This past summer, Tyler, the Creator unveiled a secret Instagram account that he’d been hiding for years. The account held hundreds of never-before-seen images and videos from the “Flower Boy” sessions, chronicling the album’s creation from its earliest stages.
We went through the entire account, from top-to-bottom, to collect every single post that corresponds with any of the album’s 14 tracks. The result is an entirely new way to experience Tyler’s magnum opus.
On first listen, something about Flower Boy was immediately endearing but unfamiliar—well maybe not immediately endearing, the “bitch, fuck” that opens the album isn’t necessarily inviting—and opening track “Foreword” encompassed this difference. Hiding the metronome pacing the track was Tyler, the Creator, whose lyricism was sharp as ever, cultivating a garden of sounds promoting Rex Orange County’s moody timbre, a mid-track music break overflowing with Tyler’s thoughts, and an effortless transition into the Frank Ocean assisted “Where This Flower Blooms.” Never has an opening track been more aptly titled than this introduction.
What made Flower Boy so immediately different from other Tyler projects was the way it harnessed the energy we expected while bottling it in a lush and diverse musical landscape. Tyler’s previous album, 2015’s Cherry Bomb, was a proper introduction into a resoundingly adventurous Tyler Okonma, but its gestures felt overbearingly experimental. He had progressively smoothed the rough edges first assaulting ears on The Odd Future Tape Vol 1 back in 2008, but Cherry Bomb tracks such as “DEATHCAMP” seemed to erase the progress. “DEATHCAMP” felt like a sudden burst of energy; in hindsight packaging “DEATHCAMP” with “FUCKING YOUNG” in a music video was a way of testing the waters of what he could get away with.
From the beginning, the Odd Future collective got away with a lot–but not without consequence. Their energy saw Tyler banned from countries and witnessed Earl’s exile to boarding school in Samoa, but they grew and matured. On Flower Boy, this familiar Odd Future energy resulted in the most complete work from a member not named Frank Ocean or Earl Sweatshirt. Riotous calls to “kill people, burn shit, fuck school” ceded to energetic references to Teslas and McClarens as a medium to escape solitude. A garden obsessively crafted and tended to produced the most rewarding flowers of Tyler’s career.
Tyler, the Creator’s Flower Boy Instagram
As fans, our consumption of music is usually less intensive than the careful and laborious process of creating, and rarely do we get to see the strain of this work. Flower Boy offers an opportunity to consume the product and witness the creation first-hand. Months after the album’s release, Tyler publicly revealed an Instagram account that chronicled the creation of the album.
Scrolling through the feed, Tyler’s fans could witness his usage of the Odd Future energy from within the studio, offering a glimpse into the focus, labor, and humorous community involved in his most polished offering so far. What follows is a track-by-track guide into the creation of Flower Boy, a whirlwind of videos and images of the album’s creation and inspiration straight from the source: the Flower Boy Instagram.
Flower Boy: The Track-by-Track Visual Guide
Foreword (feat. Rex Orange County)
“Foreword” is Flower Boy’s opening track, featuring Rex Orange County and production from Tyler himself. The song is aptly titled as an introduction to a variety of themes: the sound of Rex Orange County (a young British singer featured throughout the album), Tyler’s willingness to let his own voice play second fiddle to the features he brings in, and a focus on melody only captured on glimpses in previous albums.
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Like everything else in Tyler’s world humor leaks out in nearly every video or image in this series. This is no exception.
It’s always interesting to hear the seeds which produce the finished products of a track. Here is Rex Orange County, soldier of the “checkerboard vans,” alt-r&b designation flourishing under Tyler’s influence. Rex Orange County is a British singer sought out by Tyler after he heard Rex’s debut Apricot Princess. Tyler’s keen ear led to an invitation extended to Rex Orange County, turning him from a fan to a collaborator, and providing a voice to a significant part of the album.
Where This Flower Blooms (feat. Frank Ocean)
“Where This Flower Blooms” features long time friend and fellow Odd Future member Frank Ocean. It capitalizes on a timely Frank Ocean chorus to chronicle Tyler’s, and in a way Frank’s, growth from obscurity to a firm position in the spotlight.
