What Tyler, The Creator's "Nuts + Bolts" Showed Me
The first time I heard @tylerthecreator music was at Governor’s Ball in 2014. He was on lineup that year and I remember being excited to see both him and Earl Sweatshirt...
The first time I heard Tyler, The Creator’s music was at Governor’s Ball in 2014. He was on lineup that year and I remember being excited to see both him and Earl Sweatshirt. My excitement for Tyler wasn't rooted in knowing the lyrics to every song or thinking “ bae goals” during his set. It was rooted in seeing the mind behind those tweets I so enjoyed. I only saw a glimpse of how he worked that day, and it was cool to witness.
Thanks to his VICELAND show Nuts + Bolts I was able to see more. The show follows Tyler as he stays true to the second part of his stage name and learns how to create stuff. Throughout the 6-episode season he meets with people within the industry of what he's trying to create in an attempt to understand the ins and outs.
While meeting these people and trying out different things may have been eye-opening for Tyler, as a viewer the most interesting aspects of Nuts + Bolts for me are his interactions, and seeing how Tyler works with his fascination and imagination to create something tangible.
In terms of interactions, his commentary is important. His commentary is his interaction with the audience. It let us know that he’s not really a fan of water or the dark, in addition to a number of other things. Sometimes his commentary is just a place for emotion. At times he’s hype, other times slightly hesitant and inquisitive. His commentary also simply reminds us that Tyler is Tyler.
His conversations with the people he's learning from remind us of this as well. In the fourth episode of Nuts + Bolts titled “Breakfast” he asks Professor Andrew F. Smith, “What came first: the waffle or the waffle-maker?” Later on in the episode he asks the COO of Crown Maple if he's read the Facebook of a tree to make sure it's ok. What's great is that Tyler isn't worried about being prim and proper when talking to these people, he's unapologetically himself.
Tyler’s actions show that too. For example, in his episode about floating he claims to have to shown up to the sleep-deprivation chamber drunk. In the episode Tyler and Neil deGrasse Tyson hug and fall into their seats while doing so,and continue their conversation about floating as if nothing happened--it was awesome to watch.
If you couldn’t tell by now watching Nuts and Bolts helped me learn some cool things, but the coolest thing was learning about Tyler (and Jasper) and laughing out loud. This is a definitely a show for the people who are a fan of the person and the music. You can watch the full season of
Nuts + Bolts below.
Who Were Your Favourite Rappers Before They Hit It Big?
With the ways celebrities make their own rules and fully opt out of society sometimes it’s hard to remember that they were once normal people like you and I. Between all the Twitter beef, self entitlement and outlandish behaviour, it’s a struggle to picture them doing normal things like the rest of us do. For those reasons I want to take a look back at what these super stars did before they hit it big in the music industry.
Nicki Minaj, better known as Onika Miraj, had a slew of random jobs before she signed to Young Money and blew up. Nicki was reported to have worked as a waitress at Red Lobster, an administrative assistant, an office manager and finally a customer service rep before she hit it big. She even questioned her decision to quit her last 9-5 as her music wasn’t heading in a steady direction, “I went home and looked in my refrigerator and cabinets, and there was nothing there. My bank account was empty. For a slight moment, I was like, 'They're right. I need to go back home to my mother” (Fuse.TV). Well luckily Ms. Minaj kept on pushing herself and released 3 mixtapes between 2007 and 2009 before Lil Wayne and co. discovered the ravishing rhymer.
Yazz the Greatest Aka Bryshere Gray plays Hakeem Lyon on Empire. I think we’ve all probably tuned into and loved the show’s first dramatic and addictive season. Yazz plays very spoiled Hakeem who wants to make his play for the family’s empire with his rap skills. Our boy Yazz is the complete opposite of this character in real life and actually had to work hard at his craft to get where he is today. The 21 year old first started rapping at 16 after a football injury and decided to take it further. He took rapping so seriously that he would write song lyrics at his Pizza Hut job which eventually got him fired. It was actually Pizza Hut money that helped him to pay for his first music video, 'Homework'. After that, little Yazz kept performing his heart out all over the place, the streets, festivals and wherever else until he was discovered by Charlie Mack, a friend of Will Smith, who got him to audition for Empire.
Tyler the Creator is definitely an interesting dude with his raunchy rhymes and obscure concepts; would you believe that before hitting it big that he worked at Starbucks? Yes, that’s right, Tyler Okonma was a pleasant customer service employee for two and a half years before he made his breakthrough album Bastard. Like many of our musical heroes, he was also fired. Maybe the manager didn’t like him as he speculates, but it also could have been that he was stealing cheese danishes on the daily. He then later released his second album Goblin which got him his deal with XL records.
The last rapper I want to bring some attention to is our main man Kanye West. Like many others, Kanye also had a crappy job before he made it big; he worked at the Gap. Kanye didn’t seem to like the Gap very much and raps about them in his song Spaceship off his College Dropout album, “Let's go back, back to the Gap / Look at my check, wasn't no scratch / So if I stole, wasn't my fault / Yeah I stole, never got caught / They take me to the back and pat me / Askin' me about some khakis / But let some black people walk in / I bet they show off their token blackie / Oh now they love Kanye, let's put him all in the front of the store / Saw him on break next to the 'No Smoking' sign with a blunt and a Mall' / Takin' my hits, writin' my hits / Writin' my rhymes, playin' my mind / This f***in job can't help him / So I quit, y'all welcome.” Let’s hope that they didn’t actually treat him that badly. On the plus side, that stressful job gave him excellent fuel for that powerful album. He had to sweat it out selling sweaters for a bit and look at him now.
As we can see, fame doesn’t come overnight for everyone. There are those rare cases I mentioned in a previous article, but that’s just not the way it goes for everyone. Some people are able to build connections while others have to put their blood, sweat and tears into their careers before it finally takes off. Either way there is no shame in how you get to the top as long you’re okay with everything you’re doing and what you have to sacrifice for it. Although all of these celebrities started off with crappy jobs, it’s that crappy money that helped support them until they made it. My advice to anyone who wants to pursue music full time is to go hard on your production and practice, but please don’t quit your day job until you have a reason; y’all need to eat too! - Asha Mullings