VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Tyler, the Creator and Nardwuar met at VanDusen Botanical Garden for their seventh interview in 14 years, which was released Thursday, March 27.
During the interview, Nardwuar asked Tyler about his thoughts on the Hip-Hop 50 celebrations. Tyler expressed gratitude for his career in music, saying, “I’m so happy that in some timeline I get to be a part of something so special. Hip-hop has changed so many of our lives, kept so many of us out of trouble. I’m so grateful for it. I’ve had my criticisms of it, but that’s out of love because I love music and hip-hop specifically so much. I’m a true student, I’m a true nerd.”
Tyler also discussed the influence of the Black Eyed Peas’ debut album, “Behind the Front,” and Dr. Dre’s “2001” on his musical development. “I love hip-hop, I love rap. It’s one of the most beautiful things to exist on Earth,” he said, while criticizing those who enter the industry for profit.
“We the coolest ever,” Tyler stated. “And all these people want to copy us and do everything, and some be mimicking and mocking it, but they just ain’t got the juice ’cause they don’t really believe it [in their heart]. You can see it. Some of these folks say, ‘I fell in love with hip-hop on this day.’ I don’t know what that is because it’s been around me my whole life. I am rap. I am hip-hop. That’s all I know.”
He added, “Some of these folks, they look at this as a quick money-getting thing. They look at it as a commodity. They look at it just to criticize it, and, like, y’all ain’t grow up the same.”
Tyler has addressed this issue before, notably during an interview with Maverick Carter, where he criticized Ian for copying flows. Tyler had previously rapped, “White boys mocking this and y’all mad at me/ Y’all can suck my [expletive]” on the Chromakopia track “Thought I Was Dead.” Ian responded to Tyler’s claims in a Lyrical Lemonade freestyle, stating, “Back then, I really loved Odd Future/ I ain’t never sat down tryna mock Future/ I ain’t wanna show no disrespect, so I kept my mouth shut and that’s not human.”
Tyler also recalled some online reactions to his “Hey Now” freestyle released in December. “I saw someone say, ‘How Tyler just gonna take Kendrick’s song right after it comes out, and do the same flow over the same beat,’” he said. “And I’m like, ‘Damn, that’s somebody else who did not grow up listening to rap or hip-hop.’ ‘Cause if you grew up listening to rap or hip-hop, you know that’s normal. You should have to do a survey and show your ID before you could say stuff on the internet ’cause folks be saying dumb stuff.”
