Where Cherry Bomb shines is when the album opts for a funky, jazz, and at times, rock/rap heavy style. Songs such as “CHERRY BOMB”, “RUN”, and “KEEP DA O’S” fit the mold, they’re so chaotic and overwhelming I almost felt half-deaf when listening to these tracks and really bog down the album.

It was around this time that Tyler made it known he was a fan of the experimental band Death Grips, whose own noisy and abrasive instrumentals influenced a portion of the album. That former sound in particular deemed to be “controversial” for some. It mainly balances between a rough abrasive sound and a softer, rhythmic one. Cherry Bomb blends his aggressive sound with touches of jazz, rock, and oddly enough, experimental music. However, it was the perfect stepping stone going forward for the rapper’s music.įrom a production standpoint, this was at the time, Tyler’s most ambitious project (whereas now it's safe to say IGOR has taken that title). I felt like I was in the minority, even now as Cherry Bomb is still considered to be one of Tyler’s weakest albums.

Even some of my friends who were Tyler fans found the album to be just strange and a step down from his old stuff. Critics called the album cluttered, poorly mixed, and unnecessarily abrasive. Personally, I enjoyed Cherry Bomb when it first released, it felt uniquely “Tyler” in a sense, an album that only he could make. 2015’s Cherry Bomb is the album that signaled this change and would pave the way for his follow-up’s Flower Boy and IGOR to build upon, in terms of Tyler’s style of production and lyricism. Starting off as an aggressive, edgelord rapper and then blossoming into a soulful, lush artist within the span of the entire 2010’s was a day and night transition. no musician has been through such an artistic evolution other than Tyler in the past decade. As we get closer to the release of Tyler, The Creator’s next album this Friday, I’ve found myself revisiting his older albums in anticipation.

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