Tyler, The Creator took a well-deserved victory lap and took festival-goers on a joyous trip down memory lane on Saturday (November 16) when he headlined the first night of Camp Flog Gnaw at his hometown Dodger Stadium in Los Angels.
The atmospheric sounds of a shipping dock – deep ship horns, screeching seagulls and crashing waves – play before Tyler takes the stage and instigates “Chromasoooooooo” chants from the crowd. A single green light highlights the masked and military-clad headliner standing atop a “Chromakopia” shipping container. Tyler unveiled the album's aesthetic exactly one month ago, on October 16, when he released the “St. Chroma” video. And already, he's created yet another defining character in the Tyler Cinematic Universe, where a commitment to world-building is paramount to his every work.
It moves on to the next three songs from the CHROMAKOPIA list. “Biggest in town since Kenny, that's a fact now,” he reasserts on follow-up track “Rah Tah Tah.” Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem, billed as The Hillbillies, headlined the first night of Camp Flog Gnaw just last year. Tyler isn't usually one to do the honors given the fact that it's his festival (and he's already rewarding himself with the most performance time of any artist on the lineup). Giving other notables the primetime slot is a courtesy, but this year is different as Tyler gradually ascends to a higher echelon of stardom with each album.
He reached cult icon status without having a definitive “hit” and now has earned his first three Billboard Hot 100 top 10s with an album that was released on Monday out of cycle, but has become Tyler's biggest album to date. His star continues to burn even brighter, but overexposure proves that it can sometimes be destructive. “Noid” feels particularly poignant given its own recent intense encounter with paparazzi as he was leaving the GQ Party for the men of the year on Thursday night.
“No cameras outside please, I wanna eat in peace/ I don't wanna take pictures with you n—as or bi—es,” he spits the second verse with an extra splash of vitriol.
But Tyler isn't marinating in the sour feeling. Over the orchestral outro of “Darling I,” he pauses to prematurely celebrate No. 1 for his album's three-week streak on the Billboard 200. “Thanks to all the moms out there for supporting me, man, really. To do this, in my 10th carnival in my city, what are we talking about?! I don't even have a heartfelt message. I am truly filled with so much love and joy,” says Tyler. “We made the new sh–, clearly you know it and you like it. So if you don't mind, I'm going through my old sh– real quick.”
Tyler brings it back to last year with “WUSYANAME,” “LUMBERJACK” and “DOGTOOTH” from his Grammy Award-winning album Call me if you get lost before going back to 2011 with “She” and “Yonkers” from his Demon LP and splicing in cuts since 2013 Wolfof 2017 Flower Boy and of 2019 Igor. He's asking the crowd to take over Playboi Carti's verse on “EARFQUAKE” because “this n—a in Vegas” is headlining ComplexCon, but he's scheduled to close out the second and final night of Camp Flog Gnaw on Sunday (November 17). .
“I wanted to build a place where n—as could come and just be, and it's beautiful to see that you really rocked with me. All of this doesn't really start from my notebook. It's crazy, bruh! N—as No. really is. 1 three weeks, and I'm like, “What's going on? This is crazy!” he says. “This is a test run because all the songs are so new. The first four went great, could I go ahead and do some new-?'
He shuts down festivalgoers in the affirmative so they can get the intro whistle of his Hot 100 top 10 hit “Sticky,” where B-roll crews and marching bands complement the song's joyous energy. But Sexyy Red's surprise appearance makes him do it a thousand times over. Tyler gasses her while she's pantomiming for the crowd, and even throws it back and earns her a satisfying favor.
They match each other's awesomeness, as well as the same IDGAF energy of their viral photo, with the middle finger. “I love you, girl. She's so sweet,” Tyler sings her praises as she walks off stage and repeats “It's sticky!” hook. But the rough-and-tumble rapper couldn't have said more fitting final words than “She was sucking my bun, yeah.”
Tyler invites more COLOR COPIES guests like ScHoolboy Q for 'Thought I Was Dead' and 'mother-royal swamp princess' Doechii and 'my mother brother' Daniel Caesar for 'Balloon'. “This n— helped me with this album, I get emotional when I see this n— a cause that came to me for COLOR COPIES,” Tyler says of Caesar, who took center stage right before him and appears in “St. Chroma' and 'Take Your Mask Off'. It took a village to build his latest masterpiece, but he built an even bigger one before his eyes.
Check out the full set list for Tyler, The Creator's Camp Flog Gnaw below:
1. “St. “Chroma”
2. “Rah Tah Tah”
3. “No”
4. “My Love, Me”
5. “WUSYANAME”
6. “Lumberjack”
7. “DOG TEETH”
8. “She”
9. “Yonkers”
10. Tamales
11. Ania
12. “Who Dat Boy”
13. “I THINK”
14. “EARTHQUAKE”
15. “Sticky” (in sexy red)
16. “Take off your mask”
17. “Thought I Was Dead” (feat. ScHoolboy Q)
18. “Like Him”
19. “Balloon” (featuring Doechii and Daniel Caesar)
20. “NEW MAGIC WAND”
21. “See You Again”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/tyler-the-creator-2024-camp-flog-gnaw-headlining-performance-recap-1235831400/
