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[MUSIC - RUN DMC, "DOWN WITH THE KING"]
TYLER THE CREATOR: Believe it or not, like Ye is
a big fan of mine.
And that *** is crazy, because like Ye is
up here to me so--
ELLIOTT WILSON: No, didn't you say that there was-- you told
me that there was a beat you played-- one of the beats you
have on the album-- he liked it, he wanted to use it.
And you was like, I'm keeping it, I thought, right?
Was it "Tamale?" Not "Tamale," what was it?
TYLER THE CREATOR: Which?
Was it "48?"
ELLIOTT WILSON: "48." I think "48."
TYLER THE CREATOR: I think it was "48." I think it was "48."
And he ***, he went crazy for it, like he was--
He's a big fan.
And I'm very excited.
I'm stoked because like he sees me for the
artist that I am.
He sees me for the videos and he likes the fact that I still
draw on my clothes when I'm bored, but he actually likes
the aesthetic of all of that ***.
So for someone that I hold up here so high to ***, in a
way, look at me how I see him at times is *** awesome.
Because I love Kanye.
Like, he's sick.
So for him to be a fan of mine, that's tight.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Going back to Erykah Badu, how did that come
about to her on "Tree Home"?
TYLER THE CREATOR: So I made "Tree Home." I'm trying to be
*** Stevie Wonder and all these other ***.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Do you have a Stevie Wonder keyboard move?
You know how to do a Stevie Wonder keyboard move?
TYLER THE CREATOR: My hairline ain't that back to *** be
Stevie Wonder, but--
Yeah, I did that.
I did the bridge.
And I came up with the melody.
[HUMMING MELODY]
TYLER THE CREATOR: Like the *** whole scat ***.
And I was like--
the same thing with the Pharrell thing--
I was like, damn.
Erykah Badu would sound sick on this because this reminds
me of when I first heard "Baduizm" when I
was five years old.
Like when I didn't know what chords where, I just liked the
way that jazz sounded.
So I started writing the melody and *** to how I think
she would sound.
And then I text her, and she was like,
yeah, I mean, I'm down.
Let's face--
not FaceTime, what's the *** you do on iChat?
When you do the--
oh, it's called iChat?
Oh, I'm a *** idiot.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Actually, Tyler, it's iChat.
TYLER THE CREATOR: It's iChat.
So we iChatted.
And we just trade ideas.
I sent her the song.
And she was like, what do you want me to say?
I was like, just stay in the melody, but can you just say,
"there's a party in my tree home, girl you think you
special." And she *** like three weeks
later sent me the parts.
And her and Coco together just sounded *** awesome.
Because "Baduizm" is one of my favorite albums.
And Mama's--
I'm a big Erykah Badu fan.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Yeah, you always talk about you heard
"Rim Shot." How old were you when it really impacted you?
TYLER THE CREATOR: Literally, like music has been a part of
my life forever.
And I remember being in kindergarten, five years old,
and my mom had "Baduizm" on a cassette tape.
And she would play the *** out of it.
ELLIOTT WILSON: On a casette tape.
TYLER THE CREATOR: I *** loved it.
And "Rim Shot" is my favorite intro to a album of all time.
So to finally *** hear someone who's influenced my
music so much on one of my things was crazy.
And she's a fan too.
She loves the aesthetic and everything, so
that's awesome again.
ELLIOTT WILSON: You put a lot of thought to
your intros and outros.
And like on "Wolf," outro's "Lone." And you talk about the
death of your grandmother from brain cancer.
How difficult was that?
And why did you decide to really kind of share it in
that level of detail?
TYLER THE CREATOR: I have a small family.
It's me, my mom, my sister.
It was my grandmother.
I have a aunt and I have a cousin, and she has a son.
That's it though.
Do I say aunt weird?
Ant.
Ant.
Aunt.
And so yeah, that was it.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Aunt.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Aunt.
And ***, literally that *** second verse is
literally how it happened.
I'm ***, I'm with Lionel and I think Travis and like
someone else, and we're at a gas station at my house.
My mom calls me, she's *** crying, oh, your ***
grandmother's not gonna make it.
