Track By Track Review: “Cherry Bomb” by Tyler, The Creator

Written by on April 16, 2015

IT’S HERE!

TylerCherry4

The five different album covers for “Cherry Bomb”

“Cherry Bomb,” with a total of 13 songs, was released late Sunday night, or early Monday morning for us in Texas, and boy is it different from Tyler’s previous albums.

For those of you have not  heard the album, direct your ears to the Spotify playlist below as you flow through the sonically extensive tracks of “Cherry Bomb.”

Warning: Songs contain mature material and lyrics. So do the tweets included with the track reviews. Advance at your own discretion! 🙂

Track 1: DEATHCAMP  feat. Cole Alexander

This was one of the first songs Tyler released to those who pre-ordered his album as well as one of the songs he opened with at Coachella. In a nutshell, “DEATHCAMP” is intentionally made to sound “gritty” and is one of the stronger “rock/rap” songs on the album.

Track 2: BUFFALO

This is one of those “f*ck the crowd, be a leader” songs. Along with some clips of Shane Powers telling Tyler to “not f*ck this up” since a lot of the younger generation look up to him, Tyler questions “how many leaders are in the house” obviously bringing up the issue of posers in society today. This song was alright, I liked the message but the beat tends to drown out Tyler’s rapping until the second half of the song.

Track 3: PILOT feat. Syd 

This song continues on Tyler’s “flight” when he “finds his wings.” The mixing on this song tend to be a bit gritty during his verses, but the instrumental in between Tyler’s verses provide a nice contrast to the harshness of his raps. Syd from The Internet is featured and gives a “heavenly” sound to the rough mixing. “PILOT” is one of the songs I used to skip over in a heartbeat, but now it’s slowly growing on me.

Track 4: RUN feat. Chaz Bundick

Just like Tyler describes in his tweet, this is a message to peers of his that he knew that started to “gang bang.” This is the shortest song at about one minute as well as another song you won’t exactly feel much for unless you like the short verse on it or the positive message it brings to the public.

Track 5: FIND YOUR WINGS feat. Roy Ayers, Kali Uchis, & Syd

In this song he gives out his own personal advice to his listeners – “Find Your Wings.” Taken figuratively, he is telling all his fans to be themselves, believe in what they can do, and power off of their own confidence. This is the best sounding song sonically on his album as well as one of the top tracks in “Cherry Bomb.”

Track 6: CHERRY BOMB

You’ve probably noticed I’ve mentioned mixing that was “rough,” “harsh,” and sort of “gritty” a LOT. This mixing is especially seen in “CHERRY BOMB.” Despite it being one of the louder, “in your face” songs, this is one of my personal favorites. If you attend one of Tyler’s shows, expect a mosh pit to appear when this song comes up.

Track 7: BLOW MY LOAD feat. Wanya Morris, Austin Feinstein, Dâm-Funk, Syd, & Eric Andre

As stated by the tweet below, Tyler made this song in reference to a picture he saw of the famous british model Cara Delevingne. On the most sensual song in “Cherry Bomb,” Tyler describes in great detail of what he wants to do to his girl as well ass making many dirty innuendos and references. It wouldn’t be a Tyler, The Creator album without at least one dirty song amirite.

Track 8: 2SEATER feat. Austin Feinstein

Of course with his love of cars and everything fast, Tyler includes a song about his “2SEATER.” This song was a nice change of pace with a snazzy saxophone solo and other multiple instruments stringing along to the beat as well as a nice tempo change in the middle when Tyler addresses how he likes when a girl’s hair “blows.” Absolutely fantastic instrumentals elements on “2SEATER.”

Track 9: THE BROWN STAINS [OF DARKEESE LATIFAH PART 6-12 (Remix)] feat. ScHoolboy Q

I’m not even sure who “Darkeese Latifah” is, but damn the beats on this song are on POINT. In my opinion, this is almost like a sequel to ScHoolboy Q’s “The Purge (feat. Tyler The Creator, Kurupt)” off his Ovymoron album. “THE BROWN STAINS” is one of the more upbeat songs on “Cherry Bomb” and with a feature including ScHoolboy Q (who performed at UH for this year’s Frontier Fiesta! Go figure) it was bound to be some persons-0091

Track 10: F*CKING YOUNG / PERFECT feat. Charlie Wilson & Kali Uchis

One of my favorites from this album. Probably…. my favorite of all of them actually. “F*CKING YOUNG / PERFECT” has the perfect amount of jazz and hip-hop to balance each other out. Although the topic is a bit touchy, you are bound to forget Tyler is reaching out to a girl who is too “f*cking young” because of the awesome chord changes and jazzy musicality.

Track 11: SMUCKERS feat. Kanye West & Lil Wayne

Okay so, this song sure was a surprise. Tyler brought out both Kanye West AND Lil Wayne for “SMUCKERS” and the result? Absolutely fantastic. One of the best features on this album with Kanye smack talking Nike:

Cause Nike gave lot of n*ggas checks

But I’m the only nigga to ever check Nike

and Lil Wayne bringing out some of his infamous word play:

I’m starin’ at a tramp on lean, make my eye jump

“SMUCKERS” is a song that is definitely worth listening to.Tyler even boasts about it multiple times on his Twitter.

Track 12: KEEP DA O’S feat. Pharrell Williams & Coco O

“KEEP DA O’S” is a nice follow up to “48,” a past song from Tyler’s previous album, “Wolf.” Both song are obviously about drugs – specifically, cocaine. “Mr. Treat-Ya-Nose” is heard repeatedly until the second half of the song kicks in and the tempo changes up with a nice piano riff where “find your wings” begins to be chanted. One of the more uplifting songs on the album.

Track 13: OKAGA, CA feat. Leon Ware, Clementine Creevy, & Alice Smith

The last track sounds like the perfect lazy, long-day-after-going-to-the-beach kind of song. To me at least! This last track closes out “Cherry Bomb” in a perfect soft and subtle way.

TL;DR: “Cherry Bomb” showcases what Tyler can do both as a maturing producer and lyricist. It can be a little hard to digest some songs when you first listen, but after a few couple listens in the songs start to grow on you. Some songs more than others. At the end of the day, whether you hate or love “Cherry Bomb,” Tyler’s just a dude who’s having fun with his music and wants to share his perspective on life at this point in time.

Listen to: FIND YOUR WINGS, DEATHCAMP, SMUCKERS, THE BROWN STAINS, F*CKING YOUNG / PERFECT,  KEEP DA O’S

Skip over: BUFFALO, RUN

Rating: 4.5/5

Shout-out to Rap Genius for providing lyrics for each song on “Cherry Bomb.”

Did you like Tyler’s new album? Hate it? Think he’s going in the right direction, wrong direction, or think he should stop all together? Let us know in the comments below!

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Julia Ong

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