Tyler stepped up his production and moved on from rapping about rape and shocking things for the sake of shock value, but i still feel like he's stuck in a zone which kinda prevents him from being the great artist he COULD be.
Wolf is a good album though, don't get it twisted.. shit like "48", "Bimmer" and "IFHY" is some of the best material i've ever heard from him. but it's also all over the place and has too many songs which i feel shouldn't have been there.. his verse on "Rusty" was more than enough to cover the complaints about the criticism he gets, and for fuck's sake, leave that subject alone for the rest of the album. "Colossus" is borderline narcissistic and just unbearable to me, etc.
while Tyler knows he's the shit, i could barely find any moments of positivity in this album. i actually found it depressing, in the same way as Rihanna's latest album "Unapologetic". famous people who can't leave their pseudo-drama behind.
Bastard still remains his definitive statement, at least until he learns how to reinvent himself.