Stream: Earl Sweatshirt, ”˜Sunday’ and ”˜Hive’

Andrew Veeder on September 4th, 2013

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Three years after the self-release of his debut album “Earl” at the age of 16, Earl Sweatshirt is back with his major-label follow-up entitled “Doris.” It is a dark, moody and mellow affair featuring production from Tyler, The Creator, RZA, Christian Rich, and The Neptunes, as well as four tracks produced by Earl under the pseudonym Randomblackdude. The real treat of “Doris,” however, is the wordplay, as Earl proves not only that he’d educated and intelligent (his mother, a law professor at UCLA; his father, a poet and activist), but that he’s inventive. On “Burgundy,” Vince Staples jokes, “Why you so depressed and sad all the time like a little b*tch? What’s the problem, man? N*ggas want to hear you rap. Don’t nobody care about how you feel, we want raps, n*gga” ”“ a humorous jab since much of what Earl raps about is how he feels. Often he sounds like a journal entry or confessional, painting vivid pictures with his rhetoric. He is both self-aware and self-effacing, rapping with such distinction and exercising assonance, double entendres, and metaphors with such ease. On “Sunday,” Earl trades verses with a rapping Frank Ocean about maintaining relationships as touring musicians, with a shared hook of “All my dreams got dimmer when I stopped smoking pot / Nightmares got more vivid when I stopped smoking pot / And loving you is a little different, I don’t like you a lot.” “Hive” is a grimy and textured production, swelling with murky bass and lumbering free-flowing drums, as Earl rhymes, “The description doesn’t fit, if not a synonym of menace, then forget it / In turn, these critics and interns / Admitting the shit spitted just burn like six furnaces,” and in the next verse, “From a city that’s recession-hit / With stress n*ggas could flex metal with, peddle to rake pennies in / Desolate testaments trying to stay Jekyll-ish / But most n*ggas Hyde, and Brenda just stay pregnant.” It’s a brooding and dense web of repartee, and proves he’s the most talented rapper in the Odd Future crew.

||| Stream: “Sunday” and “Hive”