2023 Camp Flog Gnaw Festival: Best Moments – Billboard

“What’s up, d–kheads?” Tyler, the Creator greeted his supporters from atop a car junkyard with a crane hovering above him. “It’s been three f—ing years. COVID f—ed us, bro…. Three, four years later, and y’all motherf–kers still care to come to this sh–. It truly means so f—ing much to me and the team,” he beamed, while recalling how “shocked” he was at how quickly Flog Gnaw tickets were first selling out. “The last two weeks walking around LA and sh–, ‘I’m excited for Flog!’ People saying, ‘I can’t wait!’ People hitting me up, ‘Flying from Nebraska!’ To know that this random idea I had, that it brings the spirit of L.A. up for two days, I say this with every bone in my body: Thank you all!”

Tyler also fired fans up by teasing new music, but in true Tyler, the Creator fashion, it was all just a tease. “Aw, aw. And I wanted a father, but you don’t get everything,” he quipped, his dark humor cracking everybody up. “So I’m going to go through my catalog instead, and you pieces of sh– are gonna sing along.”

Tyler’s victory lap spanned from Goblin cuts “She” (sans Frank Ocean, whom festivalgoers have learned from last time to not expect as a surprise guest) and “Yonkers,” to “Tamale” and “IFHY” from his 2013 album Wolf, to a handful of tracks selected from each of his last three albums, Flower Boy, IGOR and Call Me If You Get Lost. An animated flock of white birds swarmed Tyler as he performed “Who Dat Boy” without his frequent collaborator and friend A$AP Rocky (“My n—a at home, he got two kids,” he said of his absence), and he later brought out a flamethrower and set the stage ablaze before performing “my favorite song I’ve ever made,” “NEW MAGIC WAND.”

He’s the same a–hole fans have loved since the OFWGKTA days, but he’s also a multi-hyphenate star that they’ve grown to become proud of (just look at his never-ending list of accomplishments from Pharrell Williams and Jay-Z‘s “Entrepreneur” music video). Tyler is proud of himself, too, and he has every right to be.

“I do interviews and stuff, and I see folks like, ‘Oh, he has such a huge ego. He’s so full of himself.’ Hell f–king right I’m full of myself, n—a, because that’s how I feel about me, n—a. I’m full of me because everything I said I wanted to do I did, and I didn’t let nobody tell me nothing else,” he exclaimed confidently. “So everybody out there, if y’all got dreams and y’all feel some type of way about yourself that might exceed how others feel about themselves, f–k ’em and don’t let that sh– cloud your brain for real. That’s my TED Talk.”