Tyler, The Creator Does His Own Rendition Of A 124 Year-Old Song (Video)

Many enduring Hip-Hop artists have interwoven visual artwork and painting into their total package. A Tribe Called Quest had the celebrated figuresque female silhouette, who appeared on stage this year with Q-Tip and Phife as the “real-life” Bonita Applebum. Snoop Doggy Dogg had the family artwork of Joe Cool, while the rest of Death Row and 2Pac employed the drawings of Riskie Brent. MF DOOM looked to old school comic books for inspiration, while Jungle Brothers, Reflection Eternal, and Outkast have used painted portraits of the group.

Odd Future’s Tyler, The Creator is another artist who is bringing back this element to his presentation. Whereas 2011’s Goblin worked in found images, set against a modernized background (a popular OFWGKTA trend at the time), 2013’s Wolf was a scenic portrait of Tyler made by renowned artist Mark Ryden. Ryden has been internationally known for over a decade as the predominant Pop Surrealist. Ryden’s work takes inspiration from French Classicism as well as vintage children’s books. Perhaps Tyler, The Creator fans can draw some parallels to the vast inspirations amidst pioneering new territory?

After Ryden’s Wolf role, Tyler, The Creator is one of several artists (also including Katy Perry), who is contributing to the artist’s The Gay 90’s compilation, set to pair with his upcoming Hollywood exhibit. Rather uniquely, Tyler presented a take on “Daisy Bell,” an 1892 standard by Harry Dacre, that close listening Heads can pick up on. Tyler made the record his own, and penned a Facebook nod of thanks to his inspiration Mark Ryden, whose work colors the path for the video.

Hip-Hop has sampled and interpolated some age-old standards before, but how do you feel about this statement?

Related: Pusha T ft Tyler, The Creator – Trouble on My Mind (Video)