And I'm like, oh ***, all right.
Come to the hospital, we're taking her there now.
And I hang up the phone and I'm like, what the ***.
And that same night the band, BADBADNOTGOOD had a show and
we were about to go there.
And Lionel's driving there and the whole time in my head, I'm
like, what the *** is going--
Because that ***'s awkward as *** for me, like I let ***
know when ***'s awkward.
So I'm sitting there like, what the ***, right.
So we're at the show and we're not far from the ***
hospital that they took her to.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Cedars-Sinai.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Yeah, at Cedars-Sinai or whatever.
I'm like, yo Lionel, I'm about to dip.
Let me get my board out your car.
He's like, where you guys going?
I'm about to go to this hospital.
My *** grandmother's there.
I guess she's dying.
I don't know.
I didn't really talk to my mom much, she called
me crying and ***.
He was like all right.
He dropped me off there.
And I get in there and I don't have a big family, but they
was all in there, just sitting there.
And my cousin's crying and everyone's like holding each
other and I'm like yo, this is *** weird.
I'm just quiet.
I'm chilling.
And my *** mom's like you should go in there and see her
or whatever.
And I ***, I go in there.
They need a sticker.
It took a long time for them to give me a
sticker to go in there.
And I go in there, and she's on the bed like ***, like,
she's like up, but she just looks *** up, dude.
And I, me personally, I don't like people around
me that's sad or--
I like seeing people happy and in good moods.
And I like the color pink and yellow.
I don't like black.
I don't like none of that ***.
So seeing my grandmother, one of the women that raised me
all *** up was like, whoa.
This is weird.
I do not like this.
Oh, I need to get the *** out of here like--
And she's talking to me and she was so happy to
see me and my sister.
Because I felt like she's seen the rest of the family.
She has a son named Binky who's in jail, who's my uncle.
I never met them, but they say I look just him--
tall, lanky, and *** skinny.
And everyone in the family say that I remind them of him.
You guys know what the *** I'm trying to say.
So he's in jail, so she couldn't see him.
So I guess seeing me--
ELLIOTT WILSON: Brought that back.
Brought that memory back.
TYLER THE CREATOR: I guess seeing me was like, OK, I
could die now.
I've seen all my family or whatever.
And I'm just looking at her and it's just the craziest
*** like I'm looking at her and she would look at me and I
would just look away because I just can't see somebody so--
She's *** up off the drugs and she's just *** up.
So I'm in there for like 20 minutes, whatever.
And the lady's like, yo, you guys got to leave.
We're about to do whatever.
I give her a hug and a kiss, and I told her, I was like,
I'll see you later.
And then she was like, all right.
I love you, bye.
And I looked at her and I dipped.
And then we went home.
And it was like, I don't know, 1:00 in the morning.
I'm knocked out.
And I just heard a yell.
It was my mom.
She was like, yo, what the ***?
***.
We got to get the *** out of here.
We got to *** go.
We hop in the car.
We go to the *** hospital.
All my whole family was in a room and my grandma was dead.
She was like, she already passed.
She was on the bed and ***, and everyone surrounding her.
I didn't go in the room because I can't see that ***.
That ***'s too--
ELLIOTT WILSON: You said you didn't even cry.
You don't cry.
TYLER THE CREATOR: I like the color yellow, and I like pink
and *** baby blue.
And it's too much black and gray in there.
I just can't deal with it.
So I'm just sitting there and I'm outside in the lobby.
I'm on my phone.
That was the most awkward ***.
I'm in there.
I think I text like two people.
I think I text like *** Taco and I text Lego.
And I was like, yo, my grandma just died, this *** is crazy.
I never had a death in my life.
I don't know what the *** to do.
This is weird.
Everyone's crying.
I'm not crying.
I don't know what the *** is going on.
I'm like,
I'm not feeling any emotion.
I'm just at a blank.
And it was weird.
And I say that in a song like--
I'm sitting there like ***.
I'm showing no emotion.
This is crazy.
And a couple days later, Travis's mom was like yeah,
when my dad died, it took Sid and Travis a couple days to
let their emotions out or whatever.
