Tyler, The Creator is taking a rare look back by sharing footage of a seemingly victorious high school talent show.
Over the weekend, Tyler, whose Chromakopia is undoubtedly one of the best albums of the year, shared footage of himself dancing to Omarion’s “Touch” at a talent show at Dana Middle School in Hawthorne, California. On social media, Tyler dated the video to around 2005, at which point he would have been in eighth grade. Text shown on the screen identifies young Tyler as “the winner” of the proceedings.
“Tech Deck chain hung heavy,” Tyler said.
When sharing the clip, Tyler also tucked in a few throwback pics from his school days, including one showing the Tech Deck chain in question.
Tyler continued to elaborate in his IG Stories and on X, at one point reflecting on how he’s “never been scared” and was “always special.” This combination of art-driven fearlessness and undeniable uniqueness has proven to be a potent duo time and time again in the years since, including on the aforementioned Chromakopia album, which recently notched multiple weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Elsewhere, Tyler shouted out some key albums from his younger years including The White Stripes' Elephant (released in 2003) and Kelis' Wanderland (released in 2001).
Released in 2005 as a single off his debut solo album, “Touch,” produced by The Neptunes and written by Pharrell, was brought to life in music video form by director Diane Martel. The album, titled O, later went on to score a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album, ultimately losing to Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi.
