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Tyler, The Creator releases strangely satisfying “Cherry Bomb”

California rapper’s new LP is unfocused and unpredictable, but entertaining nonetheless

Tyler, The Creator and his California collective Odd Future emerged about five years ago with a unique brand of particularly profane, aggressive, eyebrow-raising rap. Yet while Tyler could once be pigeonholed into this specific niche, his last two albums, 2013’s “Wolf” and now “Cherry Bomb,” show that he realizes shock factor only lasts for so long.

Tyler can never be as appalling as he was at the beginning of his career, so he doesn’t try to be. Instead of adapting to another distinct brand of rap, he draws upon influences from seemingly every type of modern American music, hip-hop included.

Sonically, this release is ambitious to no end. The opener “DEATHCAMP” (yes, the titles are in all-caps) is a metal-inspired cacophony, while the closer “OKAGA, CA” is a hazy and gorgeous soul singalong. Interspersed between is classic boom-bap, mid-tempo jazz, aggressive synthesizers, “Yeezus”-style minimalism and much more.

When Tyler’s enterprise works, it works very well. “2SEATER,” the album’s soulful centerpiece, sees Tyler rapping with perfect flow about everything from racial violence to playing Mac Demarco in his car. The song’s undeniable highlight, and possibly the best moment on the whole album, is a mesmerizing saxophone solo from some “20 year old kid named Arron.”

In contrast, “THE BROWN STAINS OF DARKEESE LATIFAH PART 6-12” is a quintessential Schoolboy Q-style gang-rap cut featuring a recurring police siren, distorted bass hits and a vicious verse from Schoolboy himself. To his credit, Tyler does not seem out of place in either this setting or the previous one.

He even holds his own on the endlessly entertaining “SMUCKERS” next to excellent guest verses from Kanye West and Lil Wayne. This isn’t to say Tyler is an outstanding lyricist. Rather, he’s maintained his often hilarious, occasionally questionable, always unfiltered style and combined it with just enough intelligent wordplay to sound respectable.

Still, some of his brashness borders on ridiculous, just as it often did in his earlier work. The Holocaust reference on “SMUCKERS” is cringeworthy and the seventh track, “BLOW MY LOAD,” is just uncomfortable — until it inevitably switches focus halfway in and turns into a beautiful R&B interlude.

Therein lies the story of the album as a whole. Moments of poorly executed obscenity and blatant loudness are juxtaposed with exquisite jazz, creative verses and well-harnessed aggression. It’s sophomoric, humorous, uplifting, impressive and annoying all at the same time.

After all this, “Cherry Bomb” is pretty good. The listener is left completely perplexed and yet, strangely satisfied. This album is stream-of-consciousness and mercurial, and ultimately reflective of a generation’s decreasing collective attention span, but with a coherence and focus.

In truth, this unpredictability likely means Tyler will never release an LP that is truly brilliant. His persona is simply not conducive to cohesion in musicality, sentiment or subject matter. Nevertheless, he’s an undoubtedly unique and talented rapper, and the long career he has ahead of him should continue to yield entertaining and enjoyable head-scratchers like “Cherry Bomb.”

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