Tyler, The Creator: Igor [COLUMBIA]

Why you'll love it

Igor gave Tyler his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and won the Grammy for Best Rap Album. He produced every second of it himself, and "Earfquake" became his biggest single at the time. Guests include Playboi Carti, Solange, Lil Uzi Vert and Kanye West.

This edition

• Columbia pressing
• Vinyl sequence with "Boyfriend" in place of "Exactly What You Run From You End Up Chasing"

About the album

Like a Radiohead or a PJ Harvey, Tyler, the Creator is one of those artists who rewrites the mainstream in their own image rather than catering to preconceived notions of what constitutes the "mainstream."

A relentlessly hot seller, 2019's Igor (Tyler Gregory Okonma's sixth studio album) is remarkably weird and challenging for something that the kids snap up by the fistful. Far from a straight-up hip-hop record, this genre-blurring curio stirs soul, R&B and synth-shocked electro-funk into the mix while Tyler wrestles with the central narrative of a love triangle involving the title character and his male lover. It's a wild, vulnerable, oft-sad and ultimately very satisfying ride, and it garnered Tyler enough popular recognition to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and win Best Rap Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards. To which Tyler himself objected, for the record, because he would prefer Igor be regarded as a pop album. Fair game.

Oh, and fun fact: both Justin Bieber and Rihanna were offered the smashing single "Earfquake" and passed on it. Their loss, Tyler's gain.

Also at Kops: more Tyler, The Creator on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Columbia, first out in 2019.