Tyler, the Creator gives props where they’re due, and it’s no different for the multi-genre influences of his new album, Don’t Tap the Glass.
The two-time Grammy winner was a guest on the TK episode of Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show and was asked about the danceable sonics of his latest album. Lowe called his guest “very generous” in crediting the artists and material that have shaped his work without plagiarizing.
“Yeah, dude, it’s a weird thing because, like bro, I be so open and loud about the shit I love and that inspire me and this and that, blah blah blah,” Tyler said. “And I think sometimes the problem is it doesn’t go through people’s filter, and that’s when it gets weird.”
Tyler also shut down the misconception that Don’t Tap the Glass is a “dance album,” as he simply wanted fans to move to the album during listens.
“And that’s all type of dance music on there. Some people hear the idea dance music, and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s techno or deep house, or it’s this certain sound.’ Bro, if you grew up with Black folk, “Ring Ring Ring” is another one,” he told Lowe.
Tyler also shouted out Southern and UK dance subgenres as his source of inspiration while recording his new project. The destination-to-destination worldbuilding of the album makes sense, as Tyler recorded while touring for his eighth album, Chromakopia.
“Bro, if you grew up in the South and you know New Orleans Bounce, “Don’t Tap That Glass” is New Orleans Bounce. “Don’t You Worry, Baby”, that’s Atlanta bass, that’s Miami bass. But some of these folks, they didn’t grow up within that culture,” he continued. “So, “I’ll Take Care of You”, someone could say, “That’s a UK jungle record. And some people might be like, “You can’t dance to that,” but that’s dance music.”
Tyler then took Don’t Tap the Glass references to the West Coast while mentioning track “Sucka Free.”
“If you grew up in Los Angeles with niggas in Dickies and white tees and Chucks, with the blower on them, you know that is a two-step record that motherfucking Daz Dillinger would fucking…do you feel me? But that’s all my interpretation of dance music or a music that you could dance to.”
“So, I think it has to go through your filter, and a lot of folks, sometimes it doesn’t go through their filter,” he continued.
Tyler previously shared that he dropped Don’t Tap the Glass after some of his friends lost their enjoyment of dancing in public out of “fear of being filmed.”
“I thought damn, a natural form of expression and a certain connection they have with music is now a ghost. It made me wonder how much of our human spirit got killed because of the fear of being a meme, all for having a good time,” he continued in the statement below.
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