Tyler The Creator's Igor: A Narrative deep dive (2024)

written by @bryce

Intro

May 17th of 2019 was a big day for Tyler, the Creator fans. It saw the release of “Igor“, the artists 5th studio album. It was produced solely by him, featuring appearances from Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, Solange, Kanye West, and comedian Jerrod Carmichael. It was an instant success, debuting at number 1 on the billboard 200, the first of his albums to do that.

Igor is Tyler the Creator’s most experimental album, and is famously “written, produced and arranged by Tyler Okonma”. It was released about 2 years after his previous record “Flower Boy“, which had been his most successful album to date. Flower Boy saw Tyler exploring a bit outside of the pure rap and hip hop sound, and giving a slight lean in to a more soulful style of hip hop.

Igor sees the artist leaning even more heavily into this, with his rapping pretty much entirely taking the back seat to more singing and melody. The instrumentals are dang near a pure soul or R&B sound with tracks like “A boy is a gun” or “Are we still friends” sounding directly out of the 70s (because it samples Al Green’s “Dream” from 77.)

Igor’s reception

When Igor released fans were instantly blown away. While writing this post I was doing some research to see what kind of things people were saying around the time of release, so I turned to the Igor release megathread on the Tyler the Creator subreddit, and read through the comments. It’s almost entirely praise, with many comments mentioning how astonishing the production is, how good the Carti and Kanye features are, and mentioning many potential sources of inspiration like Kanye West’s “Yeezus” or N.E.R.D.

And now about 5 years later it’s still talked about in very high regard, with many of the comments posted mere moments after it’s release claiming “I can already tell this album’s gonna be a classic” being completely right. Tyler the Creator’s Igor is considered by many to be his best work, or at the least their personal favorite. It even won a Grammy for best rap album of 2019.

On AOTY, it’s overall user rating is 90/100 with nearly 20,000 ratings, and a critic score of 85/100. This album has genuinely received thousands of positive reviews, and even more people showering it with praise. So today I wanted to take a deep dive into the story told on the album. We’re going to cover every theme, touch on every metaphor, and really explore every nook and cranny of this album’s narrative. So let’s get into it!

Igor’s Story

Igor is a concept album that tells the story of a romantic relationship, more specifically a love triangle, and it’s ups and downs. From the moment of infatuation to the eventual heartbreak, it’s an emotional rollercoaster. Throughout, Tyler touches on themes of love, conflict, and acceptance. For many listeners it can be kind of painful and maybe even lead to some self discovery.

A new relationship

The album opens with “IGOR’S THEME“, “EARFQUAKE“, and “I THINK“, which overall captures the exhilarating rush, vulnerability, and excitement of falling in love. These opening songs have a very vibrant and extremely heartfelt tone, reflecting Igor’s (the protagonist of this story) very deep emotional investment into a new romantic relationship. He quite literally has an unhealthy obsession with this love interest and he knows it, he even grapples with the instability of his emotions a bit on the latter of the three tracks.

Getting into the thick of the album we have an interlude, with a bit of spoken word from Jerrod Carmichael. The interlude is titled “EXACTLY WHAT YOU RUN FROM YOU END UP CHASING“, and it highlights some fears and insecurities, which sets the stage for the next two tracks. “RUNNING OUT OF TIME” Is a song that features Tyler describing the anxiety and pressure that Igor feels trying to make the relationship work. He fears that it is falling apart, and that their is an imminent split happening. This song also sees the first mention of the third person in this love triangle.

A Love Triangle

The second verse in “RUNNING OUT OF TIME” gives us a bit more information about Tyler’s love interest that we didn’t know before, but is a very strong across the narrative of the album. The second verse opens with “So Take your mask off I need her out the picture“. Tyler’s partner is hiding himself, and is maintaining a relationship with his ex girlfriend to mask hist true self with heterosexuality.

“I need her out the picture” foreshadows the next track, “NEW MAGIC WAND“. It opens with another bit of spoken word from Jerrod, “Sometimes you gotta close a door to open a window“. In this case, closing the door represents killing his partners ex, so that he can open the window of continuing a full relationship with his partner.

The track is full of very intense feelings of jealousy, making Tyler very possessive of his partner, and seeing violence as the answer. He feels selfish enough to turn to murder, so that he doesn’t have to share his partner with her. Later he even threatens his partner that if he doesn’t commit to their relationship, he might just kill the girlfriend, and him.

A Boy Is A Gun*

“A BOY IS A GUN*” is the most important track on the album narratively, that’s why it’s marked with the asterisk. It’s a turning point in their relationship. Tyler comes to the realization that there’s a dual nature of love, and expresses it through a metaphor, represented by a gun. A gun can provide protection and safety, but also has the very real potential to cause harm and destruction.

Tyler uses this imagery to express that love can be a source of immense comfort, but is also one of the strongest causes for very deep emotional pain. Throughout the relationship Tyler found security and comfort, but comes to realize more and more that the relationship was toxic. His partner left him in a consistent state of uncertainty, and in a sort of emotional limbo, which caused Tyler to lash out and act unreasonable.

