Dissect - S10E1 - Tyler, The Creator: IGOR

Episode Date: October 18, 2022

Welcome to our season long examination of Tyler, The Creator's 2019 album IGOR, where we dissect the music, lyrics, and meaning of one song per episode. We begin with the album's first track "IGOR'S THEME," a mostly instrumental composition full of musical surprises, showcasing Tyler's skills as composer, producer, and arranger. And while subtle, the song's minimal lyrics actually foreshadow the album's narrative. Shop Season 10 merchandise here. Host, EP, Writer: Cole Cuchna Writer: Camden Ostrander Original Score: So Wiley Audio Editor: Kevin Pooler Theme Music: Birocratic Recreations: Andrew Atwood Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's January 26, 2020, and the world's most popular musicians are inside the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the 62nd annual Grammy Awards. Taking the stage now is Tyler the creator, wearing a blonde, bobcut wig, sunglasses, and a pink and red suit. He's gathered around a trash-canned bonfire alongside Charlie Wilson and Boys to Men, who begin to sing an a cappella rendition of Tyler's song, Earthquake. Earthquake is Tyler's biggest song to date. It's got a memorable, easy-to-sing melody. It only makes sense that Tyler would perform it on the Grammy stage. But less than a minute into earthquake, the lush harmonies come to a stop. And Tyler, center stage now, begins to grunt and gasp into the microphone for 25 seconds straight. It only gets more beautifully bizarre from here, as Tyler launches into the brash, frenetic introduction of his song, New Magic Wand.

His body contorts and convulses, his blonde wig whipping violently as he lets out a primal scream. What commences on stage for the next three minutes is elegantly orchestrated chaos. Fifteen others dressed exactly like Tyler take the stage with him, moshing and thrashing to his cues as the facade of houses on stage behind them catch fire. The performance ends with Tyler surrounded by flames, pantomiming a finger gun to his head before suddenly falling backwards off the stage and out of sight. Later that evening, Tyler would go on to win the Grammy for rap album of the year for Igor, on which both earthquake and new magic wand appear.

It was the first Grammy of Tyler's career. And while he was genuinely happy to win, Tyler said he was actually most proud of what he brought to the Grammy stage. I'm just happy I got to perform that type of music and that idea on the stage like this in the midst of all the other stuff that's usually here. That was my main concern this whole weekend. I won and I'm super hyped,

but letting that exist in the midst of all of this was like something I'm just really hyped on. Tyler's atypical Grammy performance is symbolic of his larger place in music, never willing to fit the mold for commercial success, existing in his own self-made lane for over a decade. It's a position he'd often compare to a stepchild, one who's not as accepted or understood as much as the more marketable commercial darlings. Even the Grammy for Igor didn't sit perfectly with Tyler, as he won best rap album for a project that doesn't have a whole lot of rapping on it. On one side, I'm very grateful that what I made could just be acknowledged in the world like this. But also, it sucks that whenever we, and I mean guys that look like me, do anything that's genre bending or that's anything.

They always put it in a rap or urban category. And I don't like that urban word. It's just a politically correct way to say the N-word to me. So when I hear that, I'm just like, why can't we just be in pop? Half of me feels like the rap nomination was a bad word. backhanded compliment. There's added irony to the fact that Igor won best rap album, saying that on the day it came out, Tyler made it a point to tell us directly that Igor is not a rap album.

Hours before its release, Tyler posted a note on social media, warning, quote, Don't go into this expecting a rap album. Don't go into this expecting any album. Just go. The only description Tyler did give the album was just three words. Perhaps the only three words that can accurately describe this singular, genre-defying work of art. He simply said, this is Igor. The creator's Igor is the honest, heartfelt expression of feeling while enveloped in

the throes of a love triangle, using the situation of a man loving a man who loves another woman as a stage to explore acts of love, communication, and truth. befitting Tyler's self-described position of stepchild, Igor builds on the historic associations of the Igor archetype to express his role in this love triangle, the lackey, the sidekick, the grotesque man-servant, and like his performance, at the Grammys. Igor fluctuates effortlessly between the beautiful and the ugly to communicate his wide-ranging emotional journey, coalescing a range of influences from 90s R&B, punk, neo-soul, rap, and 80s UK alt-pop into a genre-bending bouquet of virtuosic

sonic arrangements. A song like Earthquick showcases the life-altering vulnerability of romantic connection, while a song like a boy as a gun explores the disparate dichotomous impacts of love's passion. Even songs like GOND, gone thank you capture the acceptance of our lives diverging journeys appreciating the experiences we share together as worthwhile regardless of any eventual heartbreak in that same note on Igor's release day Tyler gave some instructions on how to best experience the album encouraging us to listen all the way through without distractions quote no checking your phone no watching tv no holding combo full attention towards the sounds where you can form your

