Mike Dean has taken issue with a lyric on Tyler, The Creator‘s new album Chromakopia that he has accused of being “racist.”
Prior to the project’s release on Monday (October 28), Tyler shared a snippet of the song “Thought I Was Dead” which contains the line: “White boys mocking this shit and y’all mad at me? Y’all can suck my dick.”
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Reacting to the lyrics on social media, the veteran producer and engineer (who himself is white) wrote in an Instagram comment: “Racist shit.”
Dean, who is best known for his work with Kanye West, Travis Scott and Scarface, later appeared to reveal he was not being serious as he posted the trollface meme on X (formerly Twitter).
The Grammy-winner also expressed a desire to work with Tyler. In response to a fan who asked if he contributed to Chromakopia, Dean wrote: “Na. Love to work with him tho.”
Mike Dean speaks on Tyler, the Creator's new "white boys" line 👀
"Racist sh*t" pic.twitter.com/YD5JHSyN3e
— Kurrco (@Kurrco) October 27, 2024
— MIKE DEAN! #MWA (@therealmikedean) October 27, 2024
Na. Love to work with him tho.
— MIKE DEAN! #MWA (@therealmikedean) October 28, 2024
The lyric in question references the backlash to Tyler, The Creator’s recent critique of white rappers for what he sees as “mocking” prominent trap artists.
In an interview with Maverick Carter in August, the Odd Future founder said: “There’s this kid right now, this white kid, regular Caucasian man, and he’s like mocking Future and Gucci Mane, like rap music. And people are like, ‘This shit hard!’
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“It’s not even like satire, it’s like, ‘I’m just joking, I’m just mocking it.’ But I’m like, ‘No, no, no, you can’t do [that].’ And I hold rap music so close to my heart ’cause this shit changed my life and everyone’s life around me, and I’m a nerd about this shit.”
He continued: “This is like weird and I’m looking at it and something about it don’t even sit well with me, in comparison to someone like a Mac Miller or Eminem who didn’t seem like they were mocking it; they had a genuine love for it.”
While he didn’t name any names, many assumed that Tyler was referring to the viral rapper ian who often dresses like a preppy college student but raps in a similar vein to the aforementioned Southern trap stars.
Bu Thiam, Executive Vice President at Columbia Records and the brother of Akon, was one of those who thought Tyler was speaking about his artist and hit back online.
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He wrote on his Instagram Stories: “Yo @feliciathegoat, i signed lan & im from Atlanta. He sounds nothing like Gucci or future lol. It’s called influence. But i never thought I’d see the day where you become old & hate on the youth lol.”
ian himself has yet to respond to Tyler’s comments.
