KingsOfKings
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐! โ๏ธ
Such a ill album.
Albums Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs (Discussion Thread)
- Thread starter IronFist
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This album is beautiful.
I think of random lines and the whole song just flows effortlessly afterwards.
The album is short but packed with depth, this is the work of an artist who knows their craft and themselves. The introspection and wordplay are one here. One of the handful of rappers whose music matured in a natural progression in alignment with their life.
Eclipse is one of the best songs I've ever heard.
I think of random lines and the whole song just flows effortlessly afterwards.
The album is short but packed with depth, this is the work of an artist who knows their craft and themselves. The introspection and wordplay are one here. One of the handful of rappers whose music matured in a natural progression in alignment with their life.
Eclipse is one of the best songs I've ever heard.
KingsOfKings
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐! โ๏ธ
Bigblackted4
Superstar
Projected introduced me to Navy Blue who is dope af
KingsOfKings
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐! โ๏ธ
Dude is
KingsOfKings
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐! โ๏ธ
4 years ago today mark
If weโre not counting features and random singles but full-on projects, this is the last we heard from Earl/Thebe. โsolaceโ saw him at his worst state, but ended with a slight ray of hope in the lines above. His position as the youngest old man hasnโt changed much. If anything, itโs been more set in stone with Some Rap Songs, his best project yet and the album Iโve been wanting to hear from Earl Sweatshirt since his return from Samoa in 2012. While both albums had their highlights, I left Doris and I Donโt Like shyt with a lot to be desired. The lurking shadow of Odd Future still encompassed Earl on these projects, as even he himself realized that he was in a bit of a purgatory where he couldnโt quite be Earl, nor Thebe. With โsolace,โ it was the first time that I truly felt like I was hearing Thebe.
Weโll return to โsolaceโ throughout this review, but youโre all here to talk about Some Rap Songs, so Iโll get to it. This is a fukking great album, full stop. It is the best thing Earl/Thebe has put out yet and is the project Iโve been wanting from him for years. Right off the bat with โShattered Dreams,โ we hear the new sound he has developed for himself. No longer rapping behind the dark and DAW-based soundscapes that defined Odd Future for years, heโs instead rapping behind hypnotic, looping samples, usually from obscure soul and funk songs from the 1970s & 80s.
Taking an initial sample from a James Baldwin speech, and then another from The Endeavors that serves as the songโs main backbone, Thebe sets the stone for what this album is about: him. Obviously, but more specifically, his headspace. Ending the first chorus (which serves as the albumโs first set of bars) with the lines โBlast off, buckshot into my ceilin' / Why ain't nobody tell me I was bleedin'? / Please, nobody pinch me out this dream.โ The depression we saw him fighting through on โsolaceโ and throughout his entire discography is very much alive, but heโs seemingly been working on himself a lot since the last time weโve heard him.
This self-progress seeps through the entire record, as Thebe sounds the most confident weโve ever heard him on this album, fully aware of all his abilities and working within a sound that truly fits him best. Part of it is some of the weight of depression being lifted off his soul, as both โShattered Dreamsโ and the next track, โRed Waterโ, mention Thebe wondering to himself why he didnโt try to fix himself sooner, as he spits โYeah, I know I'm a king / Stock on my shoulder, I was sinkin' / I ain't know that I could leave.โ
Also on โRed Waterโ, Thebe introduces the albumโs concept of brevity with the line โGotta keep it briefโ, as Some Rap Songs only clocks in at 24 minutes with most tracks only lasting less than two minutes. This has been the albumโs biggest point of contention among fans so I will say this: anyone who thinks this album is too short is a fool and deserves to only be able to listen to bloated-ass mainstream rap albums for the rest of their life. Some Rap Songs doesnโt waste a single minute of its runtime and rarely do I ever feel like the album needs more tracks, or needs longer tracks. Everything is damn near perfect where it is, as one of the biggest problems of previous Earl Sweatshirt albums was that some of the songs (like โDNAโ and โMantraโ from IDLS or โHiveโ and โGuildโ from Doris) went on for much longer than necessary.
This sense of brevity really kicks in with โCold Summersโ which gets in and out in a minute before you even know it. But despite its short length, even for this album, Thebe gets in plenty of wisdom that shows you how heโs grown over the years, with the line โOf course my old lover was scorned, we grow from itโ always getting me, as one of my keys to getting out a depressive funk I found myself in over a year ago was taking a step outside myself, and not having so much anger for those who โwrongedโ me in the past. Thebe knows and I knows that not only does this scorn heal over time, itโs healing that can only be done with growth.
