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BET Awards 2021 - Arrivals

Source: Rich Fury / Getty

Tyler, the Creator, a.k.a. DJ Stank Daddy, was recently on Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning to discuss his acclaimed sixth studio album CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, and the conversation touched on Tyler’s partnership with Converse. The Odd Future co-founder has been with the sneaker brand since 2017 and dropped a series of collabs with Converse through his Golf Wang fashion label, but said he owes that arrangement to one of his superproducer friends.

“My Converse deal wouldn’t have happened without [Pharrell],” he told Ebro. “He helped set that up. During The Grinch soundtrack. That man looks out for me.” It turns out that when Pharrell was asked to narrate the 2018 remake of the classic Yuletide flick, he brought Tyler on board and worked it out so that Tyler could be the one to perform the movie’s updated version of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”

Although Tyler didn’t talk much further about his relationship with Converse, Ebro brought up how Pharrell’s association with skateboard culture paved the way for non-conventional personalities to still participate in hip-hop. “N*ggas try to put you to the side when you’re in parallel with them,” Tyler expressed, “and it’s like, ‘N*gga, I’m better than you!… Don’t push me to the side!'”

Tyler’s latest Converse ad, “The Really Cool Converse Club,” is for the company’s new Create Next campaign and is right in line with Stank Daddy’s oddball humor. The 60-second commercial features a wide range of celebs; SNL vet Tim Meadows, comedian Jim Johnson, NBA legend Bill Walton, and fellow musicians Vince Staples and Henry Rollins are some of the faces who show up for the silliness.

The 3x Grammy-nominated rapper also shared that his drive to create and come up with new ideas comes from the fact that he cares so much, and he drew on the shellacking Jadakiss and The Lox gave Dipset at last Thursday’s Verzuz battle to illustrate the point. “Jadakiss is so ill!… I was in Houston the other day watchin’ The Lox and Dipset, and I’m thinking, ‘This is gonna be cool but I think Dipset got this,” Tyler started. But with his head in his hands, Tyler couldn’t hide how impressed he was with Jada’s performance. “Jadakiss, bro?!?! That man cares! He gives a f*ck!… He wasn’t too cool to care!”

Scroll up to watch Tyler’s newest Converse commercial and check out his full interview on Ebro in the Morning.