After hearing Wolf and Cherry Bomb, I began to develop this notion that Tyler would one day reach his full potential as a producer, rather than as a vocalist. It seemed as if his rapping had become clunky and was distracting from a promising capacity to produce and craft sounds/moods. Flower Boy generally proved me wrong and made me rethink this foolhardy opinion, but what the album (and this video) did not do was make me walk back on the opinion that Tyler is one of the more underrated producers and musical minds we have operating in hip-hop.
Frank Ocean is an enigmatic figure. Tyler knows a little about dealing with these types of characters by having a close relationship with Frank and Earl Sweatshirt, two of hip-hop’s most notable recluses. Images of Frank in the midst of creating music are rare and incredibly special.
Sometimes
“Sometimes” is a short interlude featuring the Golf Radio quip that ends up playing a theme throughout the album.
See You Again (feat. Kali Uchis)
Kali Uchis’ voice will be familiar to fans of Tyler’s previous studio album Cherry Bomb, but nowhere has she and Tyler achieved the level of charisma that they did on this track. Tyler’s own love for this track is well-documented.
“20202020 vision” was (and is) still one of the catchiest eye-related lines I’ve ever heard, even when sung a cappella apparently. It’s also a key moment illustrating Tyler’s willingness to sing, a talent he doesn’t think he has, but is not unwilling to attempt as apparent in his masterful Tiny Desk Concert.
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Flower Boy invited a cast of unsung artists who have since made quite a name for themselves, the most prominent of this group is Kali Uchis. Being invited into the fold is no small feat, but once there no one is safe from Tyler’s antics.
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At times you can feel the Instagram account served as a valuable break from the process of creating the album. Posts like this one serve this purpose, but still exist as important moments in the creative process.
Who Dat Boy (feat. A$AP Rocky)
WANG$AP is an idea that swirled into prominence before the release of Flower Boy, and is a moniker for the collaboration between Tyler and A$AP Rocky. That combination comes together on lead single “Who Dat Boy” over a cataclysm of sounds exploding with boundless energy while still being masterfully reined in.
This track isn’t actually featured on Flower Boy but is a necessary inclusion if you want to understand the album. “WHAT THE FUCK RIGHT NOW” is a collaboration with A$AP Rocky over Kanye’s The Life of Pablo track “Freestyle 4.” The video shows the pair in a studio amidst a scrum of others and opens with Rocky saying “they ain’t ready for this WANG$AP”, an allusion to future features, including “Who Dat Boy” and the forthcoming WANG$AP album teased with “POTATO SALAD.”
Tyler’s studio was a rotating room of musical talent, and A$AP Rocky is no exclusion to this distinction. Much of the “Who Dat Boy” related content coming from “scumfuckflowerboy” features the joy that comes along with two personalities like Rocky and Tyler coming together.
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Remember the old days when Odd Future releases meant posse cuts with verses from everyone? We want the Odd Future remix, we need more Jasper verses.
Tyler’s music comes from an obscene level of joy – remember, he once described the clinically ominous instrumental to “Yonkers” as “a joke.” That humor appears to have inspired the opening synths.
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Odd Future has always been a vanguard in the music video industry, from Tyler’s absurd Yonkers video to Earl Sweatshirt’s “Earl” video. “Who Dat Boy” is no exception to this rule and these behind the scenes images point to the chaotic attention to detail required to bring Tyler’s expansive ideas to life.
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Pothole (feat. Jaden Smith)
Jaden Smith grew into musical significance with his 2017 album Syre, capitalizing on the popular name he inherited and young acting fame. Jaden pairs with Tyler on “Pothole”, a track whose name references Tyler’s love for cars on an album rife with car-references which intercede authentic human connection.
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Jaden Smith’s guest spot on Flower Boy makes sense; he is a torchbearer who grew into prominence under the influence of the Odd Future model. He appears in the aforementioned “POTATO SALAD” video and also seems to sport the same affinity for Teslas Tyler does. The connection between the pair is one easily imagined to be fruitful moving forward – after all, Jaden is just a young icon living.
Garden Shed (feat. Estelle)
The casual music fan remembers Estelle’s Kanye-featuring hit “American Boy”. With a little background vocal assistance from Rex Orange County, Tyler transforms this unexpected Estelle feature into the moody contemplative soundscape that is “Garden Shed.”
