Tyler, the Creator Says DJ Khaled ‘Died Inside’ When His Album Went No. 1

Tyler, the Creator is still reveling in his chart victory over DJ Khaled.

Back in May 2019, Tyler’s album IGOR topped the Billboard 200 in a surprise victory over DJ Khaled’s star-studded album Father of Asahd.

Khaled was reportedly not pleased to take second place to Tyler, whose music he deemed “mysterious.”

“I make albums so people can play it and you actually hear it,” Khaled wrote in a since-deleted post. “You know, driving your car, you hear another car playing it. You know, go to the barbershop, you hear them playing it. You know, turn the radio on, and you hear them playing it. It’s called great music. It’s called albums that you actually hear the songs. Not no mysterious shit that you never hear it.”

In an interview with “The Breakfast Club” earlier this week, Tyler reflected on outselling Khaled despite his “underdog” status.

“That Khaled thing, it was fun. It was just watching a man die inside because the weirdo is winning,” he said. “I was moonwalking in a wig. This ni**a had everyone on his album, everyone!”

However, he admits that Khaled’s comments did hit close to home. “A piece of me really didn’t like that at all because I make music, but rap is my thing. I was already making alternative rap and not fully being accepted by the BETs…but for some guy to kinda indirectly be like, ‘That ain’t real rap, that ain’t real Black music.’ That’s what it felt like, and I was like, ‘My ni**a.’ But I didn’t say nothing, I just let that No. 1 speak.”

According to Tyler, his chart victory was a blow to Khaled’s ego. “Ni**a ego had to deal with that ’cause his whole identity is being No. 1 and when he didn’t get that, that sat with him longer in real life time than that moment. I moved on,” he said. “His whole identity is ‘We the Best, we the No. 1.’ When the underdog to him took that away from him, that ni**a ego was deflated. He’ll probably never admit it and it’s no hard feelings towards him.”

Despite everything, he still has respect for Khaled and even considered rapping over his 2006 single “Holla at Me” on his latest album Call Me If You Get Lost. “I do have some sort of respect for him ’cause again, I was 14, 15 in ’06 [when Khaled was starting out].”

In July, Tyler trolled Khaled when Call Me If You Get Lost debuted at No. 1 with the largest sales week of his career. “MYSTERIOUS MUSIC! HA!” he tweeted.