From the very moment Tyler, The Creator unveiled the cover for his new album, Don’t Tap The Glass, I found myself engulfed by a familiar sentiment: “Ah, man, Tyler on his s**t right now.”

Featuring a shirtless, gold-chain-rocking, cartoonified version of himself against a white background, it’s decidedly less avant-garde than other entries in the Golf Wang Creative Universe. If I were an unforgivable loser, I might say, “It’s giving pure hip-hop.” But it looks dope, and, Tyler designed it himself. His team just confirmed that with me this afternoon. We all probably could’ve guessed that, but it’s good to know who, exactly, to give credit to for sure.

In a career that stretches over 15 years now, Tyler’s become known as one of pop culture’s foremost aesthetes, and naturally, that set of abilities has lent itself to his customarily inventive album covers. His breakout 2011 LP, Goblin, features a random picture of Buffalo Bill. His last album, Chromakopia, takes clear creative cues from Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth album cover. This one seems to take some inspo from the one and only LL Cool J. Just replace Tyler’s hat here for a Kangol hat. All he has to do is jump into some twitchy theatrical rapper motions and that’s basically twin.

I could go into a bunch of ornate descriptions about the shades of color, the symbolism, all of that, but for Tyler, at the moment, that feels almost redundant; this cover is another example of Tyler doing some striking shit and making it seem easy. Ditto for his album itself.

Hours after his Los Angeles listening party last night, Tyler unloaded the album, which arrives about nine months after his latest LP, Chromakopia. For this one, Tyler keeps things light, distilling various eras of Black musical electricity into a svelte, 29-minute package. Kinetic and, at times, abrasive, and or very smooth, it’s a good album for certain. Where does it land in his catalog? I’ll decide that in the next 48 or so hours.

For now, check out Tyler’s new video for his first album single, “Stop Playing With Me,” for yourself below. It’s got cameos from Clipse and LeBron James, and it’s definitely giving LL Cool J “I”m Bad” vibes in terms of aggression and electricity.

  – YouTube  www.youtube.com