The most unique part of this entire Instagram feed is how frequently Tyler offered fans a glimpse into the most intimate moments of creating an album. Here is a 5am video presenting “Garden Shed” in its full intimate splendor.
If Jaden Smith was an artist that we all expected Tyler to collaborate with, Estelle is the opposite. Tyler is a music nerd, so his happiness couldn’t be contained, but he found a way to bring the best out of this collaboration.
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dawg this is finally coming together. ” dont kill a rose before it could bloom”
Creating is a task full of labor, but when something is finished, or starting to come together the feeling is an unexplainable joy. That joy is written across Tyler’s face here.
Boredom (feat. Rex Orange County & Anna of the North)
“Boredom” was the album’s second single and combines the new age R&B of Rex Orange County and Anna of the North with the R&B/neo-soul voice of Corinne Bailey Rae. Tyler again manages to take a singer whose voice is muddled in one-hit wonder obscurity to many fans, and tuck their sound perfectly into the pockets he creates on this ballad of loneliness.
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Have you ever been alone at home listening to music, and then that one song comes on you and you just kind-of-have-to move around and sing and dance? That feeling is the best version of boredom, and Tyler channels it in this preview of “Boredom.”
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The Checkerboard Vans Brigade unites here for one of the most iconic dabs in history.
Tyler’s studio is a melting pot of sounds, and one of those sounds is a melding of 2000’s r&b/neo-soul and contemporary r&b. “Boredom” is the moment these two forces come most in contact by bringing Corinne Bailey Rae, of all people, together with Anna of the North and Rex Orange County.
As fans, it is always fun to think of the “what-ifs” and this snippet presents an interesting one. If you could’ve added one voice to this song to fill these runs Tyler envisioned who would it have been?
I Ain’t Got Time
Where one second Tyler had all the time in the world, the very next moment he has run out. “I Ain’t Got Time” is one of the most frenetic moments of Flower Boy and its tension rests on the unhinged mental state of Tyler.
Can’t get enough WANG$AP. This friendship is the gift that keeps on giving.
Tyler’s music making process is a lot of fun, but I would argue no human being has more fun than in those moments they get to dance in the comfort of their underwear.
911/Mr. Lonely (feat. Frank Ocean & Steve Lacy)
Odd Future is responsible for a legacy that Tyler will never outrun: here it catches him again with longtime collaborator Frank Ocean and The Internet band member Steve Lacy. “911/Mr. Lonely” is a two-part track featuring sounds from the aforementioned Frank and Steve Lacy, but also Anna of the North, Schoolboy Q, and A$AP Rocky among others.
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Tyler, has never put up a façade regarding the quality of his singing voice. He makes a point to mention how imperfect it is in his Tiny Desk performance, and here he lets everyone see the work it requires for him to create the music we receive.
Production chops are often what separate good rappers from good musicians, and this bridge is one of the pivotal moments of Flower Boy, that talent is unparalleled in a lot of hip-hop spheres.
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My favorite thing about the internet is how quickly we recognize and then consume any ounce of Frank Ocean content. Tyler’s exuberance here matches Frank’s ravenous fanbase, “and you can’t even see him.”
Few lyrical moments stand out as poignantly as this verse. To hear it without any of the surrounding music makes its immediacy and urgency that much more apparent.
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Steve Lacy is The Internet’s musical wunderkind and a budding star. This spot-on Flower Boy feature is one of two high profile appearances he made in 2017, the other being production on Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN.
Droppin’ Seeds (feat. Lil Wayne)
I’m getting Wayne on this. I only want 16 bars maybe 8, but Wayne has to go on this.”
In the Flower Boy interview staged with Jerrod Carmichael, Tyler gushes about the process of working with Wayne and how the idea for the track developed when Tyler asked Lil Wayne to “rap about flowers and gardens and trees and whatever.” The interlude features a short Lil Wayne verse that is very on script and, even more so, out of character for this elder statesmen of rap.
While there is no Instagram content from what you can imagine would be a legendary studio session featuring Lil Wayne, there are some important Tyler, the Creator and Lil Wayne moments in the past. The most vital of these moments is the revival of sorts staged by Tyler on this Cherry Bomb track “SMUCKERS.” Tyler was overjoyed to say the least and tweeted upon the album’s release:
I AM VERY HAPPY THAT I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR GETTING THAT FROM WAYNE AND YE OMG THANKS GUYS I LOVE YOU. I GOT THE ERA OF THEM THAT I LIKE YUP
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) April 13, 2015
November
“November” finds a way to reconcile the ideas of a concrete time and an undescribed season of life. November is a month of the year associated with fall, winter, and the coming holidays, but on “November” Tyler finds a way to balance the specific emotions attached to this month and the idea of relative novembers.