Four days later, they were balling up, you'll get it.
And to this day, it never hit me.
And the fact that a woman that I loved or that raised me, and
I never cried or my emotion was at a blank, still to this
day, made me look at myself like, yo, what the *** is
wrong with me?
When someone that you love like *** dies you're
supposed to like show emotion.
And I didn't show any emotion and that *** was just
weirding me out.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Does it weird you out now or you feel like
you just understand it a little more.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Well, I mean I can
talk about this ***.
But it's still like that's weird.
But the thing that weirded me out, it wasn't even the
*** death of my grandmother, the drive back.
It was what kind of like--
I don't care who you are, or how *** tough you are,
seeing your mom cry is like the most ***
up *** in the world.
Like we're just driving back and I'm like, I'm
just sitting there.
I'm looking straight because my mom, she's not crying, but
she's just like, what the ***.
And that *** is so, it's so ***, it's just
awkward in the car.
My sister's in the back.
And I'm just sitting there like,
should I get on Instagram?
Is that disrespectful?
Oh, man this is *** weird.
All right.
I'll just sit here.
Then all of a sudden, I just hear *** moping and my mom
just starts balling like--
just ***--
Mind you, she's driving us home in the rain.
My mom just *** crying, dog.
And I just look to my left and I just see her *** crying.
And that kind of *** me more than my actual
grandmother's death, seeing my mom hurt, right.
ELLIOTT WILSON: You had never seen your mom hurt like that?
TYLER THE CREATOR: It's your mom.
She's supposed to protect you, like no
matter how big you get.
So seeing her cry was just like, what the ***.
And I just went home that night, just *** confused.
ELLIOTT WILSON: No, but like you said-- when you were in
the skit with Dr. TC's, like, you know, sorry for your loss.
You're like, yeah, whatever.
What made you decide to make it that kind of message
at the end of it?
TYLER THE CREATOR: That's true.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Like how to end it.
I'm sure you was thinking, how do I end this?
Like I'm going to tell this vivid detail of this
situation, but how do I end it and how does it fit the
album's narrative?
TYLER THE CREATOR: It wasn't even--
ELLIOTT WILSON: And then we'll show the video.
TYLER THE CREATOR: That *** just came naturally.
Half of the *** I think about on spot, to
tell you the truth.
But the way that that ended, was-- that's
exactly how I felt.
It was just like, oh, yeah, whatever.
I could talk about it.
I could ***, I see people--
ELLIOTT WILSON: And you feel the sense of loss.
I mean, sense of loss isn't crying hysterically.
You feel the sense of loss.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Yeah, I feel the sense of loss.
And it's my first death.
I have a small family, so that's like the first person
to *** like just dipset out of there and I don't cry,
like that ***'s weird to me that I
didn't show any emotion.
That's weird.
ELLIOTT WILSON: You'll figure it out.
But let's get into this because but, yo your selfie
game is strong though.
Tell them about your selfie game.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Yo, I'm selfie king.
You don't even know.
I had a *** private Instagram.
When I first got Instagram, January of 2012, see y'all
don't know about that.
I had a private one.
***, I was--
ELLIOTT WILSON: Is that the free perm, free perm,
something like that?
TYLER THE CREATOR: That *** got deleted, dog.
ELLIOTT WILSON: OK.
TYLER THE CREATOR: *** it's a long
story why I got deleted.
I literally was addicted.
Like I took ***--
it's actually not funny or even remotely cool how many
photos I have like that.
I literally, I backed up my old iPhone.
Dog, I had at least 3,000 photos.
It was only 2,100 that I actually put on that
Instagram, but I have 3,000 photos of me doing this.
I'm going to put a book out one day of selfies and y'all
*** gone know, I'm selfie king.
On top.
ELLIOTT WILSON: You're all the king of creating all these
alter egos, man.
Before we get out of here, you've got to really break
down this like, I mean, I understand the Sam thing a
little bit.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Hold on, hold on, hold up.
You said before we get out of here.
They didn't like that at all.
You want to be here all night.
AUDIENCE: Yes!