own opinions and feelings towards the album. Some go on walks, some drive, some lay in bed and sponge it all up. Whatever you do, fully indulge with volume. And that's exactly what we're going to do this season. Over the next 13 episodes, we're going to fully indulge ourselves in this generational album by music's misfit innovator, exploring every detail and flourish, doing our best to excavate its many thematic, emotional, and musical nuances. In doing so, we hope to take our journey with the album together as long as we can. We won't attempt to categorize, rank, or rate. Rather, we'll take the music exactly as it is and listen. And so with that, and without further ado, let's dissect. Tyler of the creators Igor begins

cinematically as a low grimy synthesizer growls out a single note for a full 23 seconds. And in time when fast cuts and relentless action are used to appease short attention spans, this long sustained note is a counterintuitive way to start an album. Yet it's precisely because of its lack of motion that it grabs our attention. When I made Igor's theme, I put that long-ass intro, because I, one, wanted to set up the album for, like, to get people's attention. And two, I knew at the shows I was going to have that bitch be a minute and ten seconds just to hold niggas attention because I think our whole,

And I'm a guilty of it. Our whole generation, we don't just be paying attention to shit like this. So I made sure at the shows I stand there for fucking three minutes and don't move just to get people's attention. And I wanted to implement shit like that throughout the whole fucking album. Because we don't typically hear single notes held as long as the opening of Igor's theme, we're primed to anticipate something happening. At the very least, we anticipate the note itself to change for some variation in volume or rhythm or pitch. And when that doesn't happen, when our anticipation is sustained, suspense builds, mystery builds.

Because something has to happen eventually, right? We just don't know when. And the longer we're forced to wait, the more we anticipate that change. In the right hands, it's a powerful musical tool, as it can lead to incredibly impactful and dramatic moments when the change finally comes. In fact, two of the most well-known pieces of classical music actually opened with a single note held over an extended period of time, not totally unlike Igor's theme. Here is Rickard Strauss's also Sprock Therathustra, which begins with a low, growling sea sustained over 12 seconds.

Described by the composer as a sunrise, this droning note builds suspense, allowing for the piece to erupt into its famous dawn motif, perhaps depicting the sun breaking over the horizon, the birth of a new day. Another famous example comes in Rickard Wagner's Das Reingold, which begins with a soft, low E-flat that's held for over 30 seconds. Like Strauss's piece, Das Reingold's long opening note builds to a much grander motif. And like Strauss's piece, it depicts nature, and was once described as sounding like, quote, the birth of the world, the act of creation itself. In both of these examples, the extended single note introduction is used to imply creation, as if the single note is the raw materials from which musical worlds are born.

The instruments and melodies that emerge later feel as if they're growing or blossoming out from that single droning note, like foliage sprouting from soil. And we might use this line of thinking when considering Tyler's own extended opening note, as it's the introduction to the world of Igor, and it's the note from which the entire album is born. Tyler is world-building, and distorted low-end is perhaps the album's most important raw ingredient, its cohesive glue, as we'll hear it in every song on Igor. And like Strauss and Wagner, Tyler uses the long sustain to build suspense and command attention, not only musically, but also thematically. Because the track title is Igor's theme, we can't help but to associate this instrument and its jagged,

harsh edges and low, gravelly register, with the Igor character the album centers around. The drama and suspense of the single note begins to build mystique around Igor, like a film first showing its superhero or villain and shrouded in shadows. We also have to consider the fact that Tyler chose to play this note on a synthesizer, most likely one from his vintage collection, which includes a Roland Juno 6, JX8P, and Roland DX7. These synthesizers, were created and produced in the 1980s, when synth technology had become compact and affordable enough to be used by everyday musicians,

and thus dominated much of the music from that decade. Beginning Igor with a 23-second showcase of an 80s synthesizer, befits an album heavenly inspired by music from that era. The 80s is becoming my favorite time. Not just music, but overall. And I used to hate it, but now it's slowly becoming my favorite because of the sector of music that I've always. like I found over the years.

I mean, everything but the girl, Chadeh, the style council, so much weird, like white people making, trying to make like black soulish music, but they didn't, they grew up kind of a white pop stuff. So this mesh that it made is beautiful and freeze, level 42, like these kids just making this very, Very mature pop, but they clearly study jazz.

Yeah. So, but they, they clearly hang out with punk kids because they're like leather, like, it's, it's this mesh, and I gravitated to that because they didn't really stick to one thing. And I was like, oh, this is fire. Tubeway Army? Yeah. Are we friends, electric? Bro, that, mm.

