Tyler, The Creator Surprises Fans By Freestyling Over Kendrick Lamar’s “Hey Now”

It’s been an exciting year for Tyler The Creator, and it looks like the hitmaker has decided to end it with a bang. Today (December 25), he delivered a fun surprise for his fans just in time for the holidays. In his new “THAT GUY” video, he freestyles over Kendrick Lamar‘s track “hey now,” from his album GNX. He’s seen spitting braggadocious bars at various locations in his hometown of Hawthorne, CA, and even references his appearance at Kendrick’s “Pop Out” show in Los Angeles this June.

“Lil bunny hop out, you seen me at the pop out / Pandemonium screaming like they brought pac out / Stop it with the chit chat we airing out the kickback / Big stud energy the way I get my lick back / Hey now say now I’m all about my bands / Sh*t I’m on b*tch you wouldn’t understand,” he raps, per Complex. The self-directed video also features some Odd Future alumni, including Travis “Taco” Bennett, Lionel “L-Boy” Boyce, and Jasper Dolphin.

Tyler’s new freestyle arrives just weeks after he opened up about how his “Pop Out” performance came together during an interview with Billboard. According to him, he wasn’t even planning to go as he was hard at work on his own new material. At the last minute, however, he decided to do whatever it took to make it happen.

“I wasn’t even supposed to go — I was in Atlanta working on this album,” he began. “But I landed that morning and couldn’t miss this sh*t. And I don’t even get FOMO at all, n***a — I’ll go to sleep. But I’m cool with Kenny and Dave [Free] and Tim [Hinshaw] from Free Lunch. So I went home, showered and ran straight there.” He proceeded to perform his 2019 hit “Earfquake” at the event, much to the delight of fans. “I genuinely think I’m better at my R&B singing sh*t as a whole than my rap sh*t,” he told the outlet. “And those are usually my biggest records.”