Tyler The Creator has some thoughts, per usual, and this time he’s aiming straight at the booming podcast world. In his view, way too many people have microphones and not nearly enough of them are saying anything worth hearing. That part.
While chopping it up with The Cut on June 20, the Grammy-winning artist got candid about what he sees as a flood of empty chatter drowning out voices that have something to offer. “We give microphones to people who aren’t smart and just want attention,” he said. “They’re loud and wrong and other stupid people follow them.”
Yikes.
Tyler made his stance crystal clear: the issue is not with podcasts themselves, but with who holds the mic. He questioned why individuals with fundamental skills and depth, such as teachers, electricians, or musicians, are rarely given a platform, while those chasing clicks and clout dominate the space.
This isn’t the first time Tyler has spoken on it either. In a 2019 Billboard cover story, he half-joked that if he were in charge, his first move would be to take away podcast microphones from the masses.
Still, he’s not totally against the format. Clearly, he’s being interviewed to give his opinion here, right? He gave props to two shows he believes cut through the noise: Deante Kyle’s Grits & Eggs Podcast and Recho Omondi’s The Cutting Room Floor. Omondi, who recently sat down with Tyler during the Gram’s “Ask It Anyway” series, is one of the few voices he says actually brings something thoughtful to the table. “Everybody with a mic is crazy,” Tyler said “but those two aren’t.”
Tyler also compared the explosion of podcasts to the increased accessibility of music. Anyone can hop in with little more than a phone and an idea, which makes room for fresh perspectives but also opens the floodgates to a whole lot of unfiltered noise. That overload, he says, makes it hard to separate real insight from just random opinions bouncing around the internet.