ItвЂ™s a mantra for self-acceptance regardless of how others perceive me: вЂњI rock, I roll, I bloom, I grow.ItвЂ™s a really interesting time in Tyler The CreatorвЂ™s career to be seeing him perform live. In the days after the concert, IвЂ™m learning to live by one line from вЂњWhere This Flower Blooms.вЂќ ItвЂ™s one lyric that expresses the beauty of coming into my own as a queer individual whoвЂ™s unashamed. IвЂ™m a вЂњFlower BoyвЂќ in every way, learning to accept and blazon my identity however I can, and it only took a concert to teach me that.

ItвЂ™s TylerвЂ™s courage to be himself that pushes me to embrace my identity without reservation or regard for what anyone thinks. ItвЂ™s this daring resistance that makes Tyler, the Creator one of my biggest role models as a young, queer man, and itвЂ™s that type of bravery that makes me want to wear glitter and rainbow pins to every party I go to from here on out. On stage, he embraces his identity without hesitation - he dances, sings and behaves however he wants, and he doesnвЂ™t yield to any artificial rules of gender. Tyler, the Creator inspires me, but not just because he uses his art as a vehicle to talk about his sexuality and the struggles accompanying that, but because heвЂ™s unapologetic about it. While performing the showвЂ™s closer, вЂњAre We Still Friends?,вЂќ Tyler danced flamboyantly on a pedestal for the whole crowd to see, the whole stage illuminated in vivid, bright pink.ДЄbove all else, the majority of the songs Tyler performed were from his most recent album вЂњIgor,вЂќ which details the euphoric highs and tragic lows of relationship with a male love interest. ThereвЂ™s something special to me about seeing this high-profile rapper glamorously strut across the stage while performing вЂњRunning Out of TimeвЂќ when men - especially us men of color - are taught that any exhibition of femininity is forbidden. The outfit, a simple blue suit with a short bob haircut, made Tyler look genderless from the crowdвЂ™s perspective, freeing him from the constraints of hypermasculinity.ДЄll those rules about what masculinity is evaporated the moment Tyler took the stage, and as someone struggling with embracing my identity, watching that performance was liberating. 25 concert the moment they went on sale.ДЄs a queer man, watching Tyler, the Creator perform in a gender-nonconforming outfit to sing love songs about other men was one of the most impactful moments of my life. TylerвЂ™s best songs have lyrics that couldвЂ™ve easily been ripped out of my own poetry notebook, and that connection drove me to frantically buy tickets to his Sept. Listening to Tyler rap about the same fears makes me feel less alone. That moment was one of many reasons why I fear wearing my rainbow pride pin on my backpack, knowing the glares IвЂ™ll garner from passersby. The image of judgmental stares and chuckles as I walked into a party wearing glitter last Halloween still haunts me. IвЂ™m still shackled by hypermasculinity and the ways in which weвЂ™ve conditioned men to behave and dress. I came out as bisexual in high school but I didnвЂ™t break out of the garden shed at that point. ItвЂ™s a sentiment I can relate to, and with sexual orientation being a theme that Tyler addresses frequently in his music, songs like вЂњGarden ShedвЂќ make me see myself in the rapperвЂ™s lyrics. These lines open the final verse to вЂњGarden Shed,вЂќ my favorite song by Tyler, the Creator, where he likens hiding his sexuality from others to being trapped in a garden shed, when all he wants to do is embrace his inner вЂњFlower BoyвЂќ- his authentic identity, unfiltered by the constraints of hypermasculinity. вЂњGarden shed for the garden, that is where I was hidinвЂ™, that was real love I was in, ainвЂ™t no reason to pretend.вЂќ

Tyler the creator flower boy concert