Rating: 4.5 / 5 stars

Prior to the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, Tyler, The Creator released an exciting twist to the normal television interview with “FLOWER BOY: a conversation.” This inside look at the process behind the making of the Grammy-nominated album, “Scum F*** Flower Boy,” was completely directed by Tyler, showing off exactly what type of eye he has for production, whether it is film or music.

Like many of the music videos he produces, this conversation is shot in ways that broadcasting professors at Oswego State would probably cringe over. The screen is split into two halves, with Tyler on the right and Jerrod Carmichael on the left. The shots change from not enough headroom and extreme close-ups of both Tyler’s and Carmichael’s faces to shots of Tyler’s hands playing with his rings or Carmichael’s legs extended into Tyler’s half of the screen. Tyler also communicates with people behind the scenes, and a clapperboard is shot in front of the former Odd Future ring leader at one point.

It is set in front of rolling hills with a clear, blue sky that makes it look like a scene out of an old Western movie. A single, seemingly abandoned house is positioned behind Tyler, and both he and Carmichael are seated in fur-covered lounge chairs, making it appear as if they are in the middle of nowhere.

Aside from the look and feel of the conversation, the most gripping part of this nearly hour-long video is to hear about how much time and effort goes into producing an album, highlighted with thoughts that came through Tyler’s head.

Carmichael did an excellent job at making it seem as if Tyler was controlling the conversation, but Carmichael ensured he was hitting all the right points while taking the viewer through the album piece by piece. He knew when to shut up and added a certain flavor of humor throughout it as well.

Carmichael jumped into different songs throughout the conversation, not following the album track list. Songs played in the background to give the unfamiliar listener a better feel for the track being discussed.

“911/Mr. Lonely” is the 10th song on the album, but it is the first song talked about between the two. Tyler divulges to the viewers that he hates clubs, but the making of the song was drastically changed because he would study bass drops and crowd reactions at nighttime hangouts to popular house or pop songs.

This song had 24 different versions before the completed track we hear today. According to Tyler, it was originally a completely different version, but some lyrics made the final cut. It progressed from a jazzy Tony! Toni! Toné! interlude that he looped and wrote a hook for.

Those original lyrics were pulled back for the final version, put over a beat he produced for a fashion show and reworked. With this song, he accomplished what he set out to do: create something people would be able to sing along to and connect with.

The album has a lot of chords and melodies throughout, but was done in a way that listeners could digest, something that “Cherry Bomb” did not have, according to Tyler.

What Tyler’s albums always have though, from “Goblin” to “Scum F*** Flower Boy,” is a good mix of more prototypical rap songs and the smooth-toned melodies he truly loves. “I Ain’t Got Time” is one of those “normal” hip-hop songs. “Who Dat Boy” can also go into that category, directly contrasting with songs like “Pothole” and “November.”

However, the story behind “I Ain’t Got Time” is like no other. Tyler set out to score a picture by Jonas Bendiksen. The photograph is set on a rocky beach with a large, rusty ship washed up on said beach. The focal point of the piece is an older woman starring back in the distance at something out of the frame. Tyler wanted to make the sound of what is coming toward the beach.

Carmichael compared it to the “Jaws” theme with strings and almost a Spanish feel building up the intro before the drop. Tyler wanted to create what is out of frame, and listening to the song after the video perfectly encompasses that very image.

This album did miss out on a lot of features Tyler attempted to bring on. Big names like Justin Bieber, Quavo, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West, Schoolboy Q, Rick Ross and Playboi Carti all fell through in some way during the process of making this album. However, he hopes the success this album brought him will open up more doors for musicians of any genre to be listed on the credits of Tyler’s future works.

“Scum F*** Flower Boy” may not have been worthy enough for best rap album, but the imperfections and intricacies of this video make it perfect and a must-watch for any music fan. 

Photo provided by Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) via Twitter.com