Showing My Cards: October 2024

The Rise of Therapy Rap, The Long, Slow Descent into Horror Fandom, and a Novel I Dare Not Summarize

MUSIC

Chart Courtesy of tapmusic dot net. 

Earworm of the Month: CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler, The Creator

A first for Showing my Cards, as I’m gifted the opportunity to comment on a new release of some note. Tyler, the Creator’s come up over the past decade or so has seen him Digivolve from a bratty, vulgar young turk of rap to an iconoclast pop star who relapses on his rap habit about every other album. When you examine his output it’s hard to argue he hasn’t earned it. Since his turn away from the abrasiveness of his earlier albums with 2017’s instant classic Flower Boy, he’s remained remarkably consistent. IGOR (2019) and Call Me If You Get Lost (2021) continued the critical and cultural momentum without ever falling into a creative rut. IGOR doubled down on Flower Boy’s reinvention of Tyler as a visionary one-man show of production and performance while hewing out a unique aesthetic space for itself as an essential breakup album of its generation. In the wake of these successes, Call Me If You Get Lost saw Tyler basically throwing himself a victory lap. After drafting DJ Drama to handle production and serve as his personal hype man, Tyler set about rapping in a way he really hadn’t since before Flower Boy. The resulting breezy, vacation atmosphere of CMIYGL makes it arguably the most approachable of any of the projects from Tyler’s recent golden age. 

What, then, do you do after the victory lap is over? That was the question confronting CHROMAKOPIA upon its recent announcement. If you want answers, you’re in the wrong place. In my experience the noise surrounding any big new release like this makes cutting through discourse to engage in any serious evaluation or critique next to impossible. It’s pretty good, I think. Maybe someone is shooting me with a mind beam to make me think that. I think it’s probably the weakest of Tyler’s recent efforts. We’ll see how that opinion ages (or, God forbid, evolves). I’m going to the tour and that’s about all I know for sure.

What’s most interesting to me, at least for the moment, can be found in the macro. Between CHROMAKOPIA and Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers we now have two blockbuster albums that can be siloed under “therapy rap.” Whether you apply that label mockingly or in earnest, it’s pretty hard to argue it isn’t accurate. After three solid decades of braggadocio (ironic or otherwise), the leading men of rap seem ready to get vulnerable again. The question is; why? Is there some reading of the tea leaves underway? A sense that the demographics and tastes of the consumer have shifted? Do they just feel a little silly affecting this kind of persona in their mid thirties? Maybe it’s not just marketing, maybe these guys really do see some of their onetime idols paying the piper for years spent running from demons (cough, Kanye, cough) and realize they have less time than they think to get their shit under control. Lest they end up in their mid-forties, strung out on nitrous and liquor store dick pills.

FILM

Eyeworm of the Month: The Fly directed by David Cronenberg

I’ve been engaged for a few years now in a project I didn’t quite realize I’d begun until I’d nearly finished it. See, I’ve always told people I’m not a horror guy. Goes back to childhood really. Had trouble with disturbing images. Don’t ask about Watership Down.

So I told myself I don’t like horror. But I’ve steadily been adding asterisks to that statement. First it was in college, coming to appreciate the charms of gory comedies like Re:Animator or From Beyond. Then came the canonical horror classics. I’ve always been a Hitchcock guy to some extent. The Exorcist or the original Halloween aren’t that far removed from The Birds. Then of course came the early stages of my Cronenberg fandom. Then I found myself seeking out freaky little oddities like the Exorcist sequels and Event Horizon and then my Giallo fascination happened and oh well I guess I should just admit I’m enjoying myself, huh?

This month was when I finally ripped the band-aid all the way off. Had a proper horror movie month and quite enjoyed myself. I’ve made peace with the Shudder-subscribers of the world, and found myself enriched by travels in their lands (though I don’t expect to emigrate anytime soon). Strong contenders all up and down the list here but I’m giving the nod to my man Dave C. He’s so powerful when given some office space and some warehouse space in the greater Toronto area and told to cook. Did you know Mel Brooks produced The Fly? I didn’t. Love that wacky Brundlefly. The kids just go crazy for him.

LITERATURE

Wordworm of the Month: White Noise by Don DeLillo

Turns out that this Don DeLillo guy who all my friends have told me for years that I’d love is pretty good! Who would have thunk it? If you think I’m gonna be able to summarize White Noise here you’re crazy. 

My plan for election season was to microwave my brain by reading White Noise and Libra back to back so as to jump myself into the DeLillo Lifestyle (DeLillifestyle?) That hasn’t panned out like I’d hoped. Libra is a bad book to keep in your backpack and read in public toilets. We’re gonna pivot. We’re gonna triage this shit. Get the rotation in order. There is no way I’m finishing a 400 page novel about the Kennedy assassination by Thanksgiving.

VIDEO GAMES

Pixelworm of the Month: Tekken 8, Bandai Namco

Om-nom-nom yummy crayons, tasty paste, number go up, funny Brazilian breakdance fighting man. I wrote about this stuff earlier this month, go read that.

BLOG BIZ

Making its triumphant return! Blog biz! I’m trying to be more active on here and post more actual essays. I have a nice little strategic reserve of ideas that I’ll be dipping into as the mood strikes me. Try to keep it breezy and varied. Refocus on the original concept (even under the new branding).