rap's controversial shock-fest wonder boy reinvents himself in this breakout album, and finally draws heaps of praise from *both* professional critics and his initial target audience -- praises which he had secretly dreamed of all these years, in spite of his very "contrarian" persona. Tyler The Creator deserved all those compliments, if you want to know my opinion. Infusing *just* the right amount of neo-soul into the experimental hip hop formula (read 'none too much', which enhances the more off-kilter elements of the record instead of stifling them), the Odd Future Collective member and rapper/producer here created his first magnum opus. *Igor* would soon follow suit, but I guess that's a story for another time, kiddies... In all honesty, I consider *Flower Boy* almost as inspired and exciting as its even more famous follow-up LP (not to mention all the special guests contributing there...). And it certainly feels more kaleidoscopic and surreal than its successor given the variety of tones and intents -- goofy or not -- harnessed in the tracklist. It took me a little while to actively pinpoint all the good things in the latter, but today -- just as that review currently topping this section aptly states it -- I also consider *Flower Boy* a classic. It's literally psychedelic hip hop, without ever aping the psychedelia of the past. The whole tracklist conveys the impression of spending the day in a wild theme park, from the first seconds of "Foreword" -- set to a sample of Sonic Youth remixing Can, and then followed by a synths-laden, cinematic buildup, equally tense and poignant -- to the menacing, gritty, and loony-as-f*ck hip hop numbers "Who Dat boy?", with its horror flick winks, or the hectic "I Ain't Got Time", where Tyler runs against the clock like a crazy rabbit on its way to a twisted wonderland -- and this over an eastern-sounding flower-power sample once also used in Deee-Lite's "Groove's In The Heart" of all places. There's also the unstoppable bounce and roll of "Where This Flower Blooms", the cool lazy r'n'b balladry of "Garden Shed" and "Boredom", or the tighter and drier, anxiety-ridden "November". In short, the American rapper here explores every nook and cranny of his mad genius brain. And doing so, he offers a great illustration of the confusion and existential dread brought on by our hypertext-driven world (without ever directly addressing the issue, contrary to what that other experimental rapper Childish Gambino / Donald Glover does). Like, what's more jarring (and also funnier) than the doomscroll jump from the airy, naive-sounding "See You Again" to the horror-rap tones of "Who Dat Boy?"? This is how *Flower Boy* provides an apt soundtrack to the late 2010s zeitgeist, with some references to social issues affecting the African American community at times. And yet said soundtrack also feels personal and highly idiosyncratic throughout -- with hints about what makes Tyler tick or not, and with still a reasonable amount of darkly offensive lines and vocabulary to liven things up. The delivery of those lines is top-notch by the way. The guys grows, swoons, crows, croons, sings and grunts. One of the most expressive rap stars out there, always slyly understated, and yet sharp and blunt. There are also a couple of moments in the album where the rapper evokes his complex sexuality -- as one reviewer in here hilariously asked: "He’s gay?!?!"... well the truth is probably more convoluted than simple tags such as "gay" or "bi" if really you care enough to know... And this, also, ties in with the admittedly very chaotic presentation of the tracks here gathered, where the sum is clearly greater than the parts. I'm not saying that taken on their own, *each and every track* in *Flower Boy* is a "must-listen". What I'm saying is that it's always better to listen to the best Tyler The Creator albums in one single sitting, to fully process the mad ambition and scope that is aimed at in them. It's rare that such endeavors are commercially viable these days... And yet Tyler Okonma makes that feat sound effortless to him. Who could have predicted such brazen success around the time of *Bastard*? Not me. It's also quite ironic that a lot of the incredibly artful and enticing beats / instrumentals found in the LP were initially aimed at being used by artists who sold way more than Tyler back then, only to see those artists refuse those instrumentals one by one, probably because they were too "risky". One can easily imagine Mr. Okonma merely smirking at this, and saying to himself : 'Well, great. I'ma use 'em myself and build my own empire". Given the household name that the man has become today, you can bet your boots this experience has only further inflated his ego, lmao. Speaking of "ego", the balance between the vulnerable moments and the reckless boasts hailmarking most of the Tyler The Creator full-length releases is probably at its best here. Which doesnt mean that Tyler conveys the aura of a "balanced" individual himself, lmao. At their core, a lot of those songs deal with the fear of being rejected -- like, there's indeed a vulnerable "flower boy" beneath the "scum fuck", and it's not a stance that's necessarily ironical, even with some of the pastiche elements found in the music. Don't know if art mirrored life or life mirrored art here, but that type of resonance is there, for the benefit of the project's cohesion. The person who made this awesome suggestion also suggested a Cat System Corp.album I literally hated. So I'm glad that this user now mentions "Flower Boy", which allows me to set the karmic balance right. Even though this album proves that music is never more exciting than when a mad genius rocks the boat (while still stirring the latter towards the right direction). If life was all out about balancing things out, we would all be bored senseless. 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 5. 9.5/10 for more general purposes (5/5 for the musicianship and production values + 4.5/5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 96 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 112 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 232 --- Hey Émile, j'ai répondu sous Demon Days ET ta sélection pour la users list ! 🙂

He’s gay?!?! /s

Probably the first hip hop thing that clocks in with this particular mild tempo, that I actually enjoyed instead of thinking was boring

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Foreword, Where this flower blooms, See you again, I ain’t got time

A complete switch up for one of the most exciting voices in modern hip-hop. Tyler’s first few albums had some bangers but were inconsistent and riddled with controversy. Flower Boy is a huge step forward, brash in places but introspective in others, and with some of his best tunes like Who Dat Boy, See You Again, and I Ain’t Got Time. I think IGOR is even stronger, but this is such an important record in his discography

It's good, but I don't think I'll play it very often.

