André 3000 Presents Tyler, The Creator With Innovator of the Decade Award

Tyler, The Creator has been recognized by one of his musical heroes for his indelible impact on music, fashion and culture.

On Saturday (December 6), none other than André 3000 presented the Odd Future founder with the Innovator of the Decade award at Variety‘s Hitmaker event in Los Angeles.

While presenting the distinguished trophy, 3 Stacks praised Tyler’s legacy and contributions over the last 10-plus years as a true artist who remains dedicated to pursuing his creativity and pushing the envelope.

“I have known Tyler for a few years now and I have witnessed him surge with ideas and bring them to life — repeatedy,” he said. “To see his excitement, momentum and passion is infectious. It’s easy to see that he cares about what he’s doing and that innovating himself is a constant.”

The OutKast legend then laid out his “hypothesis” that all great pieces of art already exist and are simply waiting to be discovered by curious artists, before adding: “Tyler, he fucking cares. He always seems to have his antennas up and experiencing everything around him with great curiosity.”

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During his turn on the stage, Tyler reciprocated the love by crowning André 3000 one of his biggest influences and revealing OutKast’s “She’s Alive” was the first song that he taught himself how to play on piano.

“When my team told me [that] Variety want to give you Innovator of the Decade, I was like, ‘Me? What the fuck they wanna give me that for?'” he admitted. “To me, the innovators are the André 3000s, the Kanyes, the Pharrells, the Missy Elliotts, the James Jebbias, the Shawn Carters, the Roy Ayers, the Stevie Wonders — the people that I look up to.

“So to even share a word like innovator with folks that I look up to like that didn’t make any sense. But … it made me [realize], ‘Yo, I don’t take the time out to look back at what I’ve done for the last 15 years.’ Me always looking forward and wondering what the next thing is, that’s where I sit comfortably.”

“I took a moment yesterday to say, ‘Damn, it actually does feel good that [people] like Variety and André [3000] are saying, ‘Hey, the last 15 years you’ve been doing super-duper awesome shit.’ And I’m so grateful that y’all notice things that I’ve known: I’m very good, I’m very awesome,” Tyler continued with a laugh, momentarily ditching the modesty.

“All this started as a little kid with just a crazy imagination and I’m super honored to get this [award]. Let’s see what the fuck the next 10 years is like.”

This isn’t the first time of late that Tyler, The Creator and André 3000 have publicly honored one another. Last month, Tyler performed an electric cover of OutKast’s “Bombs Over Baghad” at the legendary duo’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.