And growth is the albumโs strongest theme, as in the โfew summers too longโ he spent away, a lot has changed. On a slightly superficial level, heโs grown as a rapper. His rhymes and flows are tighter, his voice has added some more timber with age as lines like โnikka it's on, chest thump, his head thump on the floor / We pressed up on the boy, no more bluffin'โ feel much more genuine and assured than โI'll fukk the freckles off your face, bytch.โ I donโt want to spend this review putting down his old music so much but it really is amazing to see how much heโs grown into himself with this album. On a recent Indieheads Podcast, I discussed with my co-host Jackson about what makes this album feel so different than his previous work, and that itโs because heโs no longer in a limbo between the person he was before he left for Samoa and the person he was meant to become upon coming back. Heโs truly found himself as a person, and Some Rap Songs is the artistic expression of that.
Weโll return to โsolaceโ throughout this review, but youโre all here to talk about Some Rap Songs, so Iโll get to it. This is a fukking great album, full stop. It is the best thing Earl/Thebe has put out yet and is the project Iโve been wanting from him for years. Right off the bat with โShattered Dreams,โ we hear the new sound he has developed for himself. No longer rapping behind the dark and DAW-based soundscapes that defined Odd Future for years, heโs instead rapping behind hypnotic, looping samples, usually from obscure soul and funk songs from the 1970s & 80s.
Taking an initial sample from a James Baldwin speech, and then another from The Endeavors that serves as the songโs main backbone, Thebe sets the stone for what this album is about: him. Obviously, but more specifically, his headspace. Ending the first chorus (which serves as the albumโs first set of bars) with the lines โBlast off, buckshot into my ceilin' / Why ain't nobody tell me I was bleedin'? / Please, nobody pinch me out this dream.โ The depression we saw him fighting through on โsolaceโ and throughout his entire discography is very much alive, but heโs seemingly been working on himself a lot since the last time weโve heard him.
This self-progress seeps through the entire record, as Thebe sounds the most confident weโve ever heard him on this album, fully aware of all his abilities and working within a sound that truly fits him best. Part of it is some of the weight of depression being lifted off his soul, as both โShattered Dreamsโ and the next track, โRed Waterโ, mention Thebe wondering to himself why he didnโt try to fix himself sooner, as he spits โYeah, I know I'm a king / Stock on my shoulder, I was sinkin' / I ain't know that I could leave.โ
Also on โRed Waterโ, Thebe introduces the albumโs concept of brevity with the line โGotta keep it briefโ, as Some Rap Songs only clocks in at 24 minutes with most tracks only lasting less than two minutes. This has been the albumโs biggest point of contention among fans so I will say this: anyone who thinks this album is too short is a fool and deserves to only be able to listen to bloated-ass mainstream rap albums for the rest of their life. Some Rap Songs doesnโt waste a single minute of its runtime and rarely do I ever feel like the album needs more tracks, or needs longer tracks. Everything is damn near perfect where it is, as one of the biggest problems of previous Earl Sweatshirt albums was that some of the songs (like โDNAโ and โMantraโ from IDLS or โHiveโ and โGuildโ from Doris) went on for much longer than necessary.
This sense of brevity really kicks in with โCold Summersโ which gets in and out in a minute before you even know it. But despite its short length, even for this album, Thebe gets in plenty of wisdom that shows you how heโs grown over the years, with the line โOf course my old lover was scorned, we grow from itโ always getting me, as one of my keys to getting out a depressive funk I found myself in over a year ago was taking a step outside myself, and not having so much anger for those who โwrongedโ me in the past. Thebe knows and I knows that not only does this scorn heal over time, itโs healing that can only be done with growth.
And growth is the albumโs strongest theme, as in the โfew summers too longโ he spent away, a lot has changed. On a slightly superficial level, heโs grown as a rapper. His rhymes and flows are tighter, his voice has added some more timber with age as lines like โnikka it's on, chest thump, his head thump on the floor / We pressed up on the boy, no more bluffin'โ feel much more genuine and assured than โI'll fukk the freckles off your face, bytch.โ I donโt want to spend this review putting down his old music so much but it really is amazing to see how much heโs grown into himself with this album. On a recent Indieheads Podcast, I discussed with my co-host Jackson about what makes this album feel so different than his previous work, and that itโs because heโs no longer in a limbo between the person he was before he left for Samoa and the person he was meant to become upon coming back. Heโs truly found himself as a person, and Some Rap Songs is the artistic expression of that.
