Tyler, the Creator isn’t afraid of his past.
On the Chromakopia song “Thought I Was Dead,” the multi-hyphenate addresses his problematic antics from early in his music career.
“Pull up old tweets, pull up old t-shirts, all that, I moonwalk over that bitch (Hee-hee),” he says in the second verse.
Genius has a pretty astute breakdown of exactly what Tyler means, pointing out that he has a history of using highly offensive language in his music, including slurs and rape jokes—and was widely considered homophobic before eventually coming out.
And the “old t-shirt” he references? It’s possibly a piece of merch he released in Spring/Summer 2015, where he tried to flip a Neo-Nazi symbol into an LGBTQIA+ pride logo.
This isn’t the first time Tyler has commented on the public’s efforts to cancel him. On 2021’s Call Me If You Get Lost album cut, “Manifesto,” he raps, “Internet bringin’ old lyrics up, like I hide the shit / What’s your address? I could probably send you a copy, bitch / I was canceled before canceled was with Twitter fingers / Protestin’ outside my shows, I gave them the middle finger / I was a teener, tweetin’ Selena crazy shit / Didn’t wanna offend her, apologize when I seen her.”
Regardless of his horseplay, Tyler reminds us that he remains untouchable, hence his ability to “moonwalk over” anyone who attempts to eradicate him.
