The legendary rapper Tyler, The Creator wouldn’t exist without: “The real Godfather”
Tyler, The Creator has always been vocal about his influences and the people who have put him in a position to be successful as an artist. Undoubtedly, Pharrell has been one of the main figures who have had a profound impact on him, going as far as calling him his “North Star.”
But there was a rapper before Skateboard P who paved the way for the type of hip-hop in which he operates. Tyler has credited Q-Tip, the rest of A Tribe Called Quest’s music and the way they dressed as having a direct influence on him, claiming he wouldn’t have a career without the NYC rapper.
“I wouldn’t exist without — come on, Q-Tip is truly the Yoda of the pocket I exist in,” he told Rap Radar. “You had Native Tongues and all this stuff, and you had, like Wu-Tang [Clan], and you had NWA, and then you had the intellectual [rap] that KRS-One was.
“So at that time, you’re 18, you’re finding the pocket that you’re gonna live in. And Q-Tip and them — backpack dudes, fuckin’ tie-dye shirts and stuff, wearin’ beads and shit — it’s really important.”
Tyler, The Creator went on to discuss Q-Tip’s lyrics changing as he became wealthy and successful, ultimately leaving some fans bewildered. “Q-Tip is making some money. He’s travelling the world; he’s able to buy nice things, he’s able to probably be around beautiful women and just do awesome things,” he said.
“And him hanging out at a club in Paris or Capris or Atlanta or a different part of New York with these beautiful women, and he leaves and gets inside of his awesome car, listening to fuckin’ Marvin Gaye or whatever, that’s his true lifestyle that he lives.”
Tyler revealed that ‘Vivrant Thing’ and ‘Let’s Ride’ are two of his favourite tracks from Q-Tip’s debut solo album, Amplified, while praising the project as a whole. “I’m like, ‘Oh, Q-Tip is making an album [about] an environment that’s really his life,” he said. “And I believe when that came out, a lot of backpacker dudes were like, ‘What the fuck is he doing?’
“But it’s like, you like the version of Q-Tip you think you know, but this is actually him now at his most honest, and Call Me If You Get Lost that mirrors the way that I truly lived … Q-Tip made the blueprint for that to happen. I just want to pay my respects to Q-Tip for laying that blueprint now.”
Released in 2021, Call Me If You Get Lost served as Tyler’s seventh studio album with features from NBA YoungBoy, Lil Wayne, Lil Uzi Vert and others, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. The album returned to a rap style heard across his earlier catalogue with the help of DJ Drama, who injected his Gangsta Grillz narration into the project.
If Pharrell is Tyler’s North Star, Q-Tip is his supreme being. “Man, the God,” he told Nardwuar during an interview. “This is the God. The Godfather. The real Godfather, man.”