Feet Of Clay EP: Earl Sweatshirt: Review
is a California rapper who rose to popularity at the beginning of this decade with the hip hop collective Odd Future. While Earl was a frequent participant in Odd Future and their sketch TV show Loiter Squad he has become more and more separate from the group, and some of its marquee members. His music has taken a much more experimental tone as well, all coming to a peak with last years Some Rap Songs. Earl's critically acclaimed third record saw a number of changes of pace, including lyrics that were much more centered around Earl's depression and substance abuse. While musically the record became more experimental and unconventional than ever before, and pushed the envelope for hip hop music in the internet age.
Review By Lavender:
I like Earl Sweatshirt, and I LOVE Earl Sweatshirt's music. Last year as I was well in the works of my year end lists when Earl dropped a record that stopped me in my tracks. Some Rap Songs was one of my most anticipated records of the year, but I never could have anticipated just how much I would love it. I gave the record a glowing 10/10 review and after listening to the record time and time again, it seemed like the logical pick for Album Of The Year, edging out Pusha T's Daytona and SOPHIE's Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides. His new experimental direction made for a swirling series of short tunes that I absolutely adored and had me thrilled for what would come next. Given that Feet Of Clay came out less than a year after Some Rap Songs I think this is more of a companion piece, and after hearing this record I can all but confirm this is a series of tracks likely from the same recording sessions, that didn't find their way into the logical progression of SRS.
The brief 14 minutes of this EP start off with 74 which hits the ground running from the very first moments with a derisive stuttering flow delivered over a dark and VERY heavy instrumental. The lowkey piano samples are eerie and all encompassing in a way that preps you for the roller-coaster that is coming on this short but significant listen. The next track East is something truly special. It is such a fucking insane lyrical song that sees Earl talk to directly about numerous people he has lost in his life and how he has turned to substance abuse with a bluntness that is strikingly poetic. All of this is delivered over an overpowering and all-encompassing circus like sample that dominates the mix. The dichotomy of the two I think serves as some kind of utter brilliance as the surreal tight and almost chilling loop of the beat heightens the indescribable punch of the lyrics. The line about cognitive dissonance hasn't left my brain since I first heard it and I think I've listened to the song 500 times in a few weeks.
MTOMB is a track with an absolutely brutal title that is a deathly spin on the group whose sample The Alchemist flipped for the instrumental of this track. The song is fittingly about Earl's father passing away and is a bit of a standout track as you can really hear the difference between Earl and Alchemists production. Given the beat is much more of a background to the track and Earl is delivering with a tighter and more conventional flow this is some of the more conventional hip hop musing you'll hear on the record, and I really enjoy it. The last track that I totally love is TISK TISK/COOKIES which seriously kind of fucking bangs. The first half has a sharp refrain that is short, but once it gets into the second half Earl comes out with the cleanest vocals you'll hear on the entire record spits some genuinely catchy and hard hitting bars over a classic jazz rap three step beat. It's a fantastic and easy to love tune.
While the final three tracks aren't perfect there are some things I like about almost all of them. OD has the first instrumental that I'm not crazy about, the strange auditory dissolution that comes with just how thoroughly chopped up the beat is comes off as incredibly distracting. It's unfortunate because Earl is still pretty excellent over the track but the instrumental is not supportive and even goes as far as to be a distraction. EL TORO COMBO MEAL opens up with an absolutely show stopping verse from Mavi, He raps with an urgency that Earl has mostly left behind with his new sound and while he does sound very similar to Earl his faster and constantly evolving flow is an insanely consistent feature of his verse, and once he becomes emotional right at the end of his series of bars was another jaw dropping moment for me. Unfortunately Earl doesn't particularly shine on this track, I think the way his vocals are processed is just a bit too much and hearing his breathes over the track is much more of a distraction than its worth.
4N is the longest song here at nearly 5 minutes, which is unfortunate because it just isn't very good. The Mach Hommy verse that opens up this tune honestly just sucks. The first half features his wandering half-singing mixed so low it can't even be identified but even once he starts conventionally rapping it's just not that good, he can't stay with the tempo and I'm not overwhelmingly interested with anything he has to say. Earl does completely throttle Mach on the track but is isn't even the best verse Earl drops on the EP and I do have some issues with how his vocals are recorded, even though I like the verse.
Feet Of Clay is a companion EP to Some Rap Songs, once you have that baseline established it is very easy to understand this thing. It doesn't have the tight emotional evolution of its predecessor, yet it does share a lot of the same kinds of sounds and themes. These songs are coming from a similar place, and while I think overall it is a less consistent bunch of tracks, the peak of this record reaches just as high as SRS. Given that Earl records have always come on the shorter side I do have to say this doesn't come with quite the quality standard of the past few proper studio records from Earl. Even given that the expectations for 15 minutes of music are justifiably pretty high, I do believe Earl only really misses on one song here, and when he hits, he hits it out of the park. 8/10
