What We Learned From Tyler, the Creator’s New ‘All Star Series’ Interview
Written by SOURCE on June 21, 2022
Tyler, the Creator attended the latest iteration of the Converse All Star Series in Paris earlier this month, and spoke for over an hour about a wide-range of topics, ranging from his love of L.A., scoring Virgil Abloh’s last Louis Vuitton show earlier this year, and more.
Check out a few takeaways from his latest discussion below.
L.A. will always his home
When asked if he would entertain the idea of moving to Paris around the 6:08 mark, Tyler responded with a flat-out “nope.” While he has admittedly thought about getting a place in Paris, the multi-hyphenate said he’s “so Los Angeles-based where I can wear shorts everyday.” He prefers the low buildings, wide streets, and especially warm weather that L.A. provides.
He set everything aside to score Virgil Abloh’s last Louis Vuitton show
Back in January, Tyler scored the late Virgil Abloh’s Louis Vuitton Men’s Fall-Winter 2022 show in Paris. He explained at around the 15:00 mark that Virgil repeatedly tried to get him involved, but he would always decline, saying he was always too busy.
“And then, when [the show’s creative director] Benji B, he asked me if I could do it, and again, I was working on something else and I’m like, ‘Bro, I truly want to, but again, I don’t have the time,’” Tyler recalled. “And then I thought about it, and I was like, ‘Man, what am I talking about? No, we’re gonna figure this out.’ I dubbed what I had to do, and was like, let me knock this shit and give it the full attention it needs. It was one of the best moments of my life.”
Tyler said it “felt good” to help contribute to Virgil’s last show after he had been “looking out for me in ways that people couldn’t even fathom.”
Tyler advises people to not get married to an idea
Tyler said he and Converse were exploring a potential running shoe idea when he didn’t want to move forward with it. From there, everything stopped and they moved onto something else.
“I think if anyone here is making stuff and you’re starting to do it but you don’t feel it anymore, it’s super fire to just stop. Like, ‘I don’t wanna do this anymore,’ that’s okay. Just go do something else because you’re not fucking married to it in the literal sense,” he explained. “But also, you don’t have to married to ideas because it’s there, put it to the side.”
Tyler addresses complaints of the “Wilshire” mix
While discussing perfectionism just before the 46-minute mark, Tyler summed up his musical approach by saying he understands what the end goal is and knows when he’s done. He then discussed criticisms towards the mix of “Wilshire” off of Call Me If You Get Lost.
“What they don’t know is, because of the way that iTunes and Spotify, things are mixed loud and super crisp, fucking our ears up, they expect every single thing to sound like that, and not take into consideration what texture is,” he said.
Tyler revealed that he was sad at the time he started recording “Wilshire,” and given the subject matter in the song itself, you can understand why. He goes on to explain that he chose to record his verses over a handheld mic instead of going to a booth due to his emotional state.
Tyler ultimately chose to keep that recording because, “I won’t ever feel like this again for this situation and I put all that emotion there…I want what I was feeling at that moment so in there.”
Tyler explains what he loves about Kendrick Lamar’s latest album ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’
At about the 56-minute mark, Tyler implores the audience, specifically the younger generation to “cut the bullshit and start being open and honest,” before getting into his admiration for Kendrick Lamar for taking that exact approach with his latest album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. “He touches on shit that’s so open and honest that some people can’t listen to it because he’s looking at them in their eyes,” he said. “It’s making them think about the shit that they’re covering up..I see it, I see through it.”
