Will The Music Press Yawn About Tyler, Another Viciously Homophobic Rapper?

Rising rap star, music press darling, and Coachella 2011 "breakout artist" Tyler was the subject of a lengthy and fawning New York Times profile published last week. His new album, Goblin, debuts today.

“Goblin” is spiteful, internal, confident, vitriolic, vividly bruised stuff, a shocking — and shockingly good — album that bears little resemblance to contemporary hip-hop. It has more in common with the stark, thick-with-feelings independent rap of the mid-to-late-1990s and also the improbably rich-sounding minimalism of the Neptunes in the early 2000s. For every caustic rhyme about violence there’s a pensive, unexpectedly gentle production choice to go with it. Unlike the maximalism of hip-hop radio, you can feel the air in these songs, the gasping for breath.

But what the Times misses is that their new hero is viciously anti-gay and litters his multiple daily Twitter updates with references to "faggots" and "homos."
Another recent Tyler tweet: "Just walked into Abercrombie with my sister cause she wants a shirt. It smells like faggot in here." We'll have to see if the music press and promotion machine cares about this at all. Goblin is pegged to debut at or near the top of next week's album chart.