Dancing in the Desert
When Tyler, The Creator & Donald Glover Took Coachella
“Tell these Black kids they can be who they are” - Tyler, The Creator
It’s only right to create such warmth in the desert heat. And still, it felt like a reprieve. When Tyler, The Creator and Donald Glover danced together on stage at Coachella, the smile snuck onto my face before I realized I was smiling. It seemed to be the same for them. Their movements were whimsical; their expressions were joyous as they spun and skipped past each other. Even when you can’t fully see their faces, you can feel their smiles. Because there is nothing else to do when you’re invited to a familiar place by someone who once despised you.
“I used to hate that nigga,” said Tyler as Glover left the stage. He couldn’t put his finger on why, but Tyler said the song “III. Urn” from Because The Internet, Glover’s second studio album released under his stage name Childish Gambino, helped change his perception of the artist from Stone Mountain, Georgia.
“How could a nigga that I hate so much be so good?” wondered Tyler. He saw something in Glover’s music that he admired—and I’d even venture to say that Tyler saw some of himself in the song that Glover considers his favorite on the album.
I wonder if “RUNNING OUT OF TIME” is Glover’s favorite Tyler song because, at Coachella, he sang it like he’s sung it before—and it’s true that he has. This phrase “running out of time” anchors Glover’s 2020 single “Time,” featuring Ariana Grande, which was re-recorded and re-released a month after Coachella on his album reissue of 3.15.20 titled Atavista. This thread among others, such as the shared cameo between Tyler and Glover on an episode of Cartoon Network’s Regular Show, demonstrates they have more in common than maybe they wanted to believe.
Tyler referenced these similarities in his remarks after their performance. He thanked Glover for “putting out shit that exceeds expectations or the perception that niggas like us should make.” Niggas like us. Tyler puts him and Glover in the same conversation or at least understands that fans view them differently than they do hyper-masculine rappers. And that’s one of the main reasons I’ve connected with their work. Tyler and Glover are modern-day renaissance men and creative multi-hyphenates. They helped show me that I’m not confined to only being one thing.
June is Black Music Month, and it’s worth noting that Blackness is expansive. Even while police and state governments threaten us at every turn, our joy remains and continues to take on new shapes and forms. We carve our own lanes; we make our own homes. Since April, I’ve partnered with several Black and Brown writers to create Locked In—a virtual writing group for Substack’s Black, Global Indigenous, and People of Color. This stemmed from a desire to build a space that we wished existed on the platform. Along the way, we’ve found others need it too.
As the heat rises, I want to dance with my niggas. The niggas like me. I want to bask in the freedom we’ve set aside and made holy for us. Even though time is fleeting, I want this to be our forever.
I want to dance with my niggas. The niggas like us. The niggas that believe we can be more than the lessons we’ve been taught and instructions we’ve been handed. The niggas that care. The niggas that know they can fly.
We don’t have to stay where we’ve been. The sky is our home; be free.
And let us remember—we’re dancing together.
Alex, this piece is beautiful.
You put words to something I’ve been feeling lately, like I’m somehow more powerful because of the collective power in these networks we’re building.
I’ve never had so many writer friends, and now I’m surrounded by people who get it.
That kind of camaraderie is just different. The ones who get it get it.
Also now thinking of how similar Substack and Coachella are demographically, in terms of who gets to be on that main stage. There’s something special about that moment for Tyler and his choice to quash a competitive spirit to share it with another.
Alex, you can tell I’m a mother. My first thought: how can he wear a hat and sweater in that heat!
The essay was deeply joyous! Thank you for sharing.