Star Wind CD: Tyler, The Creator Says He Kept Odd Future Secret From His Mom

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Tyler, The Creator Says He Kept Odd Future Secret From His Mom

'She found out through other people,' Tyler tells MTV News.
By Steven Roberts, with reporting by Christopher "CJ" Smith

Odd Future's Tyler, the Creator
Photo: MTV News

Odd Future's de facto leader, Tyler, the Creator, was blessed with a haunting, captivating voice, the perfect fit for his witty, yet often uncomfortable, lyrics. His voice will be on full display when he and his Odd Future groupmates take the stage to perform at the 2011 mtvU Woodies on Wednesday night (March 16).

But what fans may not know is that Tyler is also a producer. Along with MellowHype's Left Brain, Tyler has produced a majority of Odd Future's rich but brief catalog. A photo recently surfaced of Left Brain and Tyler in the studio with Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes. Both Left Brain and Tyler's work is deeply influenced by the once-ubiquitous production duo, and Tyler has made no secret of their impact on his life, even tweeting about meeting with Pharrell.

"F---. I was with my idol yesterday and it just f---ing hit me," the sailor-tongued 19-year-old wrote. "To know he's a f---ing huge fan is f---ing crazy. My heart was beating so fast I almost passed out."

When MTV News caught up with Tyler (and the rest of the crew from OF last month), he revealed that he's very protective of his work. Initially, he didn't even let his mother know that he was performing at shows and making videos, and he barely let her hear his music.

"She found out through other people. Like two weeks ago at her job, two kids from UCLA came in there talking about us and [she] was like, 'Wait, what are you talking about?' And they found out that was my mom."

Tyler only recently started making beats out in the open, and it took him the longest time to play them for other people.

"I would put it on MySpace, but I would never play kids at school my sh--, because they didn't get it and that was my sh--. So when they attacked it, it was like they were attacking me. That's just my nature and the reason why I didn't play it for the kids at school is because they said they didn't like that sh--. I didn't f--- with them, and words would've been exchanged and n---as would've got into a fight [if they did criticize it]. So I just prevented myself from [situations] like that."

What do you think of Tyler's music? Sound off in the comments!

The 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards will air live on MTV, MTV2 and mtvU on Wednesday, March 16, at midnight (ET/PT) from the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. For more information — and to vote for the winner of the "Breaking Woodie" award — check out Woodies.MTV.com.

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