Did that drop just break the speakers? Flower Boy is an example of artistic freedom, a freedom fueling and powering Tyler’s drive at every moment in the album’s creation, from the initial ideas to the final mixing.
Glitter
The vitality of Flower Boy rests in its candidness and the way Tyler crafts sonic landscapes which perfectly surround this emotional openness. “Glitter” captures this vitality. What is the final vocal track of the album is also of the most raw and emotionally charged, delivering Tyler’s ruminations on love in a way only the Minnie Riperton sample “Lovin’ You” can match.
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A poem sowed the seed for this track: an amalgam of Tyler’s crate-digging music sampling proclivities, his vulnerable lyricism, and his keen ear for production quality.
Creating means freedom; freedom to follow any idea, lyric, or intuition. Tyler’s creative process is an uninhibited act of freedom that spawns new ideas and delivers himself raw and unprocessed.
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“Glitter” is a unique track because of how it deftly paces the route between melodic efflorescence and rapping proficiency. Tyler’s verse is performed here in the way it—and all of Flower Boy—are most meant to be experienced: poignant and unfiltered.
“scumfuckflowerboy” is this chorus anchoring “Glitter”, the initial speculated title for Flower Boy, and the title to the Instagram page which even makes this piece possible. The phrase itself is a jarring internal duality, but the frequency of its utterance normalizes this contrast. Tyler has made a career of normalizing the absurd, watching his face come aglow as he does it again is a final flex of his own power.
Enjoy Right Now, Today
Credits to an album are usually seen in the lining notes or the webpages you crawl to find information about your favorite album, but in films they are seen as soundtracked screens filled with scrolling thank you’s and names of collaborators. Tyler recreates this film-styled approach on “Enjoy Right Now, Today” by writing an instrumental to close his album on a note of joy where many felt discomforting emotional turmoil.
Tyler has a predilection for casually making beats initially seen as “throwaways” that end up playing a vital role in the album process later on. “Yonkers” is another notable member of this group of instrumentals. It was made as a joke and here he finds a way to best close out a masterpiece with an instrumental made in 5 minutes.
Tyler, the Creator & A Lesson in Humanity
Tyler, the Creator has always stood in waiting to challenge listeners and force our consideration. His deep voice and sinister visuals piqued our interests early and he continued to captivate us through his antics and his music. Tyler’s 2015 album Cherry Bomb was a difficult sermon, one that fell on rocky ground and for many never took root. But Tyler did what he always did; he pivoted, he poked and he prodded, and he found a way to earn the gaze of fans.
Flower Boy forced consideration, bringing along Grammy nominations and snubs, tears and world tours. But most notably, it sound-tracked the spirit of transition, the loss and the wandering feeling of love Tyler and many of his fans felt. It earnestly preached the virtues of solitary listlessness.
At Odd Future’s origins, Tyler’s voice interceded for a self-professed misunderstood class, but on Flower Boy Tyler’s voice signified more than just this maligned fandom. A larger group of people—lonely and questing after love in ways fleeting and at times self-destructive—found resonance in the new melodic adventures.
Tyler’s voice captured my loneliness and boredom in pivotal moments and matched my frenetic energies in others. My feelings as I sought square pegs to fill the round gaps in my own passions and energies are transcribed in the album’s candor. Flower Boy reminded me of the significance of the quiet and innocuous feelings; the slow reflective moments. Flower Boy forced me to consider the pauses in my life and consider how I sought to fill them, and in some cases the lyrics and melodies filled these moments for me.
A fresh listen to Flower Boy always yields connection to a new emotion; on one listen it may be nostalgia, or another listen may yield the crushing realizations of an impossible romance. Tyler’s voice gains credence and impact as he humanizes his own experiences and retells the full depth of his humanity and feelings while casting off the narrative and sonic filtering which obscured him in prior albums. Flower Boy succeeds because it delivers so much of itself raw and exposed – and we are eternally grateful.
