Wolf

Tyler, The Creator’s “Wolf” Reaches Unexpected Streaming Milestone

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Tyler, The Creator has undergone a staggering transformation over the last decade. He went from raucous and controversial rapper to critical darling. He went from being the guy who ate the roach in the “Yonkers” video to the guy who donned a blond wig for “EARFQUAKE.” It was an unexpected trajectory, but one that has seen Tyler accumulate an entirely different group of fans. There’s something to be said for the rapper’s early works, however. The qualities that made an album like Wolf polarizing are the very qualities that have allowed it to reach an impressive milestone on Spotify.

On May 26, Chart Data announced that Tyler’s sophomore studio album (and third project overall) has reached one billion streams on Spotify. It managed to do so in less than a decade, and without any major radio hits. Wolf didn’t have a single as notorious as “Yonkers” or a TV performance like “Sandwitches” to bolster its numbers, and yet, fans have kept coming back to it. Wolf has stood the test of time due to its quality, which something Tyler, The Creator hoped for back in 2013. “All the songs are my favorite for different reasons,” he told Fader. “I love the whole album.” Wolf was also the first time Tyler mixed an album by himself.

Read More: Tyler The Creator Reveals Why He Was Jealous Of Doja Cat’s Coachella Performance

Tyler, The Creator’s “Wolf” Now Has One Billion Streams

“This is the first album I got to mix,” the rapper told the outlet. “I’m stoked I got to experience that. Now I know, next time, what sound I want and how I should approach it when it’s time to mix it and other sh*t like that.” The practice of learning what works and what doesn’t extends to the musical stylings on Wolf. Tyler, The Creator’s production was more lush than it had been on his previous releases, and there was an embrace of neo-soul and funk in ways that had only previously been teased. “Treehome95” points towards the rapper’s 2017 masterpiece Flower Boy. “PartyIsntOver/Campfire/Bimmer” is an early rendition of the multi-part songs that would dominate 2021’s Call Me If You Get Lost.

These sonic leaps exist with classic Odd Future anthems like “Domo23” and “Trashwang.” It’s jarring as a cohesive listen, but it also speaks to Tyler, The Creator’s staggering versatility. The fact that he could rap over “Tamale” and croon over the title track puts him in rarified air. Wolf will never accumulate the artistic praise of Tyler’s subsequent albums. That said, the album’s ability to reflect the rapper’s past while pointing towards his musical future is undeniable. The streaming numbers prove it.

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The post Tyler, The Creator’s “Wolf” Reaches Unexpected Streaming Milestone appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Tyler The Creator Shares The Instrumental Beats From His Album, ‘Wolf,’ For Its 10-Year Anniversary

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Tyler The Creator has been blessing fans with new music. Last week, he shared The Estate Sale, a collection of outtakes from his sixth studio album, Call Me If You Get Lost. Today (April 7), to honor the month as the 10th anniversary of his sophomore album, Wolf, Tyler dropped the album’s instrumental tracks, all of which were primarily produced by Tyler himself.

Tyler announced the news today in a tweet, which read, “WOLF instrumentals out now. all my age 20/21 beats for ya ears.”

Additionally, he has shared merch from the album’s era including hats, socks, vinyl records, and hoodies.

In an interview with The Fader conducted before Wolf’s release in 2013, Tyler shared that it was the first album he got to mix on his own, and revealed how it changed how he approaches his own music.

“When you mix it they take out the distorted sub and it just sounds too clean,” he said. “When you turn it up, the bass is supposed to hit annoyingly hard. It’s something I learned with mixing…I’m stoked I got to experience that so now I know, next time, what sound I want and how I should approach it when it’s time to mix it and other sh*t like that.”

You can stream the instrumentals for Wolf on Apple Music and Spotify.