Tyler Found the Pharrell We Actually Missed

There was a version of Pharrell Williams that felt genuinely exciting—before Happy spent what felt like three consecutive years sandblasting itself into every public space on earth and made even reasonable people develop violent feelings toward ukuleles. A word to radio programmers everywhere: if I hear that song played unsolicited one more time, I will write a Baby Shark sequel and send it directly to your station, and you will have brought it upon yourselves.

Anyway. Tyler, the Creator dropped two new tracks—Fucking Young and Death Camp—and they sound exactly like N.E.R.D did when N.E.R.D was still hot and strange and worth caring about. Somewhere between She Wants to Move and Maybe, if you’ll let yourself hear it. The DNA is unmistakable.

What I’ve always liked about Odd Future is that they never felt any need to make the kind of dead-eyed, by-numbers rap that embarrasses twelve-year-olds and sends them running toward safer, blander alternatives. Tyler makes music that sounds like a brain operating at full tilt. These two tracks are exactly what a Friday needs.