It was very clear this was going to be the case right away when I first heard โNowhere2go,โ the albumโs lead single and one that, in retrospect, wasnโt so much an indicator of the albumโs sound. The songโs glitchy production, done by Booliemane and Ade Hakim (FKA Sixpress), feels similar to the work of Shabazz Palaces, in that wait how the fukk is he rapping on this? The percussion is all over the place, the vocals heard throughout feel like one of those โpop song but 800% slowerโ videos, and other little flourishes that can only be discovered on repeated listens. The content itself though? It was a proper re-introduction of Earl/Thebe, giving you an idea of what heโs been up to, how heโs feeling, and where heโs going from here. Despite the somber tone that bars like โYeah, I think I spent most of my life depressed (Most of my) / Only thing on my mind was death (On my) / Didn't know if my time was next (Next, yeah, yeah)โ imply, the use of past tense here is really important, as itโs clear heโs doing a hell of a lot better.
I be with Mike and Med (Mike, Med)
Nowadays I be with Sage and with Six-press, ya dig? (Press)
I'm in L.A. with Glen, please come and claim ya kid
I cannot play with them (Yeah, yeah, uh, whoa)
Above is the shoutout on the track to the friends heโs made or heโs gotten closer to since the last time we heard him, as depression is rarely a beast you can fight alone. He gives a shout out to his fans, but thereโs an asterisk there, as despite the fact that โYou went and gave me a cape (Cape),โ โthat never gave me no hope (Hope, yeah, hope, hope).โ And as I said before, I still canโt believe that Thebe is rapping on this song. I had a similar reaction to โAinโt It Funnyโ by Danny Brown when that came out, although my reaction here was a bit more muted considering the difference in sound/content these songs have. Nevertheless, both songs left me in a flustered state to figure out how their brains are operating like this. Oh and Thebeโs got himself a lowkey Carti flow on this that I like a lot but thatโs neither here nor there.
Speaking about brevity earlier, I should probably get back to the rest of the songs, huh? December 24th is one of the albumโs most straightforward, living up to the title of the album for just a fukking rap song. The first recorded for the album, Earl/Thebe is just going off an incredible beat with bars like โAllen with the picked 'fro, answer in the outlet / Alley-oopin' all the shyt home / Powered-up, out for the assist / Don't panic when it get cold, we go at it, hoโ and โDon't think he said he pro-violence / But it's gon' be your problem if he did, though.โ However in the midst of these of bars towards the end, Earl/Thebe raps โBad apple, daily clashin' with my kinfolk / Bad acid did damage to my mental,โ with both these lines indicating major themes on this album, issues with his family and drug addiction.
And conveniently enough, these themes pop up on the next track but itโs clear some time has passed, as Thebeโs had some peace and acceptance, and even regret for how heโs treated his family, specifically his mother, with the bar โMomma say don't play with them scabs / It's safe to say I see the reason I'm bleeding out,โ obviously a double entendre for both the literal scabs that develop on your body and the more symbolic scabs, the bad influences on your life that eventually drain you for everything youโre worth. He gets into more of these societal scabs the bar before: โDon't play with us, I revisit the past / Port wine and pages of pads,โ referencing South Africaโs history of Apartheid with the references to Port wine and the Pages of Pass, calling back to his South African father who lived in exile in the United States for various periods of his life.
A specific line in โThe Bendsโ hurts even more knowing it was recorded before his fatherโs death, when Thebe raps early on โPeace to my mans, gotta go be with your fam more (For real).โ However despite this bittersweet beginning, the song overall is a song of inspiration, seeing how far he and his peers have come โa long way from the dikkies and dirty JanSports.โ The line โBend, we don't break, we not the bankโ reoccurs throughout the verse, repeating both because this is a song and repetition is an extremely popular element used in songwriting, but also as a constant reminder for Thebe and his peers to not let them win and destroy you.
This inspiration keeps ahold on the track โAzucarโ, featuring some truly great production from Navy Blue. Bars like โMy cushion was a bosom on bad days / There's not a black woman I can't thankโ and โI only get better with time / That's what my mom say to dodge Satanโ show a positive outlook, but Thebe knows heโs not 100% there yet. Thereโs still some โsugar in my gas tankโ as he says, but thereโs still a lot of growth here. I think the songs most powerful line once again is in his reference to his family: โMama said she used to see my father in me / Said I was not offended.โ Having spent most of his early career bad mouthing his father, itโs almost shocking to hear that at one point in his youth Thebe loved his father and didnโt mind being compared to him. It seems now thatโs come full circle once again in his adulthood.
