On the third day of Rolling Loud California this past March, the Sunshine State turned out for the Golden State. Ski Mask the Slump God, Danny Towers and DJ Scheme—leading voices of the Soundcloud-powered Florida rap of the 2010s—had gathered on stage for Towers’ rousing track “Florida Water.” A skinny, grinning teen, one of hip-hop’s most talked-about new artists, bounced in to deliver a verse that starts, “Got these n-ggas mad, I took off and kicked the door in.” Many in the plugged-in crowd already knew the name, but just in case, Ski Mask did the honors: “Make some noise for our brother, Luh Tyler! ”
“When Ski Mask brought me out, it was turnt!” Tyler tells GQ over the phone in late March. The rapper, born Tyler Meeks in Tallahassee, had only turned 17 two weeks before Rolling Loud, where he also performed a five song afternoon set. Nine months ago, he released his first song. And just a couple weeks ago, he dropped his first mixtape, My Vision, on Motion Music/Atlantic Records. With an unmistakable Southern twang, raspy laid-back flow and charisma for days, Tyler is among the most likable talents to emerge in recent rap memory.
Fast fame is common in hip-hop today. But Tyler only got started in earnest last year, when he began recording onto his phone using BandLab. He posted his raw first tracks, “Planet Fitness” and “Jayda Wayda” (a slinky, thirsty nod to Instagram influencers), last June. But it was his third release, an interpolation of Detroit rapper Veeze’s “Law & Order” called “Law & Order Pt. 2” that really broke things open. Part ode to his hometown, with shout-outs to Florida State and Waffle House, part introduction to his young player persona, it was a step up sonically, thick with the swirly rhymes that have become his trademark.
Tyler’s reedy, chilled-out delivery is instantly recognizable once you’ve heard it—and in a jam-packed hip-hop world, standing out is essential. Many of rap’s hottest recent newcomers are angsty, dropping obscure imagery. But there’s nothing dark or mysterious Tyler, who has described his sound as “smooth, playa, groovy-type beats.” “We’ll get street sometimes,” he says. “But our songs, whoever I collaborate with, we mostly keep it mellow-type shit. I’m just a chill person!”
“Poppin’ Shit” is the only song on the new mixtape that could be described as menacing, (gritty Atlanta rapper Anti Da Menace makes the one reference to guns, in his guest verse.) “I mean, the street, it be around you,” Tyler says. “But a lot of people be trying to glorify it, and I ain’t gonna lie to you, that’s not what it is, for real. There’s more ways, better ways, to live—legal ways.” You also won’t hear molly, Xans, percs or any drugs referenced in his lyrics, unless you count his oft-repeated line about “kissing on Mary Jane.” “I don’t even consider weed a drug, that shit be legal!” he explains. “I don’t wanna mess with all that.” Instead, Tyler keeps an eye on his money, which is the advice he most often gets from older rappers. “I’m really a cheap ass!” he says with a laugh. “I’m not gonna be spending on women like that. I don’t wear designer, nothing like that.”
John Norris
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