At Accor Arena, Tyler, The Creator confirms that he is one of the greatest artists of his time

Offensive posture, sharp flow, caustic humor … For the first of his two concerts in Paris, the Californian rapper has shown his talent and even his emotions, falling the mask after an hour and a half of a well -oiled show.

«C‘is a fact, the biggest [c’est moi] after Kenny ”, Sea Tyler, The Creator Sur Rat Tah Tah, Title with the scents industry punctuated by punk howls, in which he depicts in dolphin of King Kendrick Lamar. It is almost 9:30 p.m. last night at Accor Arena, when the American rapper launched the first of his two Parisian concerts, and we have to admit, Tyler, The Creator is right: he is one of the greatest artists of his time. Jumped on the scene built on a stack of emerald -colored industrial containers, the 34 -year -old Californian troublemaker struggles in military green suit with epaulettes, decked out in his Afro Cup inspired by the Assunzu, traditional hairstyle of Rwanda, and a mask covering part of the face. A birth that signs the universe of its prodigious eighth album, Chromakopia, Released at the end of 2024.

Virtuoso producer, insolent genius of rhymes from adolescence, Tyler Okonma has been continuing for a decade to push the limits of hip-hop immersed in electro, soul or rock. All while slipping into each album in the shoes of a character with the borders of fiction, which allows him the most intimate daring, while standing at a good distance from the denominational exercise. We have thus crossed him in recent years in a tender rapper called Flower Boy (Scum Fuck Flower Boy, 2017), under the surname ofIgor, fabulous Crooner of the third type with a broken heart (Igor, 2019), or Tyler Baudelaire (Call Me If You Get Lost, 2021). On Chromakopia, It is under the features of St. Chroma, a sort of pastiche of an African general inspired by Chroma the Great, a character from a children’s book, that Whitonma explores the pangs of creation.

A boundless inspiration

The eponymous piece also opens the festivities, in a green visual flood. The tone is set: the public sing the chorus in unison («« Pursuitive ») And Tyler, The Creator, ex-turbulent gamin of the Rap Odd Future collective, proves that he has come a long way. Always as talented, with a boundless inspiration, like the Noids, which summons both the Heavy Metal of Black Sabbath and the Zambian Rock Seventies.

Grinding bent and offensive or dancing posture, sharpened, aggressive or flowing flow … Tyler, The Creator, as a large festive ordering, declines the chromatic range of his emotions and talent, going from a universe of red light saturated with a deep and saving blue, with danted flames. The infrabasses, monstrous, make the bodies vibrate and buzz the eardrums, until unfortunately cover melody and instrumental. In a theatrical symbolism, a footbridge descends from the roof and Okonma walks towards his past, not without having stolen some bundles of tickets on the way.

He resurfaces in his favorite Boy college outfit, wide pants, basketball and shirt, in a domestic living room setting. In a vinyl tank, a pink pocket. That ofIgor, His most ambitious disc to date, which he delicately has on the platinum in the center of the room. « I think i’m falling in love », soon sing the twenty thousand spectators on the sublime refrain ofI Think, As quick to sing as to imitate the cries of Okonma wolf with each interlude. Only spraining his fully lonely performance: the appearance on the screens of the rapper Doechii, rap sensation of the year in the United States, with which he shares a piece (Balloon) on Chromakopia. By applauding the singer from Florida, the public is not mistaken: the alliance is of circumstance.

“Thank you to all of you, dear assholes, for coming tonight”, Then launches Okonma in a final momentum of caustic humor, before claiming hoots. Tyler, The Creator dares (almost) everything and that’s what he recognizes himself. Rapper lying down or a cappella after an hour and a half of an oiled show seems to ask him for no effort. It is even in this kind of moments, when it falls the mask, that emotion finally arises.