Tyler, The Creator has opened up on why rap music will always be his first love, despite broadening the horizons of his sound in recent years.

The rapper has won praise for constantly evolving since his Odd Future days, although NME hailed his latest album ‘Call Me If You Get Lost’ for offering a “love letter to the genre that made him”.

Speaking at the BET Awards on Sunday (June 27), Tyler said the genre will always remain his first love – even if 2019’s ‘Igor‘ saw him experimenting with funk.

“I just love rap so goddamn much … listening to [2005’s] ‘The Dedication’ with Lil Wayne, and ‘We Got It For Cheap’ with Clipse, they really shaped me into who I am,” said Tyler.

“I think a lot of people forget that I’m a rapper because I’m so multifaceted. I just had to remind everyone, ‘Don’t let the wig get it twisted, y’all n***as can’t fuck with me.’”

The BETs also saw Tyler performing his recently released track ‘Lumberjack’.  The performance saw him step out of a Rolls Royce and battle a vicious wind storm while rapping.

‘Call Me If You Get Lost’ is the follow-up to Tyler, The Creator’s 2019 album ‘IGOR’. The 16-track record included guest appearances from Pharrell and Lil Uzi Vert (both on ‘Juggernaut’), Lil Wayne (‘Hot Wind Blows’), Ty Dolla $ign (‘Wusyaname’), Domo Genesis (‘Manifesto’) and more.

In the lead-up to the album’s release, new billboards featuring the words “Call Me If You Get Lost” and a phone number began appearing in various locations, prompting fan speculation that the rapper was about to kick off his new album rollout. Then, a promo video titled SIDE STREET was shared, which also featured the “Call Me If You Get Lost” tagline.

In addition to the album, Tyler, the Creator released a new song titled ‘Tell Me How’ in March, after it was featured in an advertisement for Coca-Cola the previous month. Earlier in the year, he featured on the Brent Faiyaz track ‘Gravity’.

Album track ‘Manifesto’ also sees him apologise to Selena Gomez for a series of controversial tweets he made about the singer 10 years ago.

“I was a teener, tweetin’ Selena crazy shit. Didn’t wanna offend her, apologise when I seen her. Back when I was tryna fuck Bieber, Just-in,” he raps on the new track.