Ben Thompson 

Tyler, The Creator: Cherry Bomb review – thrilling experiments in hip-hop

The Odd Future star strives to do more than shock on his third solo album
  
  

Tyler, The Creator performs at the Coachella music & arts festival in California earlier this month.
Deliriously wonky… Tyler, The Creator performs at the Coachella music & arts festival in California earlier this month. Photograph: Jason Moore/Zuma Press/Press Association Images Photograph: Jason Moore/Zuma Press/Press Association Images

Always a dynamic and plausible live performer, Tyler, The Creator has too often handed the reins to his inner Beavis & Butt-head in the studio. But the heady fizz of Cherry Bomb finds him emulating less integral Odd Future alumni Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt by defining a musical identity beyond the potty-mouthed LA rap clique. Juvenile shock tactics persist, but he’s now channelling his puckish energy into some thrilling experiments and the more time-honoured hip-hop touchstones Tyler brings into the mix – from Roy Ayers to Smuckers’ multi-platinum three-way with Lil Wayne and Kanye West – the more deliriously wonky it all sounds.

 

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