Tyler Gregory Okonma, known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, music video director, and fashion designer. He rose to prominence as the co-founder and de facto leader of alternative hip hop collective Odd Future, and has performed on and produced songs for nearly every Odd Future release. Take a look below for 30 more fun and interesting facts about Tyler, the Creator.
1. Okonma has created all the artwork for the groups’ releases and has also designed the groups’s clothing and other merchandise.
2. As a solo artist, Okonma has released one mixtape and four studio albums, often handling most or all production himself.
3. Following a large contribution to Odd Future’s early work, Okonma released his debut solo mixtape, “Bastard,” in 2009.
4. After releasing his debut studio album, “Goblin,” under XL Recordings in April 2011, Okonma signed a joint venture deal for him and his label Odd Future Records, with RED Distribution and Sony Music Entertainment.
5. Following that, he released his second studio album, “Wolf”, in 2013, which was met with generally positive reviews and debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 90,000 copies in its first week.
6. His third studio album, “Cherry Bomb,” was released in 2015, debuting at number four on the US Billboard 200.
7. In 2017, he released his fourth studio album, “Flower Boy,” to widespread acclaim. It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, becoming his highest charted album to date, and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.
8. His next album, “Igor,” was released in 2019.
9. In 2011, Okonma started the clothing company Golf Wang.
10. In 2012, he began hosting an annual music festival named the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival.
11. He created his own streaming service app named Golf Media; it ran between 2015 to 2018 and contained original scripted series from Okonma himself and the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival was annually streamed on the service.
12. Okonma was born on March 6, 1991, in Ladera Heights, California, the son of a Nigerian father with Igbo ancestry and an American mother of mixed African-American and European-Canadian descent.
13. He never met his father and spent his early life living in the communities of Ladera Heights and Hawthorne, California.
14. At the age of 7, he would take the cover out of an album’s case and create covers for his own imaginary albums, including a tracklist with song lengths, before he could even make music.
15. At the age of 14, he taught himself to play the piano.
16. In his 12 years of schooling, he attended 12 different schools in the Los Angeles and Sacramento areas.
17. He worked at FedEx for just under two weeks, and Starbucks for over two years.
18. Okonma took his stage name from a Myspace page he used to post his creative endeavors.
19. Okonma is known as the leader of Odd Future, and the group as a whole has been compared to the influential hip hop group Wu Tang Clan.
20. Since the beginning of his career, Okonma has largely self-produced songs for his projects and other Odd Future members.
21. Over the years, his style of production has progressed from gritty and dark in early projects to a jazzy and soulful approach with the albums “Cherry Bomb” and “Flower Boy.”
22. His lyrical themes have also evolved from horrorcore-esque subjects to views on love, sexuality, existence and nostalgia.
23. Musically, he has been heavily influenced by N.E.R.D. and The Neptunes member Pharrell Williams.
24. Williams’ debut solo album, “In My Mind,” had a substantial impact on Okonma, inspiring him to co-found the Odd Future collective.
25. He has also cited N.E.R.D.’s debut album “In Search Of…” as an impactful album for him.
26. On March 15, 2014, Okonma was arrested for inciting a riot after having shouted to fans to push their way past security guards at a sold-out show at the South by Southwest music festival.
27. Okonma has identified as an atheist and has had explicitly anti-religious lyrics in his music, especially on the albums “Bastard” and “Goblin”, and has also said some things that suggest he is an agnostic atheist.
28. He collects skateboards and bicycles.
29. Okonma has also been criticized for his graphic depictions of violence against women and his allegedly misogynistic lyrics.
30. Okonma has been criticized for his use of hom*ophobic slurs, in particular, his frequent use of the epithet “fa*ggot” in his lyrics and on Twitter.
