SICK! - Earl Sweatshirt: Review
Earl Sweatshirt
is a California rapper who originated as a member of internet famous rap collective Odd Future. After being a predominately commercial figure early in his career e firmly transitioned into the world of underground hip hop on 2018's Some Rap Songs. Since then the massive acclaim of the record and a number of high profile features have helped cement Earl as one of the premiere underground rappers of the 2020's.
Review By Lav:
Watching Earl's sound evolve has been fascinating. From the edgy but undeniably talented and intense early work to his more accessible but lyrically pointed debut album and then fully transcending into one of the darkest sounds of underground rap ever since, he's been fascinating at every point along the way. It's no secret that I really enjoyed Some Rap Songs given that I gave it a 10/10 review and called it my 3rd favorite album of the entire last decade, so obviously I was excited to see what this project was going to sound like. While the tracklist here is much less depressed it is just as reflective and shows Earl sounding hungry and motivated to once again prove that he has an unmatched talent within this current field of rap voices.
The records three singles were each a piece of evidence that showed off how Earl would be shifting his sound and I've grown to love them all. 2010 has some great Black Noi$e production with one of the most vibrant beats I've ever heard Earl on but he doesn't sound out of place. In fact he manages to deliver his trademark intensity throughout. Tabula Rosa came next and sports a feature from Armand Hammer, one of the only two features on the record. Elucid handles the first verse and gets it started immediately with his intense and intoxicating vocal prescence. billy woods handles the second verse and it's the one that has grown on me a lot to the point that I would even call it one of my favorite things on the record. In contrast Titanic is just two minutes of Earl showing off how hard-hitting he can be as both a lyricist and a performer. There's more great wiggly Black Noi$e synths on the track but it's Earl's vocals that completely take over the song. His flows are short but tight and always manage to end on high impact points, this song kicks ass.
These are certainly some of the records most standout tracks as well as some of the most recognizable instrumentals but there are a lot more hidden gems to be unearthed particularly if you love seeing Earl get dark and introspective. Old Friend is a no frills intro with a huge but eerie beat from The Alchemist and a straightforward verse that sees Earl looking back on his past both private and public. He takes an analytical eye to these events and raps about how they may have shaped his come up and his future. Lye kicks off with crackling Alchemist horns that have me wrapped up in the track immediately. The song actually dives into what I think are some religious themes as Earl addresses his lack of faith during his earlier years while pondering whether some kind of "god" could have helped him. It makes for a compelling theme regardless of the fact that it is spectacularly performed.
Lobby is clearly intended to be an interlude but it is close to the length of some of the other songs here. I'm not sure exactly what the track is about but it comes off as Earl at his most braggadocious point in years. With lyrics about Wilt Chamberlain and a sample of some impressed baseball announcers to end the song off Earl is delivering on the always impactful promise of rappers comparing themselves to great athletes. The final huge highlight is God Laughs which is the most Some Rap Songs track here with distant chamber vocals and an alien synth beat. Everything is very dark and occasionally even kind of difficult to make out while Earl just rattles off some dense observations that once again deal in his own lack of faith. It really does feel like a song that only Earl could make and I love it.
Sometimes even when the songs aren't perfect on the record they serve a good purpose within the tracklist, the best example being the closer Fire In The Hole. It features the records most psychedelic beat over which Earl continues his meditative reflections though in a much looser format. I wouldn't call it the best of the bunch but where it shines is as an outro. The instrumental fade on the back end is allowed to wander away across the records last two minutes or so. Much like Riot it feels like an appropriate point for the record to end on.
Vision was a track I was excited about since it has a feature from Zeelooperz and while his verse is fine I can't help but think that he tried to blend in with Earl which results in him losing some of the zaniness hat makes him so appealing as an artist. Earl comes out on the back end with a verse that I like much more even though it doesn't totally blow me away. While I'm used to his looser flows by now I think the track could have benefitted from a tighter sequence of bars here and there. The most redeeming thing about the track is the multitude of lyrical gems that both rappers drop during its runtime. Sick! is another song that I'm not crazy about. It's the only piece of Navy Blue production on the record and you can tell as soon as it's on. The murky and wandering take on trap music is matched by a rambling and slurred verse from Earl that has one of the loosest flows I've ever heard from him. The song does make a compelling transition across its short runtime to something more direct and focused I still don't think its that compelling of a song on its own.
Like many good album Sick! is greater than the sum of its parts. This time around Earl shows off a versatility paired with a level of hunger and intensity we haven't heard from him in years to make a distinctly experimental record but one that sports an easy to understand appeal. While the whole record is soaked in Earl's talent as an MC there are also plenty of fantastic contributions from producers, namely The Alchemist and Black Noi$e. It may not be the tour de force that its predecessor was but it isn't trying to be. As far as I can tell Earl intended on making a collection of short and to the point songs with some great beats, varied lyrical focus and intense performances. He definitely achieved that. 8/10
