Music has been a very complex form of communication for hundreds of years. Through different genres, lyrics, instruments, and styles, musicians have a way to communicate with their audience in any way they feel comfortable. A major theme that circulates throughout these artists’ music is personal experience. Many times you will find yourself listening to an artists’ backstory and how they have progressed through life, describing their hardships and how they have overcome them.
When I think about these types of narratives written through music, one person usually comes to mind: Tyler, the Creator. As a relatively new artist, most of his music consists of stories about his past, especially regarding his relationships with his father and mother. He has rapped about how he grew up in absence of a father, his struggles with fame and even with his sexuality.
Recently, he released an album known as Chromakopia; an album that delves into very deep and personal moments in his life through both upbeat and melancholic styles. Although most songs in that album have gained mass amounts of attention, one song in particular seems to capture many concepts within Smith & Watson’s, Reading Autobiography Now. It’s called “Take Your Mask Off”.
“I hope you find yourself, I hope you take your mask off”
The song discusses Tyler’s way of life, and how he has had to cover up his identity in order to fit in with the rest of his peers. With lyrics such as “since a kid you knew something was up / they had you thinking God would hate you so you covered it up / gotta hide how you live and what you really enjoy / so got a wife, got a kid but you be *** them boys (1:03-1:13).” He talks about how he feels as though he must abide by what society considers appropriate in order to cover up his shame and guilt. This concept of altering one’s personality where it ultimately becomes hidden, relates to Smith & Watson’s concept of Identity. Identity is an arbitrary concept that can be shaped and manipulated through social, cultural, and personal interactions and beliefs. In Reading Autobiography Now, Smith & Watson claim that “Identities are necessarily provisional. What may be a meaningful identity on one day or in one context may not be culturally and personally meaningful at another moment or in another context.” (Smith & Watson 65). Relating to Tyler, he raps about the modifications he has had to make to himself in order to fit into his community. Supporting Smith & Watson, personality is seemingly provisional considering Tyler alters his typical behavior despite knowing the true nature of his personality. The concept of self is a constantly changing idea that shifts and adapts in regards to external forces, such as friends, family, and society.
“Gang this, oh you gang that? Don’t let em know that you regret how you became that”
In regards to identity, it was interesting to see how he shifts his perspective to a different individual, describing the life of what appears to be a new mom; “big ass house that’s on the hill, big ass wheels in the garage / three cute kids that’s in your arms, your husband just made another million / you want your life back and a massage, tired of being at home / personality is gone, body ain’t been the same, postpartum is long / your identity is gone, momma your first name, the last one got changed (1:34-1:53).” He discusses the growing problems of being a mother and how it takes a large toll on one’s personal identity. Despite a vast change in situation, it seems that this experience shares a similar theme of becoming “unselved”, emphasizing Tyler’s dissociation with himself. This creative shift to a different individual helps emphasize Smith & Watson’s idea that “the subject [can] comes to consciousness through multiple identities and multiple voices” (Smith & Watson 65). Despite the switch to a separate yet similar situation to support Tyler’s concept of losing one’s identity, it may also serve as a metaphor for how he is able to share the same kinds of feelings from a completely different individual; like how he shifts his behavior to fit into a community, even though he is still the same person. He shares the same thoughts and ideas from more than one person, encouraging Smith & Watson’s idea that an individual maintains consciousness no matter how a subject may take form; through a different voice, a different body, a different soul, yet still managing the same individuality.
“You ain’t a thug you was in drama club you’re an actor but now cuz / getting validation from the dumb and confused, now you’re facing 5 to 10”
Tyler, The Creator’s album cover for Chromakopia
From an alternate perspective, Tyler, The Creator also uses the media to capture his message. In relation to the song, “Take Your Mask Off”, his album cover depicts him in a mask with a new hairstyle that most have not seen before; “Media technologies do not simplify or undermine the interiority of the subject but, on the contrary, expand the field of self-representation” (Smith & Watson 139). Through his visuals, Tyler seeks to emphasize the idea of hiding one’s true self, to truly encapsulate the meanings of his songs. I wonder if this song was meant to be the point of the album despite its limited popularity compared to the other songs.
Tyler the Creator’s songs seem deeply invested in the processes of change–of losing oneself or becoming “unselved,” or not finding adequate cultural models for selfhood in one’s immediate surroundings. His response is to create, to dramatize this tension in music, playing this narrative, as you note, over “multiple identities, multiple voices.”
This is the kind of engagement with life-narrative in different genres that could really power a final project!
When you do bring up Smith and Watson, make sure you frame their work a bit more fully. Sometimes, you just drop a quote rather than helping the reading understand how the quote relates to the material you’re discussing. It’s the author’s job to introduce quotes and sources fully and to make these connections for the reader.