TYLER,

THE

CREATOR

MUSIC INNOVATOR

With an album, tour and music festival—plus fashion collections and

TV series—the 28-year-old artist continues to expand his universe.

BY JONAH WEINER PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAMPBELL ADDY

STYLING BY GABRIELLA KAREFA-JOHNSON

96

T

YLER, THE CREATOR bursts through

the service entrance of Jon & Vinny’s,

the L.A. restaurant where he asked

me to meet him, fixes his eyes on mine

and issues a gruff command: “Grab

your shit.” Without further explana-

tion, he turns on his heels and vanishes the same way

he came. I stammer a goodbye to a confused waiter

and hurry into the alley out back, where Tyler’s

behind the wheel of a vintage BMW E30 M3 coupe,

its engine growling monstrously. He’s wearing black

high-water trousers and a white T-shirt decorated

with a pixelated flower, both of which he designed for

his fashion brand Golf Wang. Our plan was to get a

bite, but with Tyler, it turns out, spontaneity rules—

“I don’t like schedules,” he says—and right now he’s

got matters more urgent than breakfast on the brain.

“I need a manicure,” he says, showing me his finger-

nails with a look of repulsion. He yanks the stick shift

and rockets down the alley.

It’s 10 a.m. on a Sunday in August, and Tyler, 28,

has been up since 6:30 a.m.—in part because he’s an

early riser generally and because he’s got a lot to get

done. A decade into his career, Tyler is enjoying his

biggest year yet. He recently put out his fifth stu-

dio album, IGOR, an audacious jumble of off-kilter

hip-hop, warped soul and plush jazz chords. The

album tells the story of an ill-starred love triangle

between Tyler, a guy he’s crushing on and the woman

that guy is dating. It sold 74,000 copies in its first

week and racked up 123 million song streams, debut-

ing at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. With it, Tyler has

finally ascended into the ranks of the kinds of left-

field pop auteurs he adored growing up —“the André

3000s and Missy Elliotts,” as he puts it, “who allowed

my 9-year-old mind to understand that there’s no

boundaries at all.” In a few days he’ll head out on a

two-month IGOR Tour, during which he’ll wear a

tight suit and a blond bowl-cut wig onstage—because

AMERICAN IDOL

“I always thought play-

ing Flog Gnaw would

mean I’d made it,” says

Billie Eilish of Tyler,

the Creator’s annual

music festival. “I’ll

always be grateful to

him for making me

who I am.” Raf Simons

coat and Tyler’s own

watch (worn throughout).