Here Tyler cites a few UK bands from the 80s, including the Style Council, Freeze, and Tubeway Army. We'll hear more of these bands influence as the album. progresses, but it's important to note that the first instrument we hear on the album can be traced back to the era Tyler stated was an influence during its creation. Finally, another cool effect created by the long-sustained synth note is that it contains no rhythmic information, which means it's impossible to know what the tempo or meter of the song is. And because there's no steady pulse or beat to follow, there's no practical way to predict when the drums will enter. And so when the drums finally do

make their entrance, they're extremely impactful no matter how many times we've heard the track, as they always come as a bit of a surprise. The drums heard throughout Igor's theme are sampled from a 1970 song called Attention by Head West. The first and last bar of this drum passage are sampled and spliced together to create the pattern we hear throughout Igor's theme.

The drums from Head West's attention have actually been sampled in over 15 different songs, including Mac Miller's red dot music from watching movies with the sound off, an album Tyler himself appears on. Nick I can see a fucking halo. I'm about to meet my maker brought a double cup, And Tyler's particular sample of Headwest drums, there's an intense vinyl crackle that can be heard,

likely picked up while sampling straight from an original vinyl, adding a subtle texture and analog warmth to Igor's theme's musical fabric. And while the drums make the most immediate impact during this section, we shouldn't overlook some subtle musical details Tyler includes here, as it's precisely because of the details that Igor's theme is so successful in sustaining our attention despite having very minor vocal parts and lacking a typical song structure. First, we notice a subtle, airy synth playing a high E-flat, helping to create tension and suspense. We also hear an uncredited voice saying, what or one, which might be the same voice or sample we hear in the beginning of Tyler's song, 48, from his 2013 album, Wolf.

Finally, during this part, we can also hear Tyler breathing on the downbees, adding a subtle rhythmic texture not unlike what we heard on the Grammy stage. I breathe a lot on this album. Yeah. Because my, like, recording me, like, my asthma flares up randomly. So a lot of the things, like, I would actually breathe on. And then at some point, I was like, fuck it. I'm going to just breathe on a lot. So Igor's theme, I think this one I breathe on, New Magic Wound, the end of what's good.

Like, I just made it a thing. The hard breathing heard throughout Igor is a sonic motif that pairs nicely with one of the album's most prominent thematic motifs, running, which fittingly is the very first thing we hear Tyler say on the album. After all this buildup, Tyler's first word, running, is placed on a pedestal. And void of context, it offers multiple possible interpretations. There's running as in the exercise or natural mode of transportation. We think of the teaser for New Magic Wand before the album's release, where Tyler, dressed as Igor, runs alone through the desert.

Interestingly, you can be running towards something, a destination or a goal, or you can run away from something, something that scares or endangers you. As we'll see, both interpretations will have relevance to Igor's narrative, where Tyler or Igor will end up chasing the very thing he once ran from. Running also requires effort. It's the act of trying to do something. In this sense, we get the notion that Tyler is earnest in his pursuits, giving it is all. Finally, running as a central concept provides crucial context to the vote-Egor merchandise associated with this album era. With campaign buttons, posters, shirts, and even yard signs,

Tyler launched a fake political campaign for fans to quote-unquote vote Igor, as if he was running for office. What exactly Tyler was running for became clear when the album's narrative was revealed, wherein Tyler tries to win the love of a person split between two options, Tyler or a woman. Tyler or Igor wants to be chosen. He wants the man to vote Igor, and that's why he's running. The second word we hear Tyler say on the album is Heaven.

It perhaps evokes more questions and answers. Is heaven or the idea of bliss the desired destination of his run? Is it a description of the run or journey itself? Or maybe it's something else entirely. At this stage it's hard to know. But we gain possible insight into both running and heaven when we take into consideration some of the live performances during the Igor tour when Tyler would include a short verse on the second repetition of this running section,

a verse that offers a greater preview of the narrative of Igor. Running, running from the house of heaven. And he's coming. Tyler here raps, running from the space, going nowhere, let's get to the place. I got to heaven and he closed the gates. A halo to my heart, and now he's coming. Here we get a brief synopsis of the album's upcoming narrative that centers on Tyler's infatuation with a love interest.

