Tyler, the Creator

Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper, record producer, music director, actor and fashion designer.

Tyler Gregory Okonma was born on March 6, 1991, in Hawthorne, California, the son of a Nigerian father with Igbo ancestry and an American mother of mixed African-American and white Canadian descent.

He never met his father and spent his early life living in Hawthorne, moving to Ladera Heights at 17.

At the age of seven, he would take the cover out of a CD case and create covers for his own imaginary albums—including a tracklist with song lengths—before he could even make music.

At the age of 14, he taught himself to play the piano.

In his 12 years of schooling, he attended 12 different schools in the Los Angeles and Sacramento areas.

In the eighth grade, Okonma joined the drama class and was kicked out due to being too hyper, and in the ninth grade, Okonma was not allowed to join the band class because he could not read music.

He worked at FedEx for just under two weeks and at Starbucks for over two years.

Okonma took his stage name from a Myspace page he used to post his creative endeavors.

Okonma became known in the late 2000s when he emerged on the Internet as the leader and co-founder of the music collective Odd Future, in which he participated as a rapper, producer, director and actor, releasing studio albums that he produced himself for its respective members and performing on his sketch comedy show Loiter Squad.

Okonma co-founded the alternative hip hop collective Odd Future in 2007, alongside Hodgy, Left Brain, and Casey Veggies.

They self-released their debut mixtape, The Odd Future Tape, in November 2008.

Along with his collaborations with the group, Okonma developed his solo career with his self-released debut mixtape Bastard (2009), which earned him recognition in the online music press as an emerging artist on the indie scene, and his debut studio album Goblin (2011), which brought him mainstream exposure, aided by the popularity of the single "Yonkers" and its accompanying music video.

During this period, Okonma faced controversy in the media for his horrorcore-influenced sound and his violent, transgressive lyrical content.

On December 25, 2009, Okonma self-released his first solo mixtape, Bastard.

Okonma has been praised in the media as one of the most influential figures of pop culture of his generation, thanks to his unique, eclectic and colorful music and fashion styles, popularizing rap music as a "Internet phenomenon" that included a new wave of alternative hip-hop and R&B artists during the 2010s.

The mixtape was eventually ranked 32nd on Pitchfork Media's list of the Top Albums of 2010.

On February 11, 2011, Okonma released the music video for "Yonkers".

The video received attention from several online media outlets.

An extended version with a third verse was made available on iTunes.

Okonma won Best New Artist for "Yonkers" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.

Okonma's thematic content in these first two solo projects led fans and publications alike to categorize him in the horrorcore scene, although he vehemently rejected his connection with it.

In early 2011, Okonma was gaining the interest of a number of figures in the music industry, including Steve Rifkind, Jimmy Iovine, Rick Ross and Jay-Z.

Okonma and the rest of Odd Future eventually signed a deal with Red Distribution/Sony in April 2011.

His debut studio album, Goblin, was released May 10, 2011.

Okonma and fellow Odd Future member Hodgy Beats made their television debut on February 16, 2011, when they performed "Sandwitches" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

On March 16, Okonma and Hodgy performed "Yonkers" and "Sandwitches" at the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards, being joined by other members of Odd Future during "Sandwitches".

During an interview with Okonma for Interview, Waka Flocka Flame expressed his interest in collaborating with the Odd Future frontman to direct a music video for him.

In early 2011, Okonma told fans through his Formspring account that his second album would be called Wolf and it was scheduled to be released in May 2012.

Okonma also announced that Odd Future would establish their own TV show called Loiter Squad.

On September 8, 2011, the show was finally confirmed as a 15-minute live-action show composed of various sketches, man on the street segments, pranks and music made by Odd Future.

Dickhouse Productions, the production partnership that created Jackass, was scheduled to produce the show.

Okonma is also the founder of the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival music festival, which has been held annually since 2012, and which featured appearances by Kanye West, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Lana del Rey, Billie Eilish, among others.

He has also directed all of the music and promotional videos of his career, under the pseudonym Wolf Haley.

Okonma has won two Grammy Awards, three BET Hip Hop Awards, a BRIT Award, and a MTV Video Music Award.

Odd Future's television show Loiter Squad premiered on Adult Swim on March 25, 2012.

After the release of his second studio album, Wolf (2013), Okonma began to separate himself from his horrorcore productions, turning to more accessible sounds with fusions of jazz, soul and R&B after the release of Cherry Bomb (2015).

In 2017, Okonma released Flower Boy, the first of a successful trilogy that would be followed by Igor (2019) and Call Me If You Get Lost (2021), which earned him widespread critical acclaim and commercial success, with the latter two debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 and each winning Best Rap Album at the 2020 and 2022 Grammy Awards, respectively.

Aside from his musical productions, Okonma became an important figure in fashion with his clothing ventures Golf Wang and Le Fleur, and for his collaborations with major brands such as Lacoste, Converse and Louis Vuitton.

In 2019, he was named "Music Innovator of the Year" by the Wall Street Journal.