Every year Forbes magazine recognizes “the brightest entrepreneurs, innovators, and game-changers under the age of 30 who are transforming business as usual and changing the world.” At the age of 26, the musician, fashion designer and icon, festival founder, and entrepreneur among many other things, Tyler, The Creator, is not one of the names you will find on this honorable list.

Despite his international fanbase that supports his clothing brand, multiple shows, music festival, partnerships with mainstream brands, and many other side projects, Tyler is still considered an underground artist who is not given credit where it is well deserved.

As I was rocked side to side under flashing lights, crashing into bodies of the thousands of people who came from near and far just to attend Tyler’s music festival, it hit me how influential of an artist he really is.

While most artists have a medium that their work is known in and they simply dabble in other forms of art on the side, Tyler’s talent faces very little restraint as he is a giant in multiple platforms. If anyone in the popular music genre is changing the game, it would have to be Tyler, The Creator, who is a prime example of how all forms of art are connected.

Although 30 under 30 is just a list, this title holds more significance in my mind than that because of the treatment of artists like Tyler, and by that, I mean black artists. While the more recent Grammy letdowns with SZA’s CNTRL and Beyoncé’s Lemonade would probably come to mind first, black artists have been underappreciated for as long as our history dates back. Although black culture has provided us with most of our musical developments that we have today, the recognition for past and current black artists is shown rather in appropriation than appreciation.

Just like how white people popularized rock n’ roll after being birthed from overlooked black artists, often in today’s society artists of varying demographics get praised for qualities that black artists are condemned for having. Maybe this list is in fact just a list, but the meaning of its recognition is something a whole lot deeper.

Tyler, The Creator was first brought into his public spotlight when he started his own record label and alternative hip-hop group in 2007 called OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All). Initially meaning to be just a magazine to showcase underground self-producing artists like himself, Tyler’s project went a long way, quickly transforming into a group of some of the most influential artists of pop music that wrote, produced, recorded, designed, and filmed a majority of their content on their own.

I could easily classify my entire middle school experience as a whole with a pair of socks with donuts on them thanks to this group because shortly after its formation they were all anyone my age seemed to ever talk about. Nowadays creativity in the popular music genre is so rare that the praise for artists who classify themselves to be singer-songwriters like Katy Perry and Taylor Swift is immense even though they rely on a team of songwriters and image shaping managers to give them that title, yet somehow his creativity is still overlooked.

Not only does Tyler create his music on his own, but also the environment for it to be listened to. Since 2012, Tyler has hosted a music festival called Camp Flog Gnaw where I saw him perform for the first time. At the festival, I met people that flew into the country for the sole purpose of seeing him perform and saw many concert-goers being interviewed by big-name reporters like Vogue and Billboard to report on their experiences.

This festival features some of the biggest names in today’s music, including two artists that were recognized on Forbes most recent music category of 30 Under 30, Migos and Playboi Carti. Unlike other music festivals I have been to, Tyler’s was easy to navigate my way through as one of the applications he has designed for smartphones is dedicated to helping festival goers coordinate the times and locations for sets, food services, and merch stores.

As I followed the application’s directions to get from place to place, I found myself passing many eye-catching installations like a 40-foot minion wearing overalls covered in patches designed by Tyler himself. Although Tyler has been recorded making statements about not caring about fashion, he has has a huge part in the direction that street fashion has gone over the past decade with his ahead of the curve eye for what is “hip.”

Having made over a quarter-million on his Odd Future socks, I think it is justified when Tyler wrote in a song “Oh you wearin' Vans and Supreme this season? Stop lyin' to yourself . . . me the reason.” What started out as a pop-up shop in Los Angeles has transformed into an empire in the fashion industry with a permanent store in the most famous street in LA for fashion (Fairfax), lines of shoes with both Converse and Vans that have consistently sold out on every release date, and recognition from and collaborations with high end fashion names. To be so influential in an industry that you don’t even care about says a lot about how innovative and looked up to you are.

It is hard to classify exactly who Tyler’s fanbase is because it ranges so wide, but this just goes to show how versatile his art is. To be able to reach out to people of all ages- children with his cartoon, teens with his music and fashion, adults with his TV show, and older people with his online series- is a quality that showcases the true reach of the influence Tyler’s art has.

With all that he has done within his career, every aspect of his work has showcased the qualities of what Forbes claims to look for in its candidates for 30 Under 30. It is not hard to access the work Tyler has done thanks to his app that allows access to videos, photos, clothing, music, articles, tour dates, other events, and pretty much anything he likes, so what Forbes does not see in him I do not know.