As he entered his early 20s, Odd Future's resident hip-hop enfant terrible Tyler the Creator was intent on growing up a bit and moving beyond the shock-for-shock's-sake violence, gore and absurdist mayhem of early releases Bastard and Goblin with his third full-length offering, Wolf. 

"Talking about rape and cutting bodies up, it just doesn't interest me anymore," he told Spin magazine around the time of the album's release in April of 2013. "What interests me is making weird hippie music for people to get high to. With Wolf, I'll brag a little more, talk about money and buying shit. But not like any other rapper, I'll be a smart-ass about it. People who wanted the first album again, I can't do that. I was 18, broke as fuck. On my third album, I have money and I'm hanging out with my idols. I can't rap about the same shit." 

The result is a curious "in between" album, with the grown-up Tyler longing to re-establish contact with his estranged father and ruminating on the death of his grandmother one minute yet the juvenile Tyler penning heartfelt odes to his bicycle and concocting creepy narratives about obsessive fans the next. Frank Ocean, Erykah Badu, Earl Sweatshirt and Pharrell all make appearances, but like all of Tyler the Creator's albums Wolf is entirely Tyler's world. Everybody else is just there to visit. 

TRACKLISTING:

1. Wolf
2. Jamba
3. Cowboy
4. Awkward
5. Domo23
6. Answer
7. Slater
8. 48
9. Colossus
10. Partyisntover/Campfire/Bimmer
11. Ifhy
12. Pigs
13. Parking Lot
14. Rusty
15. Trashwang
16. Treehome95
17. Tamale
18. Lone