Tyler The Creator finishes tour Australia despite lyrics rapping about raping and murdering women
His lyrics include rapping about having sex with a lifeless body and saying sexual assault is fun, so why did Tyler The Creator just finish a successful tour? WARNING: GRAPHIC LYRICS
Confidential
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Despite being stopped from entering Australia in 2015, rapper Tyler, The Creator has just completed a successful three-show tour across the country.
US rapper Tyler Okonma, 28, was targeted by women’s rights group Collective Shout in 2015 ahead of a proposed Australian tour for his violent misogynistic lyrics, which include graphic descriptions of rape and murder.
Some of his most disturbing lyrics include: “I just wanna drag your lifeless body to the forest and fornicate with it,” “Rape a pregnant bitch and tell my friends I had a threesome,” “You call this shit rape but I think that rape’s fun,” and “Punches to the stomach where that bastard kid supposed to be.”
Collective Shout campaigns manager Caitlin Roper said the group was “disappointed, but unfortunately not surprised” Okonma was permitted to tour the country.
“It says that women and girls don’t matter very much.”
The first time Okonma came to Australia in 2013, members of Collective Shout who spoke out against him were threatened with rape, violence and murder by his fans.
“One young man tweeted what he believed to be one of our young activists’ home address, and another threatened to “cut her tits off” (among many other threats of rape and physical violence),” Ms Roper said.
“The abuse was so intense she had to engage the police. In order to report on the concert, she attended the Sydney concert.
“Tyler did not know she was in attendance, and launched a tirade of misogynist abuse against her while the crowd cheered, calling her a “f*cking bitch”, “whore”, “c*nt”.”
“As Tyler the Creator promotes misogyny and this idea that violence against women can be justified if they deserve it, his young fans displayed this sense of entitlement, the belief that they were justified in aggressively targeting women they did not know.”
Collective Shout director Coralie Alison was faced with similar abuse in 2015 when Okonma tweeted that his tour had been cancelled, and tagged Ms Alison in the tweet.
She still receives rape and death threats five years later.
The Department of Home Affairs said they would not comment on individual cases.
Okonma has released five studio albums in his seven-year career.
During those times his lyrics have noticeably mellowed and his latest album, Igor, was nominated for a Grammy.
Many musicians regret their early music and even strike certain songs from their discography if they no longer align with their adult beliefs.
For example, Paramore removed their song Misery Business from their live shows despite it being the group’s most popular song.
However Okonma has never made any statement separating himself from his controversial lyrics.
“A lot of Tyler the Creator’s fans claim he has evolved as an artist, that he has changed, but we haven’t seen any evidence of this,” Ms Roper said.
“If there is genuine self-reflection and change, I think this is generally accompanied by some kind of acknowledgment or action.
“Tyler the Creator has built his career on the degradation of women, and made a lot of money in the process.”
Okonma has a show in New Zealand on January 4, where he was also banned in 2014.
The Daily Telegraph contacted the rapper’s team however they declined to comment.