Tyler Okonma, better known as Tyler The Creator is a rapper, designer, and TV show entrepreneur from Ladera Heights, California. He's best known for heading the rap collective Odd Future. Tyler has received a ton of criticism for using homophobic, misogynistic, and using violent language in his music. So is Tyler just ignorant, or is he using ignorant language as a way to dilute and combat ignorance?
Tyler, The Creator and Frank Ocean (Image credit: aux.tv)
Odd Future, the rap collective that Tyler The Creator leads, is known for being wild and crazy but they are also known for something way more important. Odd Future is known for having member Frank Ocean who was the first openly out gay man in the Hip-Hop industry. Frank and Tyler are great friends and music partners. So is he really homophobic? No. Tyler has been a proud supporter of the LBGT community. He has designed clothing spirited by fighting homophobia. I'm not saying that these excuse Tyler from his lyrics but maybe a line can be drawn between fiction and reality. Tyler has been banned from performing in Australia and even banned from entering the U.K. for three to five years because of his lyrics. Is Tyler really a misogynist homophobe? Probably not, but the deeper question is this: why does he promote that type of talk and behavior? Why does he put the thought into kids' heads that it is okay to call people homophobic words and degrade women? The even deeper question is why does society accept this?
We accept this because we look up to our celebrities as a society. Tyler may have the right intentions with his music. His goal may be to fight ignorance by being ignorant. But, at the end of the day intention means nothing. What happens when Tyler is no longer able to defend the lyrics as they get passed down? Ignorance will be viewed as ignorance and not as a way to fight ignorance. Even if someone uses ignorance for the right reason, it doesn't change the fact that it is still negative and wrong.
I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't a fan of Odd Future or Tyler The Creator himself. I don't enjoy Odd Future or Tyler for the words but rather the vibe of the music. I enjoy the beats and wildness of the music. But researching about this topic has caused me to think a lot about what this says about me. As a society we should be focused on channeling music and art for positive outcomes. Instead of homophobic lyrics we should focus on lyrics fighting homophobia. Instead of degrading women we should be focused on fighting sexism and misogyny. Instead of using ignorance to fight ignorance, we should focus on abolishing ignorance as a collective society.
