Tyler James Williams, how we (a.k.a. the Internet) love thee. Let us count the ways. No, seriously, I did not have the Abbott Elementary star freestyling to Glorilla’s “F.N.F.” song on my 2022 Bingo card but chiiiiiiiiiile, I’m glad I was a witness. Because what a treat it was!
If you don’t know, on Wednesday’s appearance on Sway in the Morning, Williams set the internet aflame with his freestyle verse on the popular song. While many online felt Williams’ rap talents have been present since his role as Cyrus in the 2012 film Let It Shine, the majority of folks were impressed (and turned on, which, hey, what can you do?) by his flow. See for yourself:
BARS ON BARS ON BARS! I don’t know about you, but I counted at least 10 fire-ass Instagram captions in this verse alone. Now I need him to release this on Soundcloud so the people will know where those words on coming from.
What Williams did in exactly one minute and 34 seconds was 1) Remind us that he is not his awkward character Gregory Eddie from Abbott; 2) Show us that the bass in his voice sounds even better at hyper-rap speed; and 3) Convinced us that if Quinta Brunson’s character Janine is going to settle down with any rapper, it better be Gregory and not her ex. Tyriq could never! Sorry, not sorry!
What he’s also done is further solidify his spot in the hearts of many now and I, for one, don’t know how I feel about having to share my bestie in my head with the rest of the world. I’ve gotten the chance to interview Williams three times this year, twice virtually and once on the red carpet at the 2022 Emmys (he immediately recognized me at the latter which I thought spoke volumes). At any rate, while I feel like we’ve started to build some sort of rapport, I would be lying if I said seeing this side of him won’t make me root for him even more. We see you Tyler, keep on shining! And let us know when you drop that mixtape.