Tyler The Creator has long been known for his unconventional approach to making and promoting his new music, from pretending to eat a roach in the self-produced “Yonkers” video that introduced him to the world, to adopting the Andy Warhol-esque alter ego that marked his Igor era. Now, fans are convinced he’s promoting the follow-up to Igor thanks to a massive pastel billboard in Hollywood leading to a cryptic message from Tyler and — of all people — his mom.
This appeared in Sunset Boulevard and if you call the number you can hear Tyler the Creator and his mom talking in the car, and this billboard has a Columbia Records tag, new album OTW??? #tylerthecreator pic.twitter.com/ivfDsytL4z
— gabe (@itsgabecalling) June 9, 2021
As you can see, the billboard exhorts passersby to “call me if you get lost” with a phone number appended. Dialing the number leads to a recording of Tyler’s mom boasting about her fighting ways. “I’d kill a mothaf*cka over this one right here, n****,” she proclaims. “I’d stand in front of a bullet, on god, over this one. My son used to record me beating *itches’ ass.” Tyler can be heard affirming these statements before she continues, “I would beat your whole family and didn’t give a f*ck. They’d be like, ‘Tyler’s mama crazy. Tyler’s mama crazy.’ Yep. F*ck with my kid. Tyler would be like, ‘Get ’em, mom.’ They’d be like, ‘No, don’t do it.’”
Tyler, The Creator’s new album rollout has begun! pic.twitter.com/ZhNupE984x
— Odd Future (@OddFuturePage) June 9, 2021
At the very end of the recording, some music starts to play and it’s very much in the mode of the synth-heavy style that has defined Tyler’s music since Cherry Bomb. The conjunction has fans convinced that the rollout to a new Tyler The Creator album has begun, but with Tyler, anything is possible. Check out the audio above.