Artist Profile: Tyler Jackson

Tyler Jackson, the rapper and producer from Atlanta, Georgia, has pushed the boundaries of both his own sound and hip-hop as a genre with each successive project he has released. His most recent full-length project, April Palindrome, in addition to incorporating to their fullest extent the “theatrics” of sound that serve as a hallmark of his style, represents a return to the creative mindset in which Tyler feels most motivated and productively uncomfortable.

As a child, he was surrounded by his parents’ diverse taste in music; everything from Nirvana to vocalists like Sade would continuously fill the confines of his household. 

In fact, a paramount moment in his eagerness to pursue music occurred as a result of his father’s love for Earth, Wind & Fire. When in the car with his dad, he was commanded to close his eyes and attempt to isolate each instrument of their track “Fantasy”. What resulted for Jackson was a paradigm shift of sorts; he began to dissect and comprehend the various elements of the music he loved, allowing him to understand the factors that made it so compelling.

This was augmented by his love for the Andre 3000’s Cartoon Network show “Class of 3000”, along with the accompanying browser game that allowed you to make your own beats from loops and samples the game provided.

Jackson eventually graduated to a bona-fide music-making software, through which he practiced emulating the sounds of his favorite artists at the time: rappers like Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne, and Eminem.

Over time, he began writing songs and rapping them as well, but, like many artists, he still had to struggle to find a sound that was distinct from his influences.

“[At first], I would try to rap like Kendrick [Lamar] or try to make a beat that sounded like Kanye [West]'s.  I think the older I got and more experiences I had in life, I had more to talk about. All these experiences that I was having were shaping me into the person that I am now. So I think once that happened, I was able to express myself to the fullest extent, and, naturally, my music started to sound like my own and not anybody else's because it was a reflection of who I was rather than who I was listening to.”

From this genesis of his sound his first solo project, “Pony Boy EP”, was born, which, including its name, incorporates themes of the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

Yet, shortly after moving to Athens, Georgia and losing his creative support system, Jackson fell into a depression creatively, in which he feels like he faltered from the sound he had created, that took him years of patient work to resurrect himself from.

While April Palindrome, which was made in only a few short days last spring, satisfied the urge to return to his fullest creative form, Jackson feels as though the project he’s working on now, which he calls his most vulnerable and open by far, is going to be his first full step into the waters of his creative potential.

“I think a lot of people have stopped trying to really make their best work. I think people are content with good; I want to be great. During this tape, the people that I'm trying to be in competition with are people like Tyler, the Creator and Frank Ocean and Childish Gambino and people who have created these really, really awesome bodies of work who have shown that they can push boundaries and still be hip-hop. As I'm making this tape, I'm trying to make it that good.”

As evidenced by his prior output, Jackson has a genuine gift for the dynamics and various layerings of genres that make modern hip-hop so unique, and, as he finds his fullest form creatively, this gift will only continue to blossom and explore the gray areas of his own production and songwriting.