This sense of hope moves to the shadows on the intensely paced โEclipseโ, as even on an album filled with blink and youโll miss it moments and songs, โEclipseโ says a lot in very little time with a hypnotic and psychedelic beat, locking in a tough to achieve loop as Earl/Thebeโs vocals seemed to have aged backwards almost (not shocking considering the album was recorded throughout a three-years span). I consider this a flashback of sorts into a darker time in his life, as after the chorus he opens the song with โSay goodbye to my openness, total eclipse / Of my shine that I've grown to miss when holding shyt in / Open my lids, my eyes said my soul is amiss (Soul is) / The signs say we close to the end (Close)โ
While obviously not every song has a clear date of when it was recorded (except for โDecember 24thโ), itโs a bit easier to figure out the timeline when considering how much fame weighs on Earl/Thebeโs conscious. โFacts, it's rugged on the peak / Don't stumble, serve culinary treats, bro (Please) / The herd hungry, gotta eat (Woah)โ calls back somewhat to Vince Staplesโ intro on โBurgandyโ:
Whatโs up, nikka? Why you so depressed and sad all the time like a little bytch? Whatโs the problem, man? nikkas want to hear you rap. Donโt nobody care about how you feel, we want raps, nikka. Raps.
I be with Mike and Med (Mike, Med)
Nowadays I be with Sage and with Six-press, ya dig? (Press)
I'm in L.A. with Glen, please come and claim ya kid
I cannot play with them (Yeah, yeah, uh, whoa)
Above is the shoutout on the track to the friends heโs made or heโs gotten closer to since the last time we heard him, as depression is rarely a beast you can fight alone. He gives a shout out to his fans, but thereโs an asterisk there, as despite the fact that โYou went and gave me a cape (Cape),โ โthat never gave me no hope (Hope, yeah, hope, hope).โ And as I said before, I still canโt believe that Thebe is rapping on this song. I had a similar reaction to โAinโt It Funnyโ by Danny Brown when that came out, although my reaction here was a bit more muted considering the difference in sound/content these songs have. Nevertheless, both songs left me in a flustered state to figure out how their brains are operating like this. Oh and Thebeโs got himself a lowkey Carti flow on this that I like a lot but thatโs neither here nor there.
Speaking about brevity earlier, I should probably get back to the rest of the songs, huh? December 24th is one of the albumโs most straightforward, living up to the title of the album for just a fukking rap song. The first recorded for the album, Earl/Thebe is just going off an incredible beat with bars like โAllen with the picked 'fro, answer in the outlet / Alley-oopin' all the shyt home / Powered-up, out for the assist / Don't panic when it get cold, we go at it, hoโ and โDon't think he said he pro-violence / But it's gon' be your problem if he did, though.โ However in the midst of these of bars towards the end, Earl/Thebe raps โBad apple, daily clashin' with my kinfolk / Bad acid did damage to my mental,โ with both these lines indicating major themes on this album, issues with his family and drug addiction.
And conveniently enough, these themes pop up on the next track but itโs clear some time has passed, as Thebeโs had some peace and acceptance, and even regret for how heโs treated his family, specifically his mother, with the bar โMomma say don't play with them scabs / It's safe to say I see the reason I'm bleeding out,โ obviously a double entendre for both the literal scabs that develop on your body and the more symbolic scabs, the bad influences on your life that eventually drain you for everything youโre worth. He gets into more of these societal scabs the bar before: โDon't play with us, I revisit the past / Port wine and pages of pads,โ referencing South Africaโs history of Apartheid with the references to Port wine and the Pages of Pass, calling back to his South African father who lived in exile in the United States for various periods of his life.
A specific line in โThe Bendsโ hurts even more knowing it was recorded before his fatherโs death, when Thebe raps early on โPeace to my mans, gotta go be with your fam more (For real).โ However despite this bittersweet beginning, the song overall is a song of inspiration, seeing how far he and his peers have come โa long way from the dikkies and dirty JanSports.โ The line โBend, we don't break, we not the bankโ reoccurs throughout the verse, repeating both because this is a song and repetition is an extremely popular element used in songwriting, but also as a constant reminder for Thebe and his peers to not let them win and destroy you.
This inspiration keeps ahold on the track โAzucarโ, featuring some truly great production from Navy Blue. Bars like โMy cushion was a bosom on bad days / There's not a black woman I can't thankโ and โI only get better with time / That's what my mom say to dodge Satanโ show a positive outlook, but Thebe knows heโs not 100% there yet. Thereโs still some โsugar in my gas tankโ as he says, but thereโs still a lot of growth here. I think the songs most powerful line once again is in his reference to his family: โMama said she used to see my father in me / Said I was not offended.โ Having spent most of his early career bad mouthing his father, itโs almost shocking to hear that at one point in his youth Thebe loved his father and didnโt mind being compared to him. It seems now thatโs come full circle once again in his adulthood.
This sense of hope moves to the shadows on the intensely paced โEclipseโ, as even on an album filled with blink and youโll miss it moments and songs, โEclipseโ says a lot in very