Tyler, the Creator Artistfacts

March 6, 1991
His Instagram handle is @feliciathegoat, a reference to three 2013 Mountain Dew commercials where he voiced a violent goat named Felicia. The third ad, where the goat shows up in a police lineup, offended so many viewers that Mountain Dew pulled the spots and apologized.
He grew up in Hawthorne, California, near Los Angeles, and formed a crew called Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, commonly known as Odd Future, that later included Frank Ocean. Los Angeles rap crews are typically portrayed as thugs in the media, but Odd Future was more prankster than gangsta, doing a lot of skateboarding and wearing colorful, outlandish outfits.
Tyler produces most of his songs himself and sometimes produces for other artists as well, including Earl Sweatshirt and SZA.
Tyler's mentor is Pharrell Williams, another polymath producer really into fashion. Tyler had an awakening in 2015 after Pharrell told him to make "purpose-driven music" instead of just music to amuse himself. He went on a quest to study the craft of songwriting and really think about his songs. His next album, Flower Boy (2017), reflects this new approach and took him to a new level creatively and commercially. It was his first album to go Platinum.
Flower Boy was nominated for the Best Rap Album Grammy but lost to Damn. by Kendrick Lamar. Tyler was disappointed but used it as motivation. His next two albums, Igor and Call Me If You Get Lost, both won that award.
He has a popular clothing line called Golf Wang that he launched in 2011. He doesn't like golf, but likes the way the word looks on apparel.
Tyler has a lot of interests, including movies, fashion, skating, and art, but he loves rapping. "It's a beautiful thing," he said on his Hulu RapCaviar special. "We're good with words, we're good with rhythm. We hear a collection of sounds in one thing and say, 'Ah, I know what can go over this.' That takes a skill. We know narrative. I know what you're feeling - I know how to put those in words where you could understand yourself better. Being a rapper is awesome."
He has asthma, which makes life in Los Angeles challenging because of the smog.
He used his birthday money to buy D'Angelo's Voodoo album at a Sam Goody record store when he was 9 years old, and it changed his life. "I couldn't understand how someone could write something so simple but personal but broad but genius," he posted after D'Angelo died in 2025. "That's how special he was. A savant. A true alien."

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