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Tyler Gregory Okonma, known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He debuted on December 25, 2009 with his debut mixtape, Bastard.

Early Life[]

Tyler was born on March 6, 1991 in Hawthorne, California. His father is of Nigerian descent with Igbo relation, and his mother who is American, mixed with African-American and European-Canadian descent. During his childhood, at age 7, he would create his own imaginary album covers with tracklists and song lengths, and at age 14, he taught himself to play the piano.

He attended 12 different schools during his 12 year schooling. In eighth grade, Tyler joined his school's drama class, but was ultimately kicked out for his hyperactivity. In ninth grade, he was ineligible to join his school's band class due to his inability to read music. He worked as a FedEx driver for two weeks, and as a Starbucks barista for about two years

At age 17, he moved to Ladera Heights. Tyler took on his Myspace name as his stage name used for his creations.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Around 2007, Tyler, along with artists Hodgy, Left Brain and Casey Veggies founded the hip hop group Odd Future, and released their debut mixtape, The Odd Future Tape in November 2008. A year later, on Christmas 2009, Tyler debuted his mixtape, Bastard.

On February 11, 2011, he would release a music video for his song "Yonkers", which received national media attention due to it's violent nature and dissing of many artists. Tyler would come out to state that the song was parody of 1990s hip hop songs:

"Dude, n****s don't know that that beat was made as a joke. I was trying to make a shitty New York beat and we was just rapping like we was from New York like we were ret*rded. And then, I just had some random verses and I was just like, "I'll just record it to this beat, this beat is kinda cool." And then n****s really liked it. That's so nuts, because that shit was actually a f***ing joke. I made that beat in literally eight minutes."

Despite the controversy surrounding the song, it received the award for "Best New Artist" during the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. During April 2011, Tyler, along with the rest of Odd Future would sign a record deal with Red Distribution/Sony, and Tyler would debut his first studio album, Goblin, on May 10, 2011. During 2011, Tyler and Odd Future member Hodgy would have guest appearances on the talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, as well as a live performance of "Yonkers" at the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards.

Sophomore Album and Loiter Squad series[]

During 2011, Tyler announced his second studio album, Wolf, on his Formspring account with a scheduled release of May 2012, and also announced an show for Adult Swim titled "Loiter Squad", and would star members of Odd Future, as well as guest appearance from other celebrities. The show premiered on March 25, 2012 and ran for three seasons, ending in July 2014. Throughout the rest of 2012, Tyler would collaborate with other rappers such as Pusha T, The Game, Domo Genesis, DJ Drama and others.

On Valentine's Day 2013, the Odd Future Youtube account would upload a video of artist L-Boy skydiving and stating that Tyler's second album, Wolf, would release April 2, 2013. Later that day, Tyler showcased three album covers.

Discography[]

Studio albums[]

Mixtapes[]

  • Bastard (2009)

Extended plays[]

  • Music Inspired by Illumination & Dr. Seuss' The Grinch (2018)
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