Girls Dreams

It's been a busy week for Tyler, the Creator. Just yesterday the Odd Future co-founder announced the launch of a new animated series, "The Jellies," out on his Golf Media app. Now, following some vague Twitter teases, he's dropped the video for "Buffalo" off of his fourth LP Cherry Bomb.

Directed under his Wolf Haley alias, it's one of the most striking videos he's put out in a long time - opening with Tyler, covered in white body paint, hanging by a noose from a tree as an angry, pitchfork-wielding mob approaches him. Fans are already theorizing that the video is a sequal to "Yonkers", which ends with Tyler hanging from a noose (also: there's a flashback to "She", Yonkers and Buffalo are both cities in New York state, they're both the second tracks on their respective albums etc) - but it feels like there's much, much more to it than that. And if we've learnt anything from Tyler in the past few years, we're probably right.

Tyler the Creator was recently banned from entering the United Kingdom - for a period of between three to five years. For many it felt like the government's decision to ban Tyler has as much to do with the colour of his skin as it does the content of his lyrics - especially when you consider an artists like Eminem or Marilyn Manson, who have tackled far more distasteful subject matter, have never had any problems getting in to the UK. Off the back of that decision, it feels like Tyler's directorial decision to paint himself white and be pursued by an angry black mob uses the contrast in skin colour to highlight what's happened to him and to highlight the hypocrisy of the UK government.

Following on from the scathing diatribes and controversial imagery, the video cuts to a faux live performance of Cherry Bomb jam "Find Your Wings" on the set of a retro TV show, where Tyler's joined by Left Brain, Syd tha Kyd, Kali Uchis and others (he notes that uncredited guest singer Roy Ayers "couldn't make it today"). It's here that Tyler peels off his white skin to reveal himself as black, states that he's here to "share some beautiful vibes with all these beautiful black people and just dance", and plays some hot jazz backed with a live band. He's playing a comedic character full of good vibes and silly faces - a direct contrast to the Tyler the Creator described by the UK government: a terrorist who is ready to commit hate crimes.

 

from Noisey http://ift.tt/1MObD4L

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