Mike Dean has taken issue with a lyric on Tyler, The Creatorâs new album Chromakopia that he has accused of being âracist.â
Prior to the projectâs release on Monday (October 28), Tyler shared a snippet of the song âThought I Was Deadâ which contains the line: âWhite boys mocking this shit and yâall mad at me? Yâall can suck my dick.â
AD LOADING...
Reacting to the lyrics on social media, the veteran producer and engineer (who himself is white) wrote in an Instagram comment: âRacist shit.â
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: âNa. Love to work with him tho.â
Mike Dean speaks on Tyler, the Creator's new "white boys" line đ
"Racist sh*t" pic.twitter.com/YD5JHSyN3e
â Kurrco (@Kurrco) October 27, 2024
â MIKE DEAN! #MWA (@therealmikedean) October 27, 2024
Na. Love to work with him tho.
â MIKE DEAN! #MWA (@therealmikedean) October 28, 2024
The lyric in question references the backlash to Tyler, The Creatorâs recent critique of white rappers for what he sees as âmockingâ prominent trap artists.
In an interview with Maverick Carter in August, the Odd Future founder said: âThereâs this kid right now, this white kid, regular Caucasian man, and heâs like mocking Future and Gucci Mane, like rap music. And people are like, âThis shit hard!â
AD LOADING...
âItâs not even like satire, itâs like, âIâm just joking, Iâm just mocking it.â But Iâm like, âNo, no, no, you canât do [that].â And I hold rap music so close to my heart âcause this shit changed my life and everyoneâs life around me, and Iâm a nerd about this shit.â
He continued: âThis is like weird and Iâm looking at it and something about it donât even sit well with me, in comparison to someone like a Mac Miller or Eminem who didnât seem like they were mocking it; they had a genuine love for it.â
While he didnât 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.
AD LOADING...
He wrote on his Instagram Stories: âYo @feliciathegoat, i signed lan & im from Atlanta. He sounds nothing like Gucci or future lol. Itâs called influence. But i never thought Iâd see the day where you become old & hate on the youth lol.â
ian himself has yet to respond to Tylerâs comments.