Going nowhere seems to suggest that the relationship has issues and doesn't achieve anything. And the request, let's go to the place, as a call to action, to reach some destination together. Tyler then saying, I got to heaven and he closed the gates, foreshadows an anticlimax, as Tyler reaches the ultimate destination, heaven, and is denied entry by this male figure. With heaven as the location, the line, halo to my heart, makes sense as a traditional symbol of holiness. Given that the lover has left Tyler behind, he might be saying that his love has gone or passed away, and its place in the afterlife with the halo demonstrates that it was pure love. The haloed heart with a band-aid that appears,

appeared on some Igor tour merch would reinforce this concept as the heart gets battered and bruised on this journey of love and in the end remains sanctified preserved by the art of this album. The finale of And Now He's Coming is vague, setting up the introduction of a character, building mystique and suspense. As we'll see, the he that's coming is the alter ego Igor, the result of the love and lost Tyler experiences, an outlet for his most intense emotions in the aftermath of this failed relationship. Now, musically during this section, the sense finally moves away from that single note E-flat to reveal a baseline that will repeat for the majority of the track. Introducing the song's foundational bass part here keeps the piece propelling forward.

As we'll see, Tyler sustains our attention by consistently introducing new elements and details every four bars or so. As Igor's theme continues, Little UziVur enters to contribute the only real refrain of the song. During a conversation with Rick Rubin, Tyler talked about how Uzi's feature was a spontaneous last-minute addition to the record. me that the first song was going to be an instrumental. And you had always had it as an instrumental. And then you kind of came up with a hook last minute. And how did the hook come about?

I was with Uzi. Little Uzi Ver. was at studio hanging. I'm working on this. And I couldn't come up with words, but I had this melody. So I'm in there playing on the piano, the melody. And then he takes,

takes that melody and just adds words and sings it right. And I'm like, just add it real quick. Just lay that rough down for me because your voice sounds good doing it. And that's the song. It's nothing deep. So cool. That's great. That's literally what it was. And I was like, that's all I need. Thank you. I didn't even know that was going to make it. It just worked out so perfectly. Tyler here implies that there's not a lot of thought or depth to Uzi's refrain of riding around town. They go feel this one. but as he then says, it just worked out so perfectly. Like running, riding or traveling is a central motif on the album, a core concept of Tyler's worldview.

Perhaps Tyler is riding around his love interest, feeling the love, and hoping they feel the same. But given its placement as the first full phrase we hear on the album, riding around town they going to feel this one also feels self-referential, that we, the listeners, are going to feel this album. As we discussed at the top of this episode, upon the release of Igor, Tyler requested that fans listen to the album in its entirety without distractions,

though he did acknowledge that some process music best while in motion, be it a walk, drive, bike ride, or jog. Getting out and moving is the journey of life, and it's clear that riding around, be it on his bike, on a plane, or in his car, has shaped Tyler's worldview. That's why we're supposed to call him when we get lost. Riding around town they go and feel this one is a dream, Tyler hoping that as we go through life and listen to this album,

we feel it. We let it sink in and continue. with the music. The ensuing phrase, Got My Eyes Open, continues this emphasis of feeling, as open eyes are using the sense of sight, allowing for a more vivid experience of the world. This sort of awareness, this commitment to being awake, shows that Tyler is alert and ready for what's coming. The line also foreshadows events in the second half of the narrative, where Tyler will see past the blinders of his romantic infatuation and realize the feeling isn't mutual between him and his beloved, and that he needs to let go. While Uzi's entrance alone

is enough to sustain our interest during this section, Tyler also continues to build the track dynamically by adding three additional instruments to the mix. First, a low bass enters to fill out the low end, playing the same sequence as the fuzzy synth, only two octaves lower. Another synth is also added to the mix playing chords. Finally, midway through this section, we hear a subtle duet between two synths, one bouncy and staccato, the other more subdued and spacey. Along with Uzi's layered vocals, adding low-end bass, mid-range chordal harmony, and a synth duet fills out the dynamic range of the track, bringing it to its loudest, fullest section thus far. This allows the track to then break down in the next section, while also introducing a new, symbolically crucial instrument to the song and

album, the piano. We'll talk about that right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, before the break we heard the loudest, fullest portion of Igor's theme so far. It's because the song reaches this dynamic high, then it can now break down, introducing a new inch of the song, him into the mix, the piano. With the introduction of the piano, the distorted synths and low end are removed from the mix, allowing us to hear for the first time the song's chord progression with clarity. According to Tyler, these chords were the first thing he wrote for the track,

and everything evolved from there. So for Igor's theme, it was literally just the chords or whatever that I was just fucking with. And I just had them in the back of my mind and I never had nothing to go with it. I found that drum break and I'm like, oh, this shit is hard. Put that on. It was like, oh, added that to it. added the scent and stuff.

Not only is the chord sequence, the genesis of Igor's theme, fans of Tyler the Creator know that chords or harmony in general are an extremely important aspect of his music and something he's incredibly passionate about. Here's Tyler in conversation with Zane Lowe, talking about how his love of chords goes all the way back to his childhood

before he even knew what they were called. I think everyone, whether it's a movie, and Quinn Tarantino will probably agree with this, whether it's a movie or music, everyone tries to recreate, They try to make stuff that gives them the feeling that's something else had. Not necessarily make the same thing, but the feeling.