The lyric’s highlight the conflicting emotions that he feels. He recognizes the harmful impact with lines like “How come you’re the best to me? I know you’re the worst for me” and expresses frustration with “Make your f***in’ mind up, I am sick of waitin’ patiently“. The metaphor is seen here as well, his partner remaining indecisive between pursuing Tyler or his ex girlfriend being seen as how a gun can turn against him at any moment.

The metaphor is spelled out a bit a bit in the end with Tyler coming fully to the relationship that his partner isn’t good for him with the lines “You’re a gun ’cause I like you on my side at all times You keep me safe Wait, wait, depending on, you know You could be dangerous to me Or anyone else“. This is followed by the third verse, where Tyler decides to end things before any harm can be done to him. He says “I’ma leave it at that, I’ma leave us as friends ‘Cause the irony is I don’t wanna see you again“. Then repeatedly, “Stay the f*ck away from me“.

Reflection

Through to the end of the album we have 4 tracks that have Tyler reflecting on the relationship and coming to a resolution. “PUPPET” explores Tyler feeling as though he was a puppet with his partner controlling and manipulating him, losing all autonomy and becoming completely helpless. From there we enter “WHAT’S GOOD“, a track that is pretty stark in contrast to the previous one. While “PUPPET” is very somber, “WHAT’S GOOD” brings a very high energy as Tyler attempts to regain control and move on. The track is brimming with confidence and defiance allowing Tyler to confront his loss of control and assert dominance.

Afterwards we go into the double track “GONE, GONE / THANK YOU“. The first half, “GONE, GONE” features reflection back on the relationship and a very clever metaphor recapping the whole thing. The song’s narrative is retold, reminiscing on the highs and the lows of the relationship. Tyler compares scars to memories and ultimately acknowledges the end.

However, I mostly want to talk about the third verse where Tyler delivers a masterclass in metaphors, and probably dropping one of the greatest verses ever written. He compares the relationship to a construction project gone wrong. Both parties had different blueprints, and Tyler thought he had the write permits to build something lasting. But his partner’s actions turned their shared vision into a barrier and tore down Tyler’s efforts leaving him to rebuild alone. Despite all of the pain however, Tyler finds solace in realizing that he’s better off without the relationship’s constraints, and ultimately finds peace moving forward.

Resolution

To bring this story to a beautiful ending, we have the tracks “THANK YOU”, “I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE“, and “ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?“. The first of which is the second half of “GONE, GONE / THANK YOU” and is a simple repeated chorus stating “Thank you for the love Thank you for the joy But I don’t ever wanna fall in love again Thank you for the time Thank you for your mind, mind But I don’t ever wanna fall in love again“.

It shows that Tyler believes he has moved on and come to a full realization of what had occurred. He isn’t blinded by hatred, or full of bitterness, and is fully capable of realizing that they had good times. He thinks his ex for all the good experiences of their relationship, but still acknowledges that he is very hurt and doesn’t want to risk being hurt by love again.

If you take the next track, “I DON’T LOVE YOU ANYMORE” at face value, it’s about Tyler no longer being in love with his ex. But if you look a little deeper, I believe it to be an internal dialogue, and Tyler trying to lie to himself and pretend because of how hurt he was, in an attempt to protect himself from further pain.

There’s also evidence of this if you go back to the track “GONE, GONE” The final line before it gets into the second half is “Need me to do it over? Everything“. It might seem like it’s just some studio banter, asking if they need more takes. But if you think about it in the context of the narrative, it seems very likely that he’s wanting to give the relationship another chance, and going through the whole process again.

This is supported further when you get to the closing track, “ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?” The track features Tyler asking, and sometimes begging for him and his former partner to remain connected. Saying “This can’t end“, and “Can’t say goodbye“. This seems to heavily suggest the beginning of another relationship, which effectively makes the album a cycle, beginning again with Igor’s theme, and a new relationship with his toxic partner. It all goes back to the 4th track, the interlude spoken by Jerrod, what Tyler spent so long running from is exactly what he ended up chasing.

Outro

Igor is a very raw, and powerful album. It tells a story that I’ve seen genuinely affect people’s lives and the way they look at things, and showcases Tyler’s abilities as a lyricist and a producer to the fullest extent and has really cemented him as one of the best artists out there currently. It showcases his growth, and his willingness to try new things regardless of how crazy they may seem. He’s got a head full of ideas and he’s not afraid to pursue them, even if they seem outlandish.

I for one am very grateful for that. Igor takes influence from many unexpected places, blends genres seamlessly, it has raw, imperfect and unkempt production yet somehow stays incredibly smooth and easy to listen to. It’s vulnerable, giving us deep and introspective reflection with tracks like “GONE, GONE / THANK YOU“, but also shows us that he’s confident, talented, and powerful on tracks like “WHAT’S GOOD“. Standing as a testament to his fearless creativity, Igor is definitely a modern day classic. Even 5 years later it stays in people’s rotation, continuing to inspire artists (like Stormzy) and listeners alike. I don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon.

Thanks for reading! If you liked this review, make sure to check out my other reviews here on The Groove Grounds. If you enjoyed your time here why not consider registering? It’s free to join the community, you can meet new people and make new friends, and we’d love to have you! If you have any suggested albums or artists for me feel free to contact me! I hope to see you some more in the future, and stay tuned for more posts.

Like our blog? Why not register and join the community, we’d love to have you!