The habitual practice of creating is a lifestyle of devotion and commitment — so much so that an individual may need to add it to one’s alias to stay dedicated. And, Tyler Okonma (aka, the Creator) always has his gaze aimed upwards. His imaginary Le Fleur-branded jet-pack is strapped on, and he has his launchpad positioned towards Hollywood. “People love humbling people,” the 34-year-old rapper passionately tells ESSENCE, coming from New York City, currently promoting Marty Supreme. “I hate that word [humble] so much. If I’m getting awarded for something [music], I’ve been doing this for a long time,” he takes a moment to collect his thoughts. “I think I’m awesome. I don’t think that is braggadocious at all. It is just how I feel about the guy in the mirror.”
All Tyler knows how to do is dream big. Last week, the Hawthorne-bred artist just came off from a visit at his alma mater, Hawthorne High School, to dish out some wisdom to the current student body. As the Marty Supreme marketing takeover is underway, the A24 motion picture releases on Christmas Day and all of the unique promo strategy puts emphasis on rooting for the underdog. Chalamet shines with high-voltage passion as the leading titular protagonist — a New Yorker at heart who has a deep obsession for being the world’s best ping pong player. Hopeful hustlers Okonma (Wally) and Marty Mauser both carry the same zeal required to break the mold of what a successful champion looks like and the uncharted path to get there. Tyler fills the shoes of the ride or die role of Wally who adds motion to Marty’s extremist athletic dreams by agreeing to be his driver. “Y’all don’t be seeing me out here with random folks,” Tyler quips. “I have been with the same dudes since age 16. I’ve been with the same guys, the same close friends,” he relates Wally’s loyalty to Marty’s goals.
Josh Safdie’s underdog sports odyssey is the perfect foreground for Tyler to set foot towards his next creative pivot. From wrapping production on his Le Fleur fashion line to Flog Gnaw 2025 to world-building new whacky identities per album, the eccentric rapper is fully-equipped to seize his first feature film cast credit. The last time I connected with Tyler, the Creator was exactly 3 to 4 years ago. At that time, he was preparing to release his sixth studio album, Call Me If You Get Lost. Since then, he has dropped two new albums and two additional deluxe albums on top of that — fulfilling the promise he made to himself — to never stop creating.
“Marty really believed in himself, he really believed,” Tyler discerns with widened eyes as gentle pellets of snow slide down the Brownstone window behind him. “Some folks—I don’t think a lot of people really have that feeling. That is one thing about the movie I really like. I know that feeling of people thinking: You sound crazy! Like Marty, I’m gonna do everything I’m setting out to do.”
Chalamet is victorious in his cinematic performance as Marty Supreme, with his sly tongue and astigmatism. Wally’s brotherhood with Marty is kinetic; they both go against the grain to change the way Americans view them and ping pong. Okonma and Chalamet are at parallel trajectories within their very careers; speeding by constellations in the form of comets flying towards unknown and undiscovered universes. Marty carves out a haphazard pathway to achieve his professional dreams within the urban grit of New York; however, Marty’s far-fetched vision truly never changes. “Timothée would always just start singing or rapping out of nowhere right before every take,” Tyler jokes. “T-pain…Lil Wayne… Name it. It was insane. And it was like 3 a.m. so I’d be like, ‘shut up!’”
The sheer greatness of Safdie’s first solo film since 2008, is that the main theme underlines the real honor of creating which doesn’t come about from the end result but from seeing an imagined endeavor all the way through. Safdie relates to this. Timothée can relate to this. And, Tyler surely can relate to Marty Supreme. “I think the details are one of Safdie’s superpowers for me,” Tyler describes surrendering to Safdie’s particularities. “The casting, the faces, the little stuff in the back that you wouldn’t even notice. The set design was insane, seeing art on that level felt like when you eat a good meal at somebody’s house, and then you go home, and you think: ‘I need to get better ingredients for my house.’”
Marty Supreme’s journey to becoming his own hero is a human testament to the overall “Dream Big” marketing campaign for the A24 film. The awareness for Marty Supreme was built through a highly coveted retro orange “Marty Supreme” fleece jacket, a hovering blip, a pop-up tour, ping-pong-headed bodyguards, and experimental promo skits. “Hopefully, people throw me more roles,” Tyler manifests. “I want to be a character like Jim Carrey in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Give me the nose, give me all of it.”
Tyler, using his last name “Okonma,” for the first time in his onscreen work, showcases that he is ready to unveil yet another creative iteration of himself. He is on a generational run and is just getting started. “I always feel like Marty,” Tyler, The Creator grins with a devious smile. “I’m having the most successful year of my career.” Before our call came to an end, I quickly asked Tyler what Marty would listen to amp himself up before a world ping pong championship. “Probably the intro… to the first seven seconds of “Igor’s Theme” on loop for days,” he bursts out laughing. “I love that we get to connect, this is every three years at this point,” he closes. I bid him farewell, hoping to talk to the wizard, the creator, himself, in another three.