So when I was four, five, six, seven, and I heard Brandy's always on my mind, number 10 off that album, or number eight off Faith's album as I get home, or Sweet Taste of Love by Jeannet. And there's those, when I was younger, I didn't know what the chords were. I just said, Mom, it goes up and down.

It slopes. It's a feeling that that shit gave me. And every, the music I like all have that. And people, I know I probably sound like a broken record, chords, chords, chords, Tyler, like, that's all, but that's the shit that I fucking care about more than anything. I listen to music all day. So I wanted to make sure that this album, every song gave me that feeling of Jesus fucking Christ. I want, every time I hear this time, I'm like, oh, I didn't, I couldn't have made this.

Here Tyler names a few influential songs he grew up hearing, which includes Faith Evans as soon as I get home, Track 8 on our 1995 album Faith. Given his natural proclivity for chords, it's not hard to understand why this song would catch Tyler's ear and make such an indelible impression on him at a young age. It's full of incredibly rich and unpredictable chord sequences. Now there's a number of interesting things happening in the sequence, but what I'd like to point out is its use of what are called seventh chords.

The most common run-of-the-mill chord contains three notes. A seventh chord is when a fourth note is added to the chord, specifically the seventh scale degree. Here's what that same chord sounds like with the added note. Here it is without the extra note, and again with the added note. Makes a pretty big difference, right? It's richer, denser, and sonically much more interesting. Now I took the time to call your attention to these added note chords because it's precisely these types of chords that we're going to hear throughout Igor, and that the chords we hear specifically during this section of Igor's theme. It begins with an E-flat minor seventh chord,

moves to a B7 add 2, which is actually a 5-note chord, which is followed by a B-flat minor 7 add 2, another 5-note chord, and finally a D-flat major 7. Now let's hear the sequence in full, with bass and rhythm added. On its own, the piano part is an extremely rich, beautiful sequence of chords. But the interesting thing is that this chord sequence shares the same foundation as the harsh, distorted synth sequence we heard in the first minute of Igor's theme. Knowing the chorus were conceived first for this song,

we can assume Tyler simply took the root or bass note of each chord in the sequence and played it on his vintage synth. And that's how this becomes this. And so what we have is two iterations of the same musical idea, one harsh and ugly, the other beautiful and harmonious. And according to Tyler, this juxtaposition, which was also on display at his Grammy performance, is precisely what he's been trying to accomplish his entire career.

Because when I hear you, like the songs you're making, I'm like, damn man like how did you even know to go from there to there because that some of the most experienced songwriters would think that that core progression is broken like you shouldn't be able to go from there to there but it's just so instinctive it's all it's all it's all feeling it's just what my ear gravitates to and it's either always since day one i've always wanted to make the prettiest that's borderline boring or the hardest and i've been trying to mix those together since my first album literally the hardest and the prettiest shit this contrast of beautiful and ugly hard and pretty is a motif we're going to hear throughout Igor, not only in its music, but also

in the identity of the album's central character, Igor, who will be formally introduced on the track in just a few moments. But first we hear a repetition of the opening synth riff, followed by another iteration of the riding around town section. Rather than repeat the refrain verbatim, this time around we hear additional voices from Amanda Brown and Tiffany Stevenson backing up Uzi's vocals. According to Stevenson, the vocal flourishes we hear extending outside Uzi's original melody, with some something she just improvised while recording. She told Vibe, quote, We were singing on top of Uzi's part, and I was being silly and I did something in the booth. And he was like, do that. You have to do that. I ended up doing something super churchy on the song and he actually

kept it, unquote. Adding Brown and Stevenson to the mix gives this repeated section interesting variation and a warm feminine presence, helping to develop the contrast of beautiful and ugly. Also, if you listen very closely in the background, you'll notice that a new organ-like instrument enters to play a part we'll only hear once in the track. Now that you've heard it soloed, see if you can spot it in the original. While I don't have any science to back me up, I believe it's these kind of nuanced, subtle details that we pick up on a subconscious level, and it's what makes Igor so endlessly replayable, because we're always hearing something new each and every time we listen, even if we can't point it out consciously.

Now, as we just heard, with the addition of the female vocalist and that new synth, the dynamic range of this section intensifies, culminating into the formal introduction of the albums main character. For a moment, the track comes to a screeching halt, allowing for the moniker Igor to be proclaimed boldly in all caps. Traditionally, Igor is a sort of stock character, a cultural archetype commonly associated with horror or gothic stories. Igor commonly appears as an assistant to a villain, often with some physical deformity, like a lazy eye and or a severely hunched back. The origin of this specific archetype is the early Frankenstein film series, and has inspired numerous takes on the Igor character in various films and TV shows ever since.

