Quantity Over Quality: The Features On New Album Chromakopia
Photo by Tyler, The Creator
Truth Frazier
The new Tyler, The Creator album, Chromakopia, dropped Monday morning and immediately gained thousands and thousands of listens. The traction the 14-song album gained over the course of last week since the release date was monumental, with at least a top-20 spot on Billboard Hot 100 projected for Tyler, The Creator.
The teaser for the album was released via Tyler’s instagram on October 16th with the release date being announced as the 28th of October. Although this date was strange and seemingly had no meaning, Tyler was still able to outshine other artists releasing new music including Megan Thee Stallion and G Herbo. Tyler and his team carried this action out by publicizing visuals for the headlining song "St. Chroma," availability of records, and new merch with exclusive details. Fans fed into this even more after the tour dates were announced, filling up the preorder rosters for tickets to Chromakopia concerts around the country.
The album brought multiple features, most of them unexpected. Chromakopia’s title song "St. Chroma" featured artist Daniel Ceaser on the backtrack as well as in the chorus of the song "Take Your Mask Off.” Newly upcoming artist Teezo Touchown was also featured, his vocals heard in the chorus of "Darling, I.” Tyler features multiple smaller ‘one-hit-wonder’ artists, one of them being Willow Smith. Smith’s voice is heard in the background of “Noid” along with Paul Ngozi’s voice in the chorus. Tyler, The Creator also features multiple big artists, newer and older ones. The iconic Childish Gambino is heard on “Judge Judy” and “I Killed You”. The heart of the features, however, are all on the eighth track, “Sticky,” packing 4 features from popular, newer artists. The song starts off with a rap verse from Memphis artist Glorilla, and after Tyler’s first verse, artists Lil Wayne and Sexxy Red make their appearances.
Although fans love the inclusion of their favorite artists, the majority of Tyler supporters are against who he didn’t put in the album. Following up the teaser and earlier this summer, artist Frank Ocean began putting out statements and posting with fans on social media. Ocean has gathered thousands and millions of fans over the years, especially within the last 10 years in which he hasn’t dropped any music or been socially active. People began to get excited about the long-awaited release, and when Tyler announced that Chromakopia was to be released that coming week, it seemed obvious that Ocean was going to be on the album. Not only were people using what seemed like ‘common sense’ to make up the prediction that Ocean was going to be featured, but there were multiple hints too. For one, the album’s release date was on Ocean’s birthday, and two, Tyler posted about Ocean on his Instagram page. Nevertheless, fans were disappointed when Ocean had no appearance on any of the 14 songs. People posted TikToks complaining and questioning Tyler, upset about the missed opportunity on his part.
The commotion about who wasn’t on the album goes even further with an unreleased version of the song “Thought I Was Dead” posted by pop culture Instagram page @Bars. The unreleased version featured popular rap artist Playboi Carti, and fans were even more unsettled. The comments of the post read, “first no Frank, then no carti too.” Another comment says, “why would he leave this offfff.”
It’s no secret that fans aren’t completely happy with the inclusion—or exclusion—of Tyler’s chosen artists, but overall, the album is projected to do amazing and gain even more traction when the tour begins in February of 2025.