Hip-hop's not one's first language but this clearly a good deal of fun, plus sprawling in an interesting and richly layered sort of way, plus here and there sweet, sensitive and swinging, which does nothing to counteract or undercut the obvious and sizable ambition. The mellower and groovier beats are best (by which one means, most to one's tastes). The Elon/Tesla name-drops have not aged particularly well. So while one can't speak to its place in the rap/hip-hop pantheon, this definitely feels a mature and major outing by a big-time talent. Seems like it should be in the list proper; though one’s not qualified to judge exactly what it should replace, one certainly prefers to Kanye.

I've been meaning to listen to Tyler, the Creator for a while and I have no idea whether this is the entry point. It was a fine album but I wonder if something like Chromakopia would be better (it got a ton of buzz last year). A good modern hiphop addition to the list and I could easily see something by him added in the new edition. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes.

I've checked out some of his other albums, but not this one, so cheers, picker, for the introduction! Yeah, good stuff - interesting flows and fun production. Bet he winces at the Elon stuff now though, eh? 😆 Fave tracks - "Foreword", "Who Dat Boy", "I Ain't Got Time!"

I think I prefer Danny Brown, but this was still decent and solid.

Save for the 36 second interlude that is the third track, every song has features a different artist and I find it very interesting that the last three don’t. The album deals with some of Tyler’s most personal struggles and finding himself alone on the last three songs is something that works with that narrative. It’s a small detail that I think really served to make this album great. This happens throughout the entire album. Where his next album is great because it is so fully realized and cohesive, this one is made up of little things that make it better and better. Just look at the tiny McLaren on the album cover. If I had one complaint, it would be that the album is not entirely cohesive, but I really enjoy it. Great, great pick. 4/5

Hip-hop, jazz rap, neo soul. Ni fu ni fa.

This isn’t my favorite genre (and there’s no reason everything on this list needs to be!) - but I didn’t mind listening to it.

I’ve never really given Tyler much of a chance before. This is clearly a strong modern hip-hop album, with jazz woven through the production, that deserves its place on the list, but for me ,(likely down to personal taste), it doesn’t quite tick the boxes. I tend to prefer the more aggressive, politically charged edge of something like To Pimp a Butterfly in this space, rather than the laid-back, introspective feel that dominates here. It’s a well-made album that I’m glad I heard, but not one I feel much pull to return to.

This sounds like what you think it sounds like

The flow of this carried it along but did not leave that deep of an impression on me. Maybe I'm the problem. I know it's sacrilege but this particular style of hip hop feels limited to me.

Listened to this one more than a few times for other Best Of lists and am still coming to terms with how I feel about it. The electronic production/beats are perfection (exactly what I want out of a modern hip-hop/rap LP), and the bars themselves hit hard with some clever wordplay and their overall introspective nature. So why does the album feel so unfulfilling to listen to in full? Hard to quantify, but overall it just seems the pieces don't fit together in a way that seems satisfying to me. The tracks wander off at parts (which thematically fits what's going on), and as a consequence don't gel super strongly into a cohesive flow. Feels disjointed and off to me, and I hate that I can't get into this the way so many others have. Still a great album and a solid addition, nice to see some more of the modern canon finally being added here to the user list.

It's quite well put together and at times pleasant and unoffensive. A mixture of rapping and R&B What amazes is how popular these tracks are - billions of listens. These artists have really learnt how to use Spotify and reach out to their fans.

Tyler is a unique rap artist. From his early work he was a provocative artist with plenty of attention grabbing lyricism. Since then he has changed his style in many different ways through his albums almost as if he doesn’t truly have a singular style. This album has plenty of features that give it a more soulful production style throughout with a few stronger rap songs with Asap and Wayne. Overall it’s pretty good but I would prefer Igor to this album. It’s still good but I wouldn’t revisit this whole album. Maybe just a few songs. 6.8/10

That album cover art ...

This was interesting enough to be listenable. I guess though that I'm not keyed in enough to late tens rap to notice when this album stopped and Tidal's algo started. I think the hint was a vague sense of feeling "I thought this album was only 45ish minutes long?" followed very closely by Tidal playing the opening track, Foreword, again. Not sure I'd be tempted to find out any more.

IGOR, the only other Tyler album I've heard, was good. This one seems kinda tame in comparison. Nothing really wrong with it, but it just sounds like pretty run-of-the-mill chill hip hop to me. Three outta five.

Tylerin musiikki on kiinnostavalla tavalla valtavirrasta poikkeavaa, mutta vielä en ole ihan päässyt siihen sisään. 3.5/5

Sorprendentemente, no es uno de esos discos exageradamente largos ni con skits sin consecuencia.

Interesting but not really for me. Highlights: "Where This Flower Blooms," "See You Again," and "911 / Mr. Lonely."

Not my style but I enjoyed it. I can see why he’s a well known name.

Fine I guess

There are some really great soundscapes here and the hip hop elements are pretty good throughout. But the r&b inspired parts... Yesh. Not good at all.

vulgar but musically interesting

Hip-hop, jazz rap, neo soul. Ni fu ni fa.

Not my kind of music. Sounded much of the same top.

The melodic bits are nice but few and far between. I don’t like the off key “singing”.

I enjoyed some of his earlier songs and he definitely has a unique and fresh take on rap music, I couldn’t get into this one.

One of the better rap albums on this journey. Would have been a 3 but for gross over-use of the N-word.

Flower Boy wasn't my sort of hip hop, a bit too low key and chill for my tastes, even recognising the skill. Definitely not boring but I found it lacking the intensity and grit that makes the genre what it is. High 2 or low 3 depending on mood.

This is challenging stuff but even still, not to my tastes.

I was really not in the mood to listen to this junk.