Ian vs. Tyler, The Creator Feud

Submission 900

Part of a series on Tyler, the Creator. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Ian vs. Tyler, The Creator Feud refers to a comment made by American rapper and hip-hop artist Tyler, The Creator in mid-August 2024 in which he called out the new generation of rappers for mocking hip-hop culture, notably criticizing music artists for making "meme records," which was perceived by netizens as a diss toward American rapper Ian. Tyler's comment sparked a viral debate on social media platforms like X / Twitter in the following days as fans of both artists argued about the feud, as well as shared memes and jokes mocking Ian.

Background

On August 14th, 2024, Tyler, The Creator was a guest on the Springhill^[1] podcast Mavericks with Mav Carter. At 19 minutes into the interview, Tyler called out rising rappers for mocking hip-hop culture and lacking authenticity, saying, "It's a kid right now, White kid. Regular Caucasian man. And he's like mocking Future and Gucci Mane, like, rap music. And people are like, 'This shit hard.' It's not even like satire, like I'm just joking, just mocking. I'm like no, no, no you can't." Also during the podcast, Tyler said, "So many n***as out right now that aren’t musicians that are getting treated like musicians 'cause they make meme records."

The interview (seen below) was uploaded to the Springhill YouTube^[1] channel on the 14th and amassed more than 188,00 views and 15,000 likes in a day.

Shortly after the interview was released on YouTube, Tyler's quote about the new generations of rappers went viral on X, as the @Kurrco^[2] page shared a clip of the rapper's interview stating, "Tyler, the Creator seemingly calls out Ian in his new interview with Mav Carter." The post (seen below) amassed over 9 million views and 59,000 likes in a day.

Developments

Between August 14th and 15th, 2024, numerous media publications covered the hip-hop controversy as it accumulated virality online, including Stereogum,^[6] Billboard,^[7] Rolling Stone^[8] and many others.

Response From Ian's Manager

A few hours after the interview had been posted to YouTube on August 14th, 2024, Ian's manager and Columbia Records Executive Vice President Bu Thiam shared a response to Tyler's comment via Instagram stories, writing, "Yo @feliciathegoat [Tyler, The Creator], I signed Ian and I'm from Atlanta. He sounds nothing like Gucci or Future lol. But I never thought I see the day when you become old and hate on the youth lol."

The X^[3] page @Kurrco shared a screenshot from Thiam's stories that same day (seen below), which amassed more than 4 million views and 22,000 likes in a day.

Online Reactions

Tyler's comment sparked a viral debate among fans of both rappers, as well as memes and jokes about Ian's musical talent. For instance, on August 14th, 2024, X^[4] user @3ternalsirenity replied to a post about the alleged feud, writing, "Tyler said it perfectly, I refuse to take Ian seriously as a rapper." The tweet (seen below, left) amassed more than 1,600 likes and 100 reposts in a day.

On that day, X^[5] user @siinwop replied to the same tweet about the Ian vs. Tyler beef with the caption, "Ain’t no way people are clowning Tyler and defending IAN." The post (seen below, right) received roughly 18,000 likes and 1,200 reposts in a day.

Also on August 14th, 2024, discourse surrounding Tyler, The Creator's comments during the podcast episode were widely discussed on music and hip-hop-related subreddits, including /r/Eminem^[9] and /r/playboicarti.^[10]