While the face of Tyler's Igor on the album cover feels aesthetically in line with the traditional Igor archetype with its high contrast black and white, crude flat top, and slightly lopsided eyes, Igor outside the album cover wears colorful suits with Doc Martins and sports a blonde, bowl-cut wig with sunglasses. When asked about the origins of the wig and character silhouette, Tyler described the process as one of pure creativity for creativity's sake. Like, I just had this idea, all right, I want a wig shaped like this, and then I went to the wig people, and they had, I picked out the specific blonde I wanted, and we got them made. Put it on. And it was that.

I got a flat top made, like this weird flat top wig made, but it wasn't sick. And like a longer version of the one I have, but the one I've always wanted was this. And I've been drawing that character for like three years now. And it's actually, it's actually in a stop motion. that I did for this vice show. It's a little stop motion video thing I did. It has black hair, but it's the short bob cut, and the turtleneck and the glasses and the gold teeth.

And it's in that. And then I just was like, I'm gonna switch it to blonde just based on the undertones of my skin. Was it a subconscious drawing, or were you drawing inspiration from something else? I don't know, I just thought it would be a cool character. Just a tall, slim, suit, blonde hair. And black dudes don't really have hair like that.

I think the closest thing was Ike Turner with that, like, cut, But it wasn't blonde, so I was like, oh, I run a blonde. Here, Tyler notes how what became Igor was originally a character he was just drawing and ended up using for the vice show Nuts and Bolt when tasked with learning how to make a stop motion video. This pre-Egor character in the stop motion film is aggressively focused on taking what he wants, not unlike the Igor we will meet on the album, who is dead set on taking his love interest away from his girl. I don't ask him at a helmet has...

Him in the what? What, his little car collection? What, his little fuck buddy? man, that motherfucker don't put no threat to me. Look, he got what I want, and I ain't afraid to get that. And don't you forget that. In this same episode where he created this character, Tyler explained why he likes to draw and create fantasies,

giving us a glimpse into his approach to world building. I draw, you know, almost every day. And I love cartoons. Cartoons just do whatever. I want to just build my own world because it's a safe place, whether it's my room, coming on with these imaginary. characters and things like that, making a sound, that's the soundtrack to this bigger world that's

I feel safe in. Here Tyler reveals that his created worlds and characters are a safe place, perhaps lending insight into the world of Igor, a safe place to process the emotions of love and loss brought about by his failed attempts at romance. Since that Nuts and Bolt's episode in 2017, the character that became Igor evolved into a more androgynous figure. This perhaps stems from the fact that Igor was a inspired by photos of women with the same silhouette. He told GQ in 2019, quote,

with the scarf and the cool blazer, it's like, I don't have the hair to pull off that silhouette. So it's like, man, if I was a fucking white lady in Denmark, unquote. With this reference to a woman in mind, the androgyny of Igor feels more intentional, with Tyler perhaps using the character to move with gender and expectations more freely. It also ties into the infusion of beautiful and ugly, as the more coarse, grotesque Igor we see on the album cover contrasts with the refined elegance of the wigged Igor in a suit. Like the distorted synth and beautiful piano chords stemming from the same chord progression, Igor's ability to inhabit both sides of the spectrum, physically but also emotionally, is something that will track all season. When asked what

the difference between beautiful and ugly is, Tyler told Fantastic Man magazine, quote, They could be the same thing on different spectrums. Everyone has seen something that is ugly, but you're so intrigued by it that it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. It's the same thing, unquote. Tyler was then asked a follow-up question, do you feel like a beautiful man? He responded, quote, I'm beautiful, I'm gorgeous, my mind is beautiful, that's a fact, and I'm ugly at the same time. That's crazy, right? Unquote. Finally, we have to consider one more possible reference point for Tyler's Igor, which is Wes Anderson's 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel. In that movie, there's a bellhop character named Igor. Tyler famously wore a bellhop costume to the

2019 Grammy Awards, which is likely either an homage to Farrell's 2015 Grammy performance where he also wore the Bellhop uniform or to the Budapestian Belhop Igor from Anderson's film. Tyler's fandom and respect for Wes Anderson is very well known at this point, and Anderson's film and general aesthetic continues to be an ongoing influence. Here's Tyler in 2015 talking about Anderson on Big Boy TV. Things like that. I'm also a visual guy. So I like watching movies and stuff. That's why he like Wes Anderson movie. Yeah, I love Wes. What's your favorite Wes Anderson movie?

