By writing this review, I’m already breaking the first rule of engaging with Don’t Tap the Glass, the ninth album from Tyler, the Creator: “Body movement. No sitting still.” The rap superstar is getting ahead of critics with the second rule, too, as laid out on the opening track: “Only speak in glory. Leave your baggage at home.” (“None of that deep shit,” he adds in the background, making it clear that he’s mostly addressing himself.) The third and titular rule is the most ambiguous, which is somewhat reflective of the overall balance the record strikes: it’s a straightforward rap-party project whose kineticism is undeniable, but, arriving less than a year after the densely packed Chromakopia, it also can’t help but attach itself to Tyler’s self-mythologizing canon in mature, often meta ways. Don’t Tap the Glass should keep longtime fans engaged long after the party’s over, but for at least the 29 minutes that it’s on, it both lifts you up and cools you down. Good dance music not only gets your body moving, but makes you forget yourself for a moment. For an artist as conscious of his ego as Tyler, the Creator, that’s no small feat.
1. Big Poe
Introducing his new character, Tyler, the Creator lists Don’t Tap the Glass’ rules of engagement, though sitting still hardly seems like an option as soon as the party-starting interpolation of Busta Rhymes’ ‘Pass the Courvoisier Part II’ sets the whole thing off. The rumoured Pharrell feature has now been confirmed, but far more unexpected is a Jonny Greenwood credit thanks to a tasteful sample of Junun’s ‘Roked’. So far, it’s easy to hold back the urge to dissect this thing – how much can you say about “Right now, I’m Mario, pipe down” other than to point out the superstar’s resemblance to the red-capped Nintendo mascot in the video for ‘Stop Playing With Me’?
2. Sugar on My Tongue
The opening track bleeds right into the buoyant and frenetic Italo disco of ‘Sugar on My Tongue’, which makes sense, given it’s also an extension of its freaky, lustful vibes. Tyler sure wants to make all the critics and Genius annotators out there look stupid for explaining the titular euphemism, so don’t fall into the trap; just go ahead and dance.
3. Sucka Free
Besides that instantly catchy “I’m that guy” refrain, the track is most memorable for the rapper’s switch to a California accent. It’s breezy and confident, the synths trying less to sound intergalactic than just like thick summer air.
4. Mommanem
Then comes pure heat: a high-pitched string that sounds like a harbinger of chaos, the unfettered id of someone who can’t catch his breath: “Hit it out, spit it out, get it out, huh, that’s on my mama ‘nem,” the chorus goes. The beat thunders, exhilaratingly, for a brief moment, but the resentment simply festers. If nothing else, it keeps you at the edge of your seat before you jump back up.
5. Stop Playing With Me
The only album track to get a music video – with cameos from Clipse’s Pusha T and Malice, LeBron James, and Mav Carter, no less – ‘Stop Playing With Me’ ratchets up the eerie energy of ‘Mommanem’ with rumbling techno bass, taking Tyler’s devilish sneer to the next level. Move with me, he still commands, but keep your distance. “You’re ‘and others’ if I crash this plane,” he raps hilariously. “Hated recess, I don’t play no games.” Still, he sounds like he hasn’t had this much fun in ages.
6. Ring Ring Ring
Even on his party record, Tyler craves space for vulnerability, which means going back to the funk and neo-soul stylings of Flower Boy and the emotional dynamics of phone calling – or, more specifically, the punch to the ego that is an unanswered phone call. “I had to protеct my heart/ And build the wall so tall, I couldn’t look over,” he confesses, sounding as smooth as ever.
7. Don’t Tap That Glass / Tweakin’
Tyler does another 180 with the title track’s bone-shaking New Orleans bounce, as if directly compensating for the previous track’s romantic exasperation with the album’s most aggressive rap song. As has become tradition in the rapper’s discography, it’s a climactic two-parter whose most thrilling moment hits when he drawls the word tweakin’. The most quotable line, though, comes earlier: “You ain’t gotta lie, we can smell the Ozempic.”
8. Don’t You Worry Baby [feat. Mansion McFerrin]
The track is a showcase for Madison McFerrin’s tender vocals, but ‘Ring Ring Ring’ is a much stronger and catchier neo-soul cut, and a project like Don’t Tap the Glass hardly needs two of them. Tyler reiterates its central message – “Damn, girl, you better move yo’ hips!” – but this is the moment where you might find yourself taking a break.
9. I’ll Take Care of You [feat. Yebba]
Tyler continues to take a back seat, turning a sample of Crime Mob’s ‘Knuck If You Buck’ – as well as drums from his own Cherry Bomb – into something both anthemic and nostalgic. “Wait a minute, I’m goin’ through some shit/ I can tell it’s not beginning to work,” Tyler admits, which is obviously personal, but it’s not hard to read it as a tacit acknowledgment that the edgy lyrics he reignites on Don’t Tap the Glass are starting to feel like vestiges of the past; he’s slipping into self-referentiality even without meaning to, which is typical Tyler.
10. Tell Me What It Is
The party has been winding down for a while, but ‘Tell Me What It Is’ is an emotional send-off that finds Tyler opening up more than he has on the last three tracks. “I can buy the galaxy/ But can’t afford to look for love,” he sings, wondering if there’s traffic to his soul. If half of the record is Tyler celebrating having broken through the glass ceiling of fame, he lends equal weight to the other half, which is still insecure as about affairs of the heart – the thing, of course, that the glass ultimately stands for. Short as it is, the album’s journey is satisfying yet unresolved, an invitation to a party that leaves you with bigger questions than you anticipated. Tyler has asked these ones before, in more elaborate and conceptual ways. But sometimes, the truth hits harder when there’s sweat dripping down your spine and your breath runs thin.
