Tyler, the Creator

Tyler Gregory Okonma was born on March 6, 1991, in Hawthorne, California, the son of a Nigerian father with Igbo ancestry, whom he never met, and an American mother of mixed African-American and white Canadian descent. He spent his early life living in Hawthorne before moving to Ladera Heights at 17. At the age of seven, he would take covers out of CD cases and create covers for his own imaginary albums—including a tracklist with song lengths—before he could even make music. At the age of 14, he taught himself to play the piano.

In his 12 years of schooling, he attended 12 different schools in the Los Angeles and Sacramento areas. In the eighth grade, Okonma joined a drama class and was kicked out for being too hyperactive, and in the ninth grade, he was not allowed to join the band class because he could not read music.

He worked at FedEx for under two weeks, and at Starbucks for over two years. Okonma took his stage name from a Myspace page he used to post his creative endeavors.

When Okonma was 15, he had a YouTube channel named "Bloxhead". His first YouTube video was released on February 28, 2008. He posted videos until October 2009, when he stopped uploading to focus on his mixtape, Bastard.