ELLIOTT WILSON: Yo, that's their over time, man.
If you want to beat him until they kick us out.
No, but let's, you want to hear about
the alter egos, right?
Sam, Dr. TC, all these little *** crazy
characters in your head.
And what does it mean for your overall
narrative of these albums.
There's all these conspiracy theories and all these super
nerds that try to like figure out what you're thinking.
Can you give us some insight?
First of all, let me just explain the
whole, the Sam situation.
Sam, to me is like your angry side.
Is that a part of you?
TYLER THE CREATOR: Man, Sam is whoever you want to be.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Nah.
That's a rapper answer.
TYLER THE CREATOR: You could--
No, it's because, in the way the albums are, it's actually
a way you're supposed to listen to them front
to back, all three.
But I kind of made it in a way where you could switch them up
and you could just take the music and the way that the
album is, the way you want it.
Because if I tell you how it is, then it's not as fun and
you won't let your imagination run as free.
Yeah, that's about it.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Well, we're always gonna get Dr.
TC, which is your--
Look at his little smile.
He wants to tell us, everybody.
He just doesn't to.
TYLER THE CREATOR: I want to, but I don't want to, because I
want you to let your ***, let your brain--
No.
Dude, I'm telling you, if I tell you, you're going to be
like, oh that's it?
Oh, this *** weak.
ELLIOTT WILSON: So you love the speculation more than
anything, in terms of that?
TYLER THE CREATOR: Not really, but it's just fun.
It's just fun watching people like, ***, which order do the
albums go in?
And who is--
and then it makes people listen to *** songs more.
It makes like, for example, on "I *** hate you," that's
Sam's song to Salem, but in the video, it's Wolf
performing it.
And then Wolf is doing "Jamba," that's his song, but
Sam is performing it in the video.
So then just little *** like that.
I'm just *** with people's head, it makes
them say, oh, ah.
ELLIOTT WILSON: So how do ladies treat you though, man?
You aight?
TYLER THE CREATOR: Yo, it's sick.
But I just recently found out that girls are really not to
be trusted these days.
I thought--
ELLIOTT WILSON: Oh.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Hey, when rappers was like yo, man,
don't, not to anyone directly in here, I'm just saying in
general, when rappers be like, don't trust these ***.
Like yo, that *** is true.
ELLIOTT WILSON: She was with Anwar Carrots last week.
TYLER THE CREATOR: I don't want to go into detail, but
look some girl was on the bus, whatever, whatever, whatever.
Come to find out, her boyfriend is
outside waiting for her.
I go out there and I'm making jokes like, oh, yo, yo.
You waiting for your girl?
She about to come--
ELLIOTT WILSON: Awkward.
TYLER THE CREATOR: He didn't like that.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Awkward.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Let's just say a knife got pulled out and
then like, just some crazy ***, man.
And it's just crazy like, if this girl is willing to just
*** some rappers and his DJ and just a bunch of
*** just for like--
ELLIOTT WILSON: He said, she's a ho.
TYLER THE CREATOR: If like this girl is down to do this
*** with her boyfriend literally like 12 feet away,
imagine what the *** she does when he's not around.
And plus, like it was this one girl I was like
*** with and like--
I don't want to go into detail, but like females are
really shady and it's hard to trust them at the level that
I'm at now.
Because I don't even know what you want.
Like you want me to buy you some ***?
Or like are you a social climber?
Do you just want me to at you on Instagram or just what?
I don't even know anymore.
AUDIENCE: I just want your babies!
[LAUGHTER]
ELLIOTT WILSON: I know you're real cool with Casey Veggies
and Anwar Carrots and those guys.
And I asked Anwar like what--
TYLER THE CREATOR: Yeah, Casey.
*** Peas & Carrots.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Casey *** Veggies, baby, "Life Changes."
TYLER THE CREATOR: Those are my dudes.
I've known Anwar, truthfully, I've known Anwar longer than
most of my friends.
ELLIOTT WILSON: So I said to Anwar, what is something I can
ask Tyler that kind of like shake him up above, on like
some this is my life ***.
