Earl Sweatshirt is a rapper from Los Angeles California who is arguably the most lyrically innovative hip hop artist to ever be discovered by a mass audience. After joining the rap collective: Odd Future, lots of controversy arose regarding his disappearance to a Samoan reform school his mother had sent him to due to his erratic behavior. Earl Sweatshirt's Father was a poet so its only fitting that he should bring so many previously poetry-exclusive techniques into hip hop. The album is content-wise, the story of his initiation and role in Odd Future. There are standard horror-core style ideas thrown around with so much skill that every audience should be far more impressed than offended.
Defining Track
"Earl" is the definitive release of the LP. It's intricate, well-composed, and offers one of Earl's most prominent staples: tongue-twisters. His delivery is laid back yet his voice allows his vocals to effortlessly stand-out against the highly simplistic instrumental. There is a memorable quality to Earl's lyricism that's rarely seen at his level of complexity. Artistically, this song has very little competition in any era of hip-hop and it's success has had a lasting impact on the genre's exploration.
Final Thoughts
The album is short and not every song is as memorable as "Earl" but, at the age of 16, he was writing hip hop lines like, "its so happens that I'm so hap-hazardous.." Listening to this release a few times makes it challenging to transition back to the attempts of other artists to appear deep or intelligent. There was an overwhelming reception of Earl's career, but he is still under-valued due to his lack of widespread appeal. Earl has a musical integrity, creativity, and depth that makes him one of the best hip hop lyricists...period.
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