Tyler, The Creator's Hip Hop Revolution

Gustavo Souza Marques (aka Gusmão) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Musicology at the University of Michigan, USA. An ethnomusicologist, drummer and beatmaker, he combines academic research with artistic practice. Previously a Postdoctoral Fellow with the international CIPHER project, Dr. Marques combined scholarship and hip hop music production through collaborations across the Americas, including with iconic Mexican rapper MC Luka. He is now expanding this research further throughout the region.

In this, the first major study of Tyler, the Creator, Gustavo Souza Marques analyzes this game-changing artist in all his complexity—as post-gangsta provocateur, first-gen digital native, shapeshifting iconoclast, anti-racist activist, and self-proclaimed “walking paradox.” Far from avoiding Tyler’s contradictions, Souza Marques places them at the center of his masterful theorization. Moving effortlessly between musicology, media analysis, ethnography, critical race and gender theory, and postcolonial studies, Souza Marques offers rich and provocative insights into a figure that is central to understanding contemporary music and media in the Twenty-First century.

• List of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Oversaturation with Gangsta-Related Stereotypes 2. Riding the Web: A Virtual Ethnography of Tyler’s Creations 3. Yonkers: The Beginning of a Possible Music-Video Trilogy4. Resurrection, Insurrection and Resolution in “Buffalo” and “Find Your Wings”5. Sorry, Not Sorry: The Intermedial Nature of Tyler’s Musical Work ConclusionReferences