As lyrics videos and sites gain popularity among hip-hop fans looking to learn their favorite artists’ new songs, the disconnect between those artists’ intent and fans’ perceptions has become more starkly highlighted. In the old days, you just debated whether it was “five-two” or “fine too” among your friends. Now, though, fans like to post status updates and captions culled from their current jams, but then they run into problems when the sites they visit to learn the lyrics incorrectly transcribe them. As the problem becomes more common, many artists have begun to speak out.
In January, Doja Cat threatened to withhold her album Planet Her over incorrectly transcribed lyrics from her verse on Saweetie’s “Best Friend,” prompting fans to troll her with pictures of fish. Now, Tyler The Creator is taking matters into his own hands, posting all the lyrics from his new album Call Me If You Get Lost and politely — if loudly — requesting sites like Genius and DSPs like Apple Music to update their databases accordingly with an all caps tweet.
“YO @Genius AND @AppleMusic I POSTED THE LYRICS OF EVERY SINGLE SONG FROM CMIYGL ON TWITTER AND THE WEBSITE,” he wrote. “CAN YOU PLEASE HAVE SOMEONE UPDATE THEM BECAUSE WHOEVER TRANSCRIBED THEM ON YOUR SIDE IS INCORRECT, THANK YOU.”
For what it’s worth, Tyler posted the lyrics some two weeks ago when the album dropped, so there has been plenty of time to get the transcribers on it. Could having the artists post the transcribed lyrics themselves be the solution to the growing problem? Who knows, but you can bet rappers like Doja Cat and Tyler, who spend months making sure their rollouts are absolutely perfect, will probably continue calling out incorrect rhymes until there’s a major change.
Check out some of the lyrics Tyler posted below.
CORSO pic.twitter.com/ySsnjLQgxb
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) July 19, 2021
WUSYANAME pic.twitter.com/gu70eV9wcg
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) July 20, 2021
LUMBERJACK pic.twitter.com/5JFWOrYTVW
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) July 21, 2021