Tyler, the Creator Talks Getting ‘Canceled,’ DJ Drama, ‘Verzuz,’ and More
Written by SOURCE on August 6, 2021
Tyler, the Creator sat down with Ebro Darden, Laura Stylez, and Peter Rosenberg on Hot 97 to discuss everything from getting “canceled” to his thoughts on the LOX vs. Dipset Verzuz.
One of the biggest talking points around Tyler’s latest album Call Me If You Get Lost is DJ Drama’s presence. With a lot of the rapper/producer’s fans skewing younger, there was a divided reaction that those in the know found amusing, or possibly even offensive. Tyler, however, thinks it’s great.
“It’s interesting to watch. It’s fun, it’s great, I like the fact that they get to ask a question,” said Tyler at the 2:50 point in the video above when asked about some of his younger fans reacting to DJ Drama’s presence on Call Me If You Get Lost. “I like the fact they don’t know. … Having some 17-year-old kid from Montana not know why this man is yelling allows them to listen to it differently…I like that.” He also added that it was interesting to see the reactions of people who already knew about DJ Drama.
Tyler also reflected on some of the early responses to his music, and suggested he and Odd Future wouldn’t have “made it” if they came out today with the same attitude they did around 2010-2012. “We came at the right time,” he said at the 22-minute mark. “You could still be crazy, you could still be a kid and fuck up. You could still have satire, allow people to have a conversation even if you disagreed.”
From there the 30-year-old mused on how people would go back and find problematic things people have said in the past, and suggested that’s why he got banned from the UK and Australia for some time. “I think some people genuinely don’t care about the shit they’re complaining about,” Tyler added. “I don’t give a fuck what someone else is complaining about, because I have my own life. I’m okay being fully selfish with what the fuck I got going on. Sometimes I’m like, I wish more people were a bit selfish rather than doing a performative ‘I give a fuck, I care’ shit. Don’t you have shit to do? … I’m not saying everyone doesn’t care, there’s just a lot of [performativeness].”
He also said that unlike a lot of these “cancellations” today, he was banned from travelling at one point in time, and he had police shutting down his shows. “This is a true thing, this isn’t some little 14-year-old girl like, ‘He said this word, we gotta get him outta here,’” he said. “This is real life, government shit.”
In 2019, Tyler beat out DJ Khaled for the No. 1 spot with IGOR, which outperformed Father of Asahd much to the disappointment of Khaled. At the 51:00 point of the interview, Tyler addressed that situation once again and suggested that he sees why Khaled reacted the way he did.
“Bro that Khaled thing was like… It was fun, it was just watching a man die inside. The weirdo was winning, I was moonwalking in a wig,” he said. “This n***a had everyone on his album. EVERYONE. … He wasn’t wrong, I’m not in the barbershop, I’m not at the club, I’m not in the back of the Maybach. He’s not wrong, but what now?”
He went on to say that part of him “didn’t really like that at all,” because it felt like another attempt to further ostracize him from the world of hip-hop. “For some guy like that to kinda indirectly be like, ‘That ain’t real rap, that ain’t real Black music,’ that’s what it felt like,” he said. “I didn’t say nothing, I just that No. 1 speak. N***a ego had to deal with that, because his whole identity is being No. 1. And when he didn’t get that, that sat with him longer in real-life time than that moment. I moved on, did some shows, went to London, went on with it.”
He said that when IGOR hit the No. 1 spot, DJ Khaled didn’t seem too happy about losing out to someone he perceived to be the underdog. “That n***a ego was deflated, he’ll probably never admit,” he said. “It’s no hard feelings toward him. … I do some sort of respect for him.”
Closer to the end of the interview, Tyler spoke about why he cares so much about the music he releases, and how he saw that quality in Jadakiss’ performance at the recent LOX x Dipset Verzuz. “Jadakiss was so ill the other night,” he said. “I was like, ‘This gonna be cool, but I think Dipset got this, right?’ Bro, Jadakiss, bro…that man cares. He gives a fuck! Every time he would perform, him and Styles P, there wouldn’t be 80 n***as onstage.”
Watch the full interview above.