Moonrise Kingdom, but Mr. Fantastic Fox is great, but the characters of the Royal Tending Bonds hilarious. Yeah. Really good. But the Grand Hotel is, that's his best. Like from a technical point, that's like the one where he knew, it's like West Anderson. He was showing off in that movie. He knows what he was showing off in that movie.

The bellhop character named Igor in the Grand Budapest Hotel feels in line with the Gothic character's typical position as assistant. Both are in service to one another, a subservient role not unlike Tyler's position in the love triangle of Igor. Well, of course, we're merely speculating here. If Tyler was in fact identifying with these subservient characters, it does fall in line with the stepchild analogy we talked about in this episode's introduction. Here's Tyler making that analogy during a 2019 speech he gave after receiving the Wall Street Journal's Music Innovator Award. My whole life I felt like a stepchild in school, at home, and especially in music and rap where I have a profession.

It's like seventh grade I got in a fight with some guy because he said, you don't belong on the basketball court, which he was right, I'm trash. Eighth grade, I tried out for drama club. I got in and got kicked out within an hour because she said I was too hyper. I was standing on chairs definitely, but I still think that I should have stayed in there. Ninth grade, they wouldn't let me join band class because I couldn't read music. But I still had the passion, and I'm on two instruments now picking up a third. But when all that happened, I said, fuck them.

I didn't let none of that shit stop me from doing anything that I wanted to do. As Tyler says, he felt like a stepchild. Stereotypically, someone abandoned and cared for only as a necessity, a second best option who takes up space. The feeling of infuriarity that can lead to lashing out, an accuracy much like a permanent assistant or bellhot might feel. And while all these proposed analogies and parallels feel grounded and in line with Igor's central narrative,

we do have to mention what Tyler told the Face magazine, where he essentially dismissed any deep meaning behind the character, saying, quote, No, I don't feel like a monster. Everyone on Reddit and the message boards with their theories. It's fucking weird. You be yourself, do your fucking thing, but no, it's nothing at all.

Igor is just a sick word, unquote. When asked directly if you ever saw any of the Frankenstein movies, Tyler said, quote, no, I wish I was lying, unquote. While Tyler might not feel like a monster, it's hard not to see a parallel between the relationship dynamics of Frankenstein and the narrative of the Igor album. In both, Igor is subservient to someone who is dedicated to someone else. In Frankenstein, Igor is subservient to the mad scientist,

who is infatuated with his creation Frankenstein. In Tyler's Igor, Tyler is infatuated with a male love interest who is in a relationship with another woman. In the end, it's perhaps legendary audio engineer Neil Pogue who mixed the album, who had the best take on the Igor title and why it was a perfect choice for the album. It's just so interesting. Plus, Igor, and let's keep in mind, Igor was also a servant too, right? So he served. So there's so many sides to that name.

You know what I mean? It's so much. It's about giving. It's really about service, you know, it's about, it's unexplainable, really. I mean, it's hard to explain what Igor is. So I think it's such a perfect word, it's a perfect name to give an album, because people don't think one thing, someone's going to think something else, you know, but if you get deep into who Igor is, you'll, then you'll understand.

During the section that directly follows Igor's introduction, the song once again breaks down, but instead of piano chords playing the chord sequence, we now hear it from an imitation choir. We also hear the repetition of the word Dow, which is sourced from a VST preset called Jazz Stacks Dow Falls by Omnisphere. It's another part we'll only hear once in the song, as the track quickly moves further into its breakdown by removing the drums, reintroducing the piano, and adding a new vocal part. A mini choir of voices from Tiffany Stevenson, Amanda Brown, and Anthony Evans all sing, Yeho, and a lush, layered melody that briefly moves. moves up before descending back down.

While it could just be a filler line, it's very likely Tyler here is nodding to rapper JuCy J's famous ad lib, first heard on 36 Mafia's Mafia N-Words. We gotta come like we could go on it dirty for our kids. The song is featured on 3-6 Mafia's 2000 album when the smoke clears, an album that also features their hit, Sippin'On Some Surrup, which Tyler once freestyled over in the early odd future days. Tyler also once tweeted that is for my nigger Pacco I inch a lot of bitches and I'm eating up they taco E. Tyler also once tweeted that he was currently listening to a 3-6 mafia song so it stands to reason that is yaho is a nod to the group. After the conclusion of this vocal passage, Tyler sustains our attention by introducing yet another new synth line which is soon joined by a second

more staccato synth. During this section we also hear again the lyrical fragments got my eyes open and running. Then in its final two bars, the section totally decomposes as we hear just the piano, got my eyes open, followed by a brief moment of silence. In total, this breakdown section is nearly 50 seconds long. For me, it's one of the more impressive sections of the entire album, showcasing Tyler's skill as a composer, someone who is actively considering every nuance of his composition and how it contributes to the overall experience. Like a great storyteller, he introduces enough new material to keep our interest while gradually manipulating the dynamic range of the song, winding it down to its quietest moment, stripping everything away but the raw piano chords,

because in order to have a high, you must have a low. And it's this extended low that makes what happens next feel like a punch in the throat. In this explosive section, Tyler brings back the loudest elements we heard during the track's refrain and adds a synth solo consisting of high, rapid 16th notes, the fastest succession of notes in the entire song, finding a feeling of frenzy and chaos. Turns out Tyler primed us for this solo, as the previous synth part we just heard in the breakdown uses the same three notes in a similar pattern.

