‘I’m Living in All of It’: Why Tyler, the Creator Uses His Watch and Car Collections When He Feels Like It

Tyler the Collector, if you will. Cars, magazines, trunks, records, and bikes are just some of the items that Tyler the Creator collects — and the rapper doesn’t just let his items sit in a garage or on a shelf collecting dust. No, he uses them however and whenever he damn well pleases.

In a recent interview with Robb Report, the eccentric rapper shared images of his several collections and explained why — like with his music — he’s going to do things his own way. With his car collection, Tyler is not a big fan of those who are against keeping old cars in their original state.

“That shit is so corny, bro,” he said. “ ‘Oh, it was made this year. Don’t touch it.’ Why would you buy something and not make it yours? People be like, ‘Oh, it still has the original engine.’ I don’t give a fuck. That engine is slow as hell. Update my shit. I want AC. It’s hot in this car.” 

“And fuck the original paint,” he added. “Or if you love the original paint, more power to you. But if you want to make it black, and you’re like, ‘But this paint was put on before the internet was made,’ then change it.”

His approach to his car collection — which includes the Lancia Delta Integrale Evo II, a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a Lancia Delta Integrale Evo, a BMW M3, and a Rolls-Royce Camargue — is simple: “You bought it. Why not enjoy it?”

Tyler also collects watches, and despite being some of the priciest items he owns, he’s not going to stop wearing them. “I perform in my watches,” he said. “I’ll jump in the water. I’ll bike with them. I sweat in them.”

There’s one Cartier Crash watch — valued at over $1.5 million — that he’s worn so much that it doesn’t even work properly. “The battery doesn’t work,” he said. “The fucking strap is sweated through. It’s dirty; it has dents in it. I’m not spending all this money on these things that I claim I like and not enjoying them. I’m living in all of it.”  

Oh, and he was inspired to purchase one of his Cartier watches by a SpongeBob one he got at Burger King as a kid. “I based a lot of my watch taste just off of how light it feels and how it could be colorful, too,” he said. “It doesn’t always have to be gold and iced-out… I’ve seen some Rolexes, vintage ones, I really like, but aside from that, I’m just OK with the Cartiers. They bring me joy.” 

Among the other items he collects are old magazines (as a teen, he loved N.E.R.D. and ones with Eminem in them; trunks — “Anytime I travel, I use these,” he says); jewelry, bikes, and of course, music.

His favorite music invention? Shazam. “Shout out Shazam. Shazam is truly like inhalers, insulin, the internet—like, greatest inventions of all time,” he said.

The inside look at his prized possessions with Robb Report is not something that Tyler says he often does but felt inclined to do it because he’s proud of what he’s collected.

“I said, ‘Fuck it, I’m going to change all the colors of my cars anyway.’ I might as well get the ill photo of the whole collection, and I might as well show all these cool trunks because who knows, man, something could happen in three years where I try to go bald and become vegan and start a family and I don’t want any of this shit anymore,” he said. “So why not document it while I have the most pride for it, which is the era I’m in right now.”