Earl Sweatshirt is one of the most prolific writers in hip-hop today. Even as a teenager, people were blown away by his sharp pen and thorny lyrics. It came to a point journalists went on a digital manhunt to try and pinpoint where the LA technician was. Over time, Earl shed his edgy raps and looked inward at his own scars. Production grew significantly darker, his rapping much more stark. He wasn’t quite writing himself out of the darkness. Rather, it was Earl’s way of interrogating his pain and addictions.
After the harrowing sophomore album I Don’t Like S**t, I Don’t Go Outside, Earl Sweatshirt essentially retreats inward. Save for some loose records and verses in between, he grew older and wiser behind the scenes. It became especially evident on Some Rap Songs, pensive reflections and rhyme schemes packed into bite sized vignettes. Gone are the days of Earl’s lethargic, despondent musings. Instead, he stresses healing and resilience in the face of inner turmoil.
Nowadays, he tinkers with our expectations of what an Earl Sweatshirt song sounds like. Sure, we’re still inclined to hear him sketch his life out on tender, intimate loops. But he’s also thrown curveballs, from oddball arrangements like “EAST” or the rickety hi-hats and whiplash tempos of “Making The Band (Danity Kane).” With his latest record Live Love Laugh, it’s only right to chronicle his journey and narrow down four of his best songs to date.
Four of The Best Earl SweatShirt Songs of All Time
“solace”
The darkest Earl songs aren’t explicitly brooding in its musicality. If anything, records like “Grief” or “Chum” utilize its darkness as a means of protection. The dark thoughts comes at a slight distance so as to not drown in them. It’s much easier to sigh and smoke his troubling realities away. Similarly, sour scoffs or sarcastic smirks assist Earl in never getting too vulnerable with himself.
“solace” sheds any walls he might’ve built for himself, a sobering sermon digging into the roots of his pain. Earl Sweatshirt describes the 10 minute affair as “music from when i hit the bottom and found something.” Technically an EP sequenced as one song, each section sounds like fragile memories in his decaying mind. The first part is particularly ragged, Earl prophesying his life playing out like River Phoenix and forgoing his health for the numbness of getting high.
Then, the second part plays out like a drunk’s murmur, slurring his way through the aforementioned rock bottom. The piano chords stumble around like liquor bottles falling off the shelf or mopping someone off the floor when the bar is about to close.
However, on the last verse, Earl Sweatshirt grapples with the aftermath of his stupor. The death of his grandmother haunts him. Additionally, the crippling depression and the inevitability of the grim reaper sees Earl more inclined to rot and starve than save himself. The chords here are tender, a spotlight to pour every raw, ugly feeling he has in his spirit. It’s strikingly honest, a radical self-examination that let fans get a glimpse into his inner turmoil.
“Azucar”
Earl Sweatshirt never leaves a moment to meander on Some Rap Songs. 25 minutes across 15 songs, some records barely cross over into a minute. But the brevity never meant that he wasn’t packing them with loaded lines and spiritually uplifting lyrics. Take “Azucar,” Earl essentially basking in the sun, his victory lap after some victories in the war in his mind. “My cushion was a bosom on bad days, it’s not a black woman I can’t thank,” he raps. With the help of those in his community, Earl shifts away from resentment and favors the warmth of acceptance.
“Fire in The Hole”
“Fire in The Hole” felt extremely cathartic for any big fan of Earl Sweatshirt. Similar to “Azucar,” he thrives on sharing his fresh outlook on life. Perseverance is the name of the game, that “it’s no rewinding, for the umpteenth time, it’s only forward” in spite of the horrifying inevitability of aging and death. Ultimately, we are much stronger than we think we are. It’s up to us to hone our tools to overcome the pitfalls in our minds. It’s a beautiful, refreshing sentiment from Earl, a far cry from his previously sluggish, dejected demeanor. “The shield took a couple chinks but it never broke,” he raps with a profound clarity over the sun-soaked guitars.
“Molasses (feat. RZA)”
Earl Sweatshirt spent a lot of his career grappling with the ebbs and flows of his mental health. While “Molasses” may not be as overtly dark as some of his other works, it’s easily just as bad. He doesn’t explore active grief and torment like on “solace” or “Faucet.” Instead, his eyes are dead and vacant, dragging his despondent corpse around out of sheer routine. RZA’s gray, foggy production suits Earl, shrugging through self harm and toying with internal rhyme patterns. The best you’ll get is a smirk, like how a little bit of weed can ease his 99 problems.
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