#soundcheck: “unfinished tune” by tyler the creator y toro y moi

If LE1F represents the candy-coated part of 4Chan culture that gave us Nyancat, Tyler the Creator is the nihilistic prankster part that gave us Goatse. Both decompile, hack, and repackage popular culture for their own uses. Both are making a career of doing and saying outrageous over-the-top shit in a bid for attention. In a sense, Tyler the Creator is the Fear to LE1F’s Ramones. And while there’s fair criticism leveraged at both, you can’t deny that they’re two of the most compelling and endlessly fascinating artists in the indie hip-hop scene right now. So I was curious when I heard rumors of a Tyler the Creator and Toro Y Moi collaboration. How would Tyler’s brutal rhymes fit with Toro Y Moi’s sepia-toned chillwave? It turns out, surprisingly well.

The end result is a track called ‘Hey You.’ It’s a pick-up line of a song over a beat that’s equal parts Stevie Wonder and Moby at his most movie-scoring. On the Odd Future blog, Tyler calls it an “unfinished tune by Tyler and Toro Y Moi that got out somehow.” (Here’s how: your website. Mystery solved! Next episode we’ll investigate the Moon Landing! Here’s a preview: it totally happened.) The apparently unfinished song is a change of pace for Tyler. While some fans may be alienated by the fact that it’s pretty much in no way offensive, don’t think this is some sell-out bid for Tyler. His rhymes are still weird as hell. And as he puts it in ‘Hey You,’ that shit sounds cool to me.
Toro Y Moi are appearing at Afropunk Fest 2012.

– Words by Nathan Leigh