Multi-Grammy winning artist Tyler, the Creator recently sat down for an interview as a part of Converse‘s All Star series.
In the 70-minute conversation, Tyler touches his creative process and inspirations behind his albums and even his shoe designs. Right off the bat, Tyler shares how he first linked with Converse, explaining Pharrell introduced him to the connection to kick things off with the brand. He recalls, “With Converse it’s like, man, we had so many different ideas that didn’t work and it’s okay because all of that got us to this one end result that doesn’t even have anything to do with it.” He divulged how he enjoyed the process and getting to “just learn along the way.”
Later on in the interview, Tyler discussed the importance of artists surrounding themselves with people who are your cheerleaders. He reminisces moments with his childhood friend Jasper, a recent member of Jackass Forever, who has always been there for him for the best and worst decisions. Tyler doubles down on the importance of support stating, “You need cheerleading. Everyone wants a cheerleader.” Tyler also shared his opinion on the NFT with a simple response, “What the f*** is a NFT?” He added, “None of the examples I’ve seen is, like, beautiful art. It’s a f***ing monkey in a Supreme hoodie.”
Towards the end, Tyler talks about the influence of Kanye West and shares his thoughts on Ye’s Black Future Month. He shares, “Kanye tweeted ‘Black Future Month’ and I understand what—he’s not the most articulate sometimes—but I understand what he’s saying because it’s like, bro, let’s focus on that. Sometimes we’ll see something on TV and it’s like, dude, they’re doing this stereotype again? They’re doing this again? We have to continue to push and be like, bro, we not on that.”
In terms of other in the industry that have inspired him, Tyler names Q-Tip, André 3000 and Pharrell, as well as speaking highly of the late Louis Vuitton designer, Virgil Abloh, “That’s what Virgil was doing…Just do, just do it at the highest level because then they’ll catch on.”
Watch the full 70-minute conversation above.
In case you missed it, an unreleased Jeen-Yuhs clip shows Kanye West arguing about the creative direction of “Slow Jamz.”
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