album review - wolf

this album opens with tyler calling you a whore.

after bastard and goblin felt more like stepping stones, wolf feels more like tyler dialing back the parts of those people didn't like and running with it from there. if you didn't like the aggressive nature of those two albums, you'll be glad to know that lyrically there's basically no more rape and murder and musically you won't have to deal with tyler pitching himself down and sounding like sonic.exe.

wolf is a concept album about the alter ego wolf haley going on a camping trip and getting into a heated rivalry with sam, a camper who sells drugs and ended up being sent to camp after he did some heinous shit. wolf falls in love with sam's partner, salem, and from there sam ends up killing earl sweatshirt. also tyler's grandma dies. while i don't really like the wolf trilogy's storytelling, wolf has an engaging plot and throughline where neither wolf or sam are good people in the story, but still ones that can be rooted for. wolf steals salem from sam, gets caught masturbating and some other stuff that happens, but salem is a fucking murderer and bad partner and just as bad, if not even worse than wolf is. considering the album switches pov from wolf to sam frequently, it feels like a sort of battle between the two and i quite like it.

the album's sound is probably the most likable part of wolf. this almost movie-like, bombastic sound is balanced well with the gritty, down to earth vibe that makes wolf feel like a feature film. considering there was a teaser for the album that was a movie trailer (there was never a movie planned, it was just to promote the album), it very much feels like when laid out right it could be a movie. notable tracks are cowboy, awkward, answer, 48, colossus and ifhy, all of which are some of the best tyler has made up to this point. he's really gotten a grasp of what kind of music he wants to make and especially in 48 you can really feel the post odd future style start to form, though not as much as in cherry bomb. i do feel like a few tracks could be cut down, the album is eighteen fucking tracks and is one of tyler's longest albums, but for the most part none of it is bad. my main problem is the fact that lyrically this is still odd future tyler.

i don't hate tyler's early lyrics (pre-flower boy) but i do feel like he's trying a little too hard with some of these to keep the edgy kid brand that odd future was themed around. it isn't nearly as bad as in bastard and goblin, and it gets better more in cherry bomb, but you will hear the f slur a comical amount of times in this album and he even drops the hard r twice which just felt like it was trying especially hard to get a rise out of people. it isn't as bad as the constant shock of goblin but i wasn't vibing with it. colossus definitely has the best lyrics overall, due to the fun wordplay on offer, but it's not like the rest of the lyrical content is bad, either, don't get it twisted.

wolf is pretty good. i wish i could say more but i got tuckered out. the ending of bimmer was really funny.

(also if you're wondering, i deleted the goblin review because i hadn't given it a fair chance the first time around. i've definitely grown on it a bit more, but i will still stand by the fact it's way too long.)

7/10

🛁