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Tyler The Creator’s new album Chromakopia is out now, and thanks to its early-morning release, fans have been digging in all day to see what the album offers. Ahead of its release, we got a taste of Tyler’s paranoia on “Noid,” the defiant “Thought I Was Dead,” a super-stacked posse cut in “Sticky,” and even a surprise Childish Gambino cameo on “Killed You,” a featuring a range of topics from hometown pride to Tyler’s hair.
On one song in particular, “Take Your Mask Off,” Tyler addresses the ways in which people hide their true selves and the ways that this can hurt them and the people around them. While the first verse speaks to a local gangbanger, the second addresses a down-low pastor, and the third examines a stay-at-home housewife, the fourth verse is more vague, and some fans might be wondering who he’s talking to. However, hints throughout the verse seem to suggest that it’s Tyler talking to himself. While he’s never openly talked about some of the references he makes in the verse, such as having hair loss or dealing with anxiety, lines like “Tryna sell them weird-ass clothes, nobody buyin’ that” and “Your beats ain’t placin’, them songs ain’t slappin’, your raps ain’t rankin’” sound like he’s speaking to a performing artist with a clothing line — which applies to Tyler himself.
Tyler also drops a couple of references to other songs on the album, like admitting to being “scared of bein’ a parent” — a topic he raps about on “Hey Jane.” Because Tyler’s writing is so metaphorical and deliberately vague, it’s impossible to say for sure he’s talking to himself — but it seems the likeliest, until Tyler himself offers an alternative explanation.