And so this transforms into this. If this weren't a high enough high, the synth actually climbs into the next highest octave and begins playing long drawn-out quarter notes, a stark contrast to the rapid 16th notes it began with. The contrast and rhythm and the switch to a higher register makes this part feel incredibly climactic, like a a singer belting out the final long notes of a song. Adding to this climactic moment is an extremely

effective rhythmic shift in which Tyler suddenly shortens the length of each bass note and cuts out the drums to match, creating a stop-and-go effect. What makes this part even cooler is that Tyler fills that empty space with cordal stabs played on a brassy synthesizer, creating a call-in response between these chords and the bass and drums. Now, as if this wasn't enough, Tyler adds a brilliant detail, probably my personal favorite detail of the entire song, which are these subtle but extremely effective rolled chords playing on what sounds like a Rhodes keyboard. And now try to pick them out in the actual song. To me, these high rolled chords sound like melting candy.

Frankly, this entire section is incredible, and of course it's only played once, making it that much more special and effective each and every time we hear it. And it all builds to the final punch of the song, where we hear a primal scream, perhaps from Igor himself. As a result, the track collapses on itself, and we hear an outro that feels like a plume of dust and smoke after a violent explosion. Conclusions. On the cover art for Igor, below the large, crude black and white portrait, there's a blurb of small text, a snippet of the album's credits. It reads, All songs written, produced, and arranged by Tyler Okonma. In conversation with Zane Lowe, Tyler revealed the intention behind his decision to put this detail on the cover.

I saw a comment. No one cares that you produced and arranged it, Tyler, but me letting people know that will allow different doors to open. That's not me just doing voiceovers or a verse. Like, me being adamant about having that on the cover when I'm designing it is letting people know, hey, let me make the score for your movie or let me do this and that. And in 20 years, like that detail will pay off. I put that on the flower bowl. the other cover too. And I'm going to just try to keep, I wish I did that since day one. I need people to know that, oh, this is, I, this is the full idea. This isn't just me rapping over some random, like this was the full idea.

Everything is very particular. Like the credits on the album cover, Igor's theme is a statement, a deliberate showcase of Tyler's talents as a composer, producer, and arranger, as he crafts a three-minute and 20-second song that does not rely on vocals to sustain our attention. Rather, as we acknowledge at length in this episode, intricate musical details, instrumentation choices, motivic development, unexpected dynamic shifts, and more culminate into an introductory auditory voyage, setting the album in motion as we prepare to ride around town feeling this one. Even the use of the word theme in the song title shows in Ten, as a theme in orchestral music is the central musical idea stated at the beginning of a piece that is then developed over the

course of the entire composition. Similarly, Igor's theme establishes the sonic world in which Igor lives or embodies. Tyler establishes two of the album's central instruments, the piano and the distorted synth, two instruments that help develop the contrast of beautiful and ugly reflected in the narrative's central character. Even the limited vocal snippets in the track seem to deliberately foreshadow the narrative to come. Riding around and running establish the central motif of movement. Heaven offers an ethereal destination or reward. He's coming foreshadows the entrance of the story's protagonist, Got My Eyes Open, points to revelatory preparedness and action, Igor formally introduces the album's central character, and Yahoo

swings us into motion. And in this way, Igor's theme is also similar to an overture, which is an instrumental introduction performed before an opera, ballet, or musical. Overtures contain previews of the central musical themes that will be heard in the performance, helping to establish the world in which the upcoming story takes place, while also building anticipation before the curtain rises and the show begins. Often the transition between the overture and the start of the play is seamless. And likewise, Igor's theme transitions seamlessly into the album's second track, the formal start of its story. Of course, this is Earthquake. A song will unpack note by note, line by line, next time on Dysect. This episode of Dysect was written by

Camden Ostrander and me. If you enjoyed today's episode, please tell a friend about the new season or share on social media and tag at Dysheck Podcast. It really helps. Limited season 10 merchandise can be purchased at Dysickpodcast.com. Audio editing by Kevin Pooler, song recreations by Andrew Atwood, theme music by bureaucratic. All right, thanks everyone. Talk to you next week.