‘Tyler spent his own money to change it’: Carl Jones shares how Tyler the Creator narrowly avoided beef with Wu-Tang Clan

Carl Jones, a writer, voice actor and producer on the animated show The Boondocks, has had his hand in a few different animated shows. He played Coach Bundy on the Comedy Central show Legends of Chamberlain Heights, and he worked on The Jellies with Tyler the Creator, who apparently just avoided a big snafu with the Wu-Tang Clan.

Jones appeared on VladTV and he shed some light on what that entailed, and what it was like working with one of the most esoteric rappers in recent memory. Vlad asked Jones if it was tough to work with Tyler because he’s “so outside the norm.”

“He just does what the f*** he wants to do,” Jones said. “And working with him, he’s also really, really inspiring to me.”

Jones said Tyler’s brain works in a way he’s never seen before. “We’ll be at the table writing, and he’ll be like burning some crayons in an ashtray … and you think he’s not listening but he’s tuned all the way in and he’ll pitch an idea and then go to the top of the stairwell and just like jump down.”

Tyler was eccentric and unpredictable and spontaneous, he said, but he would still get the job done. That type of energy is also what almost got him in trouble with the Wu-Tang.

“Tyler tells us this story where he met the Wu-Tang for the first time, and I think it was Method Man that grabbed him and said, ‘yo, I need you to come to the trailer I want you to meet Rae and the crew.’”

Raekwon told Tyler that he knew they were an influence on him. He told Tyler, “it would be nice to pay some homage or whatever.” Jones said Tyler answered with “no disrespect but I’ve never listened to a Wu-Tang life.”

Tyler said he didn’t really think anything about it but Raekwon told him, “yo get [him] outta here.”

Jones told Tyler they should put Wu-Tang in The Jellies and do a story about what happened, but Tyler “got cold feet” because he “didn’t want to create no issues with them.”

It’s not that Tyler didn’t like the group, Jones said, he was just inspired by other stuff. The episode was written and animated, but Tyler tried to pull it. When Adult Swim said no, he spent his own money to change it in a way that was less offensive to the classic group.