I don’t like being overly personal in my writing, I prefer the monolithic guard of third person but some things require a first person touch. In the run up to Reading Festival I was extremely excited to watch Tyler, The Creator perform live on the NME/ Radio 1 tent. Then, just a week beforehand he tweeted;
My friends and I had no clue what the ‘circumstances’ could have been, I assumed it was overbooking or label arguments. When I found out the full story when I got home from the festival I was shocked.
Tyler had been banned from the UK by the home secretary Theresa May, citing his lyrics and branding him a “threat to public order and the public interest”. This was made possible by a set of guidelines of unacceptable behaviours for UK entry, most of the time this has been used to prevent terrorists entering Britain- to my knowledge this has never before been used against a musician. For the next five years- Tyler, The Creator cannot visit the UK.
After the initial anger at finding out the news I thought to myself ‘How far up did this message came from?’ Was it a Conservative MP who has a hard on for censorship, or was it Theresa May who actually sat down and listened to the albums and decided that he shouldn’t be allowed to play to consenting audiences across the country. Perhaps David Cameron caught his son Arthur rapping “I’m a fucking walking paradox” and thought that something must be done.
As I type men, women and children are dying- trying to find safe haven in Europe. Instead of trying to give any aid- the Home Office are too busy banning rappers from our shores.
When I first listened to Tyler, The Creator’s music I was about 13 years old. At school I wasn’t very popular and I didn’t have much going for me. Like most UK teenagers I was looking for somewhere to belong. Somehow I found a mixtape called Bastard and downloaded it, I knew of OFWGKTA but had never really listened or understood what they were all about. I listened to the tape, then went back to the start and listened again, then went back to the start and listened again. I had never heard rap music crafted with such emotion and anger.
Bastard was recorded by Tyler, The Creator in his late teens. Growing up with only a mother, shipped from school to school and suffering from depression and possibly undiagnosed ADHD. The album is an outpouring of emotions and dark fantasies, with frequent foul language and violent imagery. To someone who often felt comparable emotions, Tyler, The Creator immediately became my idol and an aspirational figure in my life. As a group Odd Future preached creativity and self-motivation, masquerading as satanic skateboarding punks- quickly gathering an army.
Listening to Tyler, The Creator snowballed my interest in music, learning more about the recording and writing process and the importance of artistry. The more I think about it, I sincerely doubt I would be as interested in music today without Bastard. The first review I ever wrote was for Wolf (Tyler’s third LP), and I can contribute certain aspects of my personality to the group- especially my penchant for white socks and Vans. Part of the flair and attractiveness of Tyler’s music is the taboo. It’s a bit embarrassing to tell you that some of my favourite songs are about rape and murder, it’s a bit embarrassing to tell you that one of my prized possessions is a 15cm ruler with a reversed crucifix carved into it and it’s a bit embarrassing to rate being spat on by Tyler, The Creator as one of the coolest things in my life. However I would truly doubt that this has affected my life to such an extent that I am a public nuisance or have “fostered hatred, leading to intercommunity violence”.
The mind boggles to think that a musician can be banned from a country for the content of his lyrics that he wrote when he was my age. Tyler would have been playing festivals and gigs that people paid to attend- therefore making them consenting to his peformances. As far as I am aware the rapper had no plans to stand in Trafalgar Square with a megaphone and preach homophobia (which Tyler is staunchly against- check his Golf clothing line). The reason why the Home Office banned Tyler is weak and almost comical, it seems that the buttoned up Tories running this country have forgotten their own youth- the thrill of being counter-cultural and offensive.
In my opinion, no matter what style or genre- music is art. One of the most successful book series of this century is Fifty Shades Of Grey, a book almost entirely soft pornography. On our screens is Game Of Thrones, a constant bloodbath and orgy. In 2013, The Wolf Of Wall Street was nominated for an Academy Award, it’s opening scene is a room of coked up bankers throwing a midget as a dart. As a country we openly celebrate freedom of the press and speech. However, when it comes to a black man from California wanting to perform his music this standard is thrown out the window.
Today the far right group Britain First will walk through Rotherham in an anti-Islamic march. Theresa May has sent no letters to them.
Finding out that the man who seriously affected your life for the better is banned from your own nation is quite upsetting. The next time I have the opportunity to see him in the UK I’ll be 22 years old. Tonight I will pray that these are the dark days, and that the Government will never affect my taste in music again.
