Jayden Pinto is The Eight30’s lead entertainment columnist. Find him on Letterboxd for more immediate reactions on new releases: @JaydenP0205
To say that the 2020s have been anything less than successful for Tyler, The Creator would be a complete lie. I have maintained and told everyone I know that the most consistent rappers this decade have been Tyler, The Creator, Vince Staples, Kendrick Lamar, JID, and Denzel Curry. Not even including the countless others that have been fantastic. But Tyler, The Creator has reached a status that I would have never predicted him reaching 10 years ago. Just this decade alone, he has dropped CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST (my personal favorite of his), CHROMAKOPIA, and DON’T TAP THE GLASS. All albums that I believe comfortably sit in his top 5 albums.
Today I want to focus on DON’T TAP THE GLASS (DTTG), a dance/pop/r&b/rap album similar to IGOR. One year ago, he released this album on a Monday at six in the morning, much like he did for CHROMAKOPIA. Unlike it, he only announced the album three days before the release, without any singles accompanying it. I’ll never forget setting my alarm for 5:55 AM just to listen to this album, and it was worth every lost second of sleep. To put it bluntly, through and through, this album is still fantastic and, in my opinion, doesn’t have a single miss.
Starting with Big Poe, including an incredible feature from Pharrell Williams, listeners are given three simple rules: “Number one, body movement/No sitting still/Number two, only speak in glory/Leave your baggage at home/Number three, don’t tap the glass.” Following the release of the album, Tyler really emphasized the first rule by hosting dance parties for the album in Los Angeles and New York, encouraging goers to dance and just vibe out to the album. I was disappointed to have not been able to make it to the New York party; however, he would later play half the album at his final show of the CHROMAKOPIA tour in Newark, New Jersey.
Following Big Poe was Sugar On My Tongue. A sexually charged banger that would go on to be the biggest song off the album. Tyler would even go on to release a video of him performing it live, a version with an extended intro, and perform it alongside Thought I was Dead at the Grammys. The next eight songs off the album would all be incredible as well, with many fans debating over what the best song off the album is still to this day. My personal favorite would have to be Ring Ring Ring; from day one, I felt like this song was destined for greatness as Tyler entered his Michael Jackson bag with a bass that would sound eerily similar to Off the Wall, and vocals that mirrored Michael’s style so much. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t go on to be too big, but it still received love from many fans.
He would end the album with Tell Me What It Is, ironically a song that broke the second rule of the album. On it, Tyler opens up about his struggle with relationships, a complete contrast from the flexing he had been doing on nearly every song leading up to this. It’s an extremely emotional way to end the album, and one that mirrors something we would have heard on IGOR. Alongside Ring Ring Ring, it’s probably one of my favorite songs released by Tyler, The Creator in recent years.
As mentioned multiple times throughout this, the album reminded me a lot of IGOR. Where IGOR was a heartbreak/breakup album, this felt like someone enjoying their time being single and not worrying about the baggage that comes with a relationship, aside from the final song, of course. In the year since the release of DTTG, I’ve come around to the controversial take that it might be better than IGOR. Now I don’t like comparing albums, but I have felt the need to say this because DTTG has been sitting in my top 3 Tyler albums for a while now, and I feel like people haven’t given it a fair chance.
A big issue we see nowadays with all media is that people try to find things to dislike, and I believe DTTG has fallen victim to that. When the album came out, fans and online music discussion immediately went straight to comparing this against other Tyler, the Creator albums. However, that goes against the whole principle of the album, which really just wants its listener to listen, move, and dance around.
I think my favorite aspect of this album is the fact that it breaks one of its own rules: “Number two, only speak in glory/Leave your baggage at home.” I feel like this implies that everything Tyler raps/sings about should be straightforward and not carry many metaphors, while also just trying to be an album you can vibe out to. However, as mentioned with “Tell Me What It Is,” this album does carry a deeper meaning that we saw throughout CHROMAKPIA and CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST as well, and that being the clear loneliness from the lack of a long-term relationship. When you really look into the lyrics throughout the songs from all these albums, you can tell that Tyler is really longing for someone to truly love. And that’s what makes these albums, especially DON’T TAP THE GLASS, so great. Tyler was able to make an easy-to-listen-to and danceable album while still exploring some harder-hitting and relatable topics for the average listener. Take away all the money and talent, Tyler and his fans still find themselves relating to some personal issues.
For the last year, DON’T TAP THE GLASS has been featured heavily in my rotation. It is one that hit so hard for me personally, and one that I won’t stop listening to anytime soon. I’m not going to leave you with a score here because I want you, the reader, to go and enjoy this album for yourself. Score it yourself. I’m sure you can get an idea of what I would rate it, but I want you to disregard everything you read and enjoy the album for yourself. Happy one-year anniversary to the release of DON’T TAP THE GLASS, and I cannot wait to see where Tyler, The Creator goes with his next album.
