I'm a fucking walking paradox, no I'm not
from Tyler The Creator (Ft. Anwar Carrots) – Yonkers Lyrics 1 on Rap Genius
Equivalent of saying…
I’m not not not not not not not a walking paradox"..
Since Tyler always wears dockers khaki shorts, this line could also mean pair of docks (like pair of pants) instead of paradox.
Tyler says that he is talking to his alter ego Wolf Haley. Wolf is the one claiming to be a walking paradox, Tyler is resisting.
A paradox is a contradicting but true statement, he claims to be a walking paradox, then he contradicts that statement, because he is not literally a walking paradox.
One of the face-value meanings is referring directly to Tyler’s personality, which is notoriously paradoxical. For example, some aspects of Tyler’s persona as alluded to in his lyrics play to gratuitous black stereotypes, so much so that ultra-P.C. journalists have pegged him with accusations of minstrelsy (it’s worth noting that most of these critics are white).
On the other hand, Tyler’s personality radically defies black stereotypes in many ways; for example, Tyler loves bands like Joy Division, Sonic Youth, Liar and other non-black music.
Also, contrasting his misanthropy, sadism, existential angst and ambiguous mental illness is the carefree, even optimistic attitude revealed in songs like Parade as well as his outspoken love of kitty cats, unicorns and Cartoon Network.
Further, he portrays himself as a venomous, homicidal misogynist, yet his romantic confessions revealed in songs like Her portray him as tender-hearted and loveshy, only putting up a hyper-masculine front to shield his vulnerability.
On another note, it’s interesting to note the philosophical implications of Tyler’s affinity for paradoxes, especially in light of Christian existentialist philosopher Soren Kierkegaard who asserted that only through realization of the essential paradox of human existence (that human rationality alone is not sufficient to apprehend the full scope of transcendental truth) can human beings live authentically.
Interestingly enough, in his work Philosophical Fragments he elaborated that the human subject becomes a paradox upon realizing that his/her inherent nature is in direct opposition to that of God, but does not (or hasn’t yet) made the Christian leap of faith by which religious transcendence may be attained.
As described in his prominent work Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard’s religiously transformed man (or knight of faith) is still essentially paradoxical, but has overcome the state of literally being a paradox through the process of teleological suspension.
Because Tyler is an atheist and vehemently rejects (disses) Jesus but is painstakingly awarene of his own human frailty (sort of affirming noted atheist/nihilist Friedrich Nietzsche’s suspicion that human existence is cosmically superfluous in the wake of God’s death), Tyler is a fucking walking paradox both in a literal and Kierkegaardian sense…
I’m a fuck
King
Wall King
Pair of dice
—No, I’m “Not”
“I am less than what I am”
Apparently, this fact endows Tyler with the opportunity to be best, i.e. at your lowest, the idea of the king is immediate
Wall King I guess is an encapsulation of the crux of the idea of in/out. Specifically, an ideogrammatic exemplification of the dialogue “Phaedrus,” where the speakers (a young and old man) leaf the city. They are beyond the wall (and hilariously try to top one another to be top dog). In time, “Phaedrus” became a sorta of prophecy for Plato’s student Aristotle, a perrypatetic (someone who walks around and thinks).
Paradox can be broken down; “Pair o' dox,” which sounds like shoes (back to pt. 3), but its damn close to ‘pair of dice.’ The pair can be a number of historical writers in conversation (like Plato and Aristotle above mentioned). Perhaps it is Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. Who knows when it comes to Tyler. Even more, it can be a reference to Pavement’s “Summer Babe” (phonetiquettly, ‘Some Mer-babe’) by ‘ice.’
The above mentioned points are then commentated upon by Tyler in a classic paradoxical manner of Shakespeare. In this case, he call himself “Not” in the fashion of “Twelfth Night,” wherein the reader can, at their own discretion, cut up the dialogue to sound as if little notes are being sent to you. So at times, the reader can learn something about the base structure of the writer’s thought (i.e. ‘what is the logical grammar of one writer thinking for multiple characters?’). Should pt. 4 indeed be referring to Nietzsche, this gets even stranger, as he himself had taken advantage of this Shakespearian trope from “Twelfth Night.”
There’s a lot of stuff in his head, and he’s not talking about himself so much as the things he mistakes himself for.
No gang-signs where none intended.
To help improve the meaning of these lyrics, visit "Yonkers" by Tyler The Creator (Ft. Anwar Carrots) Lyrics 1 and leave a comment on the lyrics box
