Tyler, the Creator — Call Me If You Get Lost Album Review

Coming off what many consider his best project: Igor, it can be hard to predict what direction the ever-evolving Tyler, the Creator would go in for his next full length record. With Call Me If You Get Lost, that album is finally here, and it does not disappoint while almost doing a complete 180 on everything that came with Igor.

CMIYGL sees Tyler trade in a heartfelt concept album based around synths & singing for a record full of energy, braggadocio, and some some of Tyler’s best rapping to date. This isn’t to say that there is no singing at all or conceptual threads tying the songs on CMIYGL together, but the sound is much different and the lyrical themes aren’t executed with the same precision as Igor, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The album kicks off with “SIR BAUDELAIRE,” which’s instrumental bears striking similarities to Westside Gunn’s “Michael Irvin.” It’s a lavish way to start the album and it sets the tone nicely. The track, and most of the album in general, features DJ Drama providing vocals and ad-libs. Tyler seems to be trying to capture the tenacity of a 2000s mixtape here and it works out in his favor. This energy picks up on “CORSO,” a song that lyrically balances flexing and heartbreak over an interesting instrumental with plenty of instruments and sounds brought into the mix. It’s a little messy for sure, but it still finds a way to come together well.

“LEMONDHEAD” features 42 Dugg who comes in and steals the show for about 40 seconds. Dugg and Tyler have a surprising amount of chemistry together and it shows here as they trade verses. other notable features include NBA Youngboy & Ty Dolla Sign providing some nice melodies on “WUSYANAME,” Lil Wayne sounding right at home delivering clever punchlines on “HOT WIND BLOWS,” Domo Genesis reuniting with Tyler on “MANIFESTO,” as Tyler reflects on the controversy generated during the Odd Future era, and Lil Uzi Vert & Pharrell bringing their energy to “JUGGERNAUT.” None of the features here sound out of place and everyone contributes to CMIYGL in a positive way.

“LUMBERJACK” was released as the lead single to this album, and admittedly it sounded clunky to me on first listen, but hearing it with the rest of the album it’s a solid track. I really appreciated the bass here and Tyler’s wordplay. The beginning of this album is full of energy and attitude, with very few misses in the tracklist or execution.

Unfortunately, things start to get sluggish during the second half of the album. This is in part due to two 8+ minute tracks, the first of which is “SWEET / I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DANCE.” The song isn’t offensively bad or anything, the production is pretty, I appreciate the homage paid to J Dilla on the track and verses tie into some of the overall themes of the album, but this song feels too slow for the album it is on and drags on longer than it really needed to.

The second of these long winded songs comes a few tracks later in the form of “WILSHIRE,” a story based track tying up a narrative alluded to throughout the record about Tyler falling for someone already in a relationship & coming between them. The storytelling is fine but the story itself just doesn’t have enough interesting details to justify the length of this song, it could have been wrapped up a lot sooner. “WILSHIRE” is also an example of a song on this album with some sound quality issues. There are moments on CMIYGL where Tyler’s voice is just too quiet and sounds drowned out in the mix. I understand if this is an intentional stylistic choice tying into the mixtape feel of the album, but if this is the case it’s a head scratching decision to me. The album ends with “SAFARI,” a fine closing track that sees Tyler end on a confident note.

All in all, Call Me If You Get Lost is a solid entry in Tyler, the Creator’s discography with a lot to love about it. The mixtape-esque energy, top tier rapping, and Tyler’s personality outshine the shortcomings this record may have. There is definitely something to take away here for both fans of Tyler, the Creator and fans of hip hop in general.

Favorite tracks: SIR BAUDELAIRE, CORSO, LEMONHEAD, WUSYANAME, HOT WIND BLOWS, MASSA, MANIFESTO, JUGGERNAUT, SAFARI