No, he just said, what he said like he thought when you guys
were doing "Customized Greatly, Vol.
1" like finding the confidence in your voice.
Because I know for awhile, like you said, you didn't
really-- you know, behind the scenes as a producer, but not
being confident as a rapper.
Talk about finding confidence in your voice, like you talked
about a little bit, but feeling like you could express
yourself on a mic and fell good about it as a MC.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Like most kids, when they hit puberty,
their voice slowly gets deep.
Like even in height, you slowly get taller.
Dude, seriously I woke up and my voice sounded like this.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Hi, mom.
TYLER THE CREATOR: I literally, I never forget.
I was like 15 and I was like, mom, my
voice is getting deeper.
Shut the *** up, ***, no it's not.
Literally a week later, I sounded like this at 16, dude.
And it was like, what the ***.
How do I--
And it was way raspier than this too.
So it was like, what the ***.
So when I first started actually putting my raps out
and *** on MySpace or whatever, I would pitch my
*** voice up because I hated it so much, that I would
like either pitch it up, so it could sound all squeaky, or I
would pitch it down, so they could say, oh his voice isn't
naturally like that.
It sounds deep as ***.
Until this *** Anwar was like, yo, dude, no ***, your
voice is *** tight, it's distinct.
Just use it.
So on Casey's first album, I have a song on there where I
just use my regular voice.
It was hard to get used to.
I still to this day pitch my voice down in certain songs,
but that's just because I like the way that sounds.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Cool.
All right, we're gonna take a few questions because they're
kicking us out man.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Do I think if I would've said, "Wolf" is
good, it would've sold more.
Well, one, truthfully, dude--
ELLIOTT WILSON: Well, I got one question like that.
Sit down.
I got one more question.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Truthfully--
ELLIOTT WILSON: You already asked your question.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Truthfully, I don't want to sound like a
*** *** or however anyone sees it, but like I don't sell
records, I sell socks.
Like real talk.
Like the other *** is what people--
Like the record sales didn't really matter to me.
All right, I sold 90,000 records first week.
To some people--
ELLIOTT WILSON: Yeah, yeah.
TYLER THE CREATOR: I have no songs on the radio.
MTV don't play my ***.
I don't have a--
Shut up, I know you heard "Bimmer," ***.
I set that up, ***.
Because Sony ain't doing ***.
And like I don't have a VEVO, so every video you see my
*** face in on the side of the video.
And you can say the Mountain Dew thing, but I'm not in the
*** commercial.
I promote myself through my Twitter and putting up stupid
videos and ***.
In a world where you can easily go on the internet and
get this album for *** free and go on YouTube and
listen to it, and then the type of music that I make in
the climate where everyone is making the same *** trap
beats or this stupid EDM techno ***.
For me to come out with the music that I'm making with
*** "Tamale" and "Tree Home" on it, and then ***
"Pigs," like for 90,000 people to actually take the time out
to go purchase that, that was like me
selling a million records.
ELLIOTT WILSON: But Tyler, you know the perception, like
people feel like they have their own perceptions.
And you touch on it in the album, like do you think OF is
as big as it should be right now?
And then how do you see the future playing out?
TYLER THE CREATOR: I mean, dude, I'm *** grateful for
every *** thing.
I would *** love for--
I would love to have the number one *** record, a
*** song in the *** country, but the way--
I'm *** comfortable.
I could go to dinner with all my friends and *** buy the
*** table because I'm fine.
I'm happy where I'm at.
I'm stoked on everything.
ELLIOTT WILSON: I'm proud of you, man.
Thank you Tyler.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Hold on.
Do you want a hug?
Yes, you can have a hug.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Aw.
TYLER THE CREATOR: You're wild.
ELLIOTT WILSON: Thank you, everybody.
Thank you for coming out for CRWN, baby.
Tyler the Creator.
We out of here man.
TYLER THE CREATOR: All right, sick.
ELLIOTT WILSON: I love you.
Yeah.
TYLER THE CREATOR: Thanks for coming out.
All of you are ***.
And I love you guys.
[CROWD SHOUTING]
[MUSIC - TYLER THE CREATOR]