


But Drama isn’t simply a human air-raid siren he acts as a hype man, fact checker, and jester all at once. Many present as if calling the finishing blows in a one-sided prize fight, or announcing imminent disaster. All of this is underscored by Drama, who masterfully keeps the procession rolling.ĭ.j.s have hosted mixtapes since hip-hop’s earliest days, though their presence is not always welcome: they can be intrusive, and even annoying. The nearly ten-minute epic, “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE,” transforms halfway into a slow-tottering reggae jam. & B., synth-rap, and N.E.R.D.-esque funk, is constantly banging and shifting to reveal something new and unusual. The production, which spans soul sampling, nineties R. Tyler uses the framework to great effect he steamrolls through beats with resonance and bluntness. Incongruity isn’t seen as a blemish, and the lyrics tend to be more freewheeling and braggadocious.
#Tyler the creator pharrell in my mind free#
If there is one distinguishing characteristic of the mixtape form, it’s free association. Now, nearly a decade later, the two have come together on Tyler’s new record, “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST”-an album constructed around the Gangsta Grillz mixtape convention-to honor the best of tapecraft. At the same time, Drama, whose charges were dead-docketed, or postponed indefinitely, had all of his money seized and was left trying to figure out how the mixtape medium might survive the Internet age. Cole, he was blurring the lines between the two formats, just as mixtapes were starting to lose their viability as a release strategy-the Recording Industry Association of America was cracking down on piracy, and the arrival of streaming platforms hovered menacingly over the world of analog media.

Tyler also self-released many of the early individual projects by Odd Future members, which were produced and mixed like studio albums, in the same way.
#Tyler the creator pharrell in my mind for free#
Tyler founded the rap collective Odd Future, in 2007, and the group released its first tape, “The Odd Future Tape,” for free download online. One inheritor of the mixtape tradition is Tyler, the Creator. The raid seemed to be a bad omen for a cornerstone of the rap world: the mixtape. Instead they found and reportedly confiscated more than fifty thousand mixtapes, and both Drama and Cannon were arrested for bootlegging and racketeering under RICO laws. Things took a turn in 2007, when SWAT officers raided the Atlanta offices and the studio of Drama and his then-protégé and future partner Don Cannon, looking for drugs and guns. made a deal with an independent distributor that started selling his mixtapes in a major retail chain. In 2005, the rapper T.I., also part of the Gangsta Grillz coterie, signed Drama to his record label, and the d.j. Childish Gambino) in its ranks, showcased the talents of mixtape vets like Lil Wayne and Jeezy. The series, which would later include performers like Jeremih and Donald Glover (a.k.a. and narrator of sorts, prodding his guests to perform as the most confident, swaggering versions of themselves. A raconteur and prodigious trash-talker, Drama served as an m.c. Drama propelled the careers of countless rappers through his Gangsta Grillz mixtape series. It'd be his second #1 album on the Billboard 200 after 'IGOR' reached the top in May 2019.In the early two-thousands, the Philadelphia d.j. I think this is Tyler’s ode to that project, Pharrell’s 'In My Mind: The Prequel.'"Īll of these elements and more are combining to give Tyler his biggest opening week ever in terms of sales, as Chart Data expects the 30-year-old to push over 175k units. "And then there’s also another generation that pays a lot of homage to Pharrell’s 'In My Mind: The Prequel.' "And I think something that has to be discussed, there’s a generation of people that love the Gangsta Grillz series for what it was," Drama said. Speaking with Complex, DJ Drama revealed that he and P's unexpected 2006 Gangsta Grillz effort, 'In My Mind: The Prequel,' inspired Tyler to tap Drama for this latest album. Ima post lyrics like monday for genius apple all dat so its all correct and stuff- Tyler, The Creator June 25, 2021īut Pharrell's role in the creation of 'Call Me If You Get Lost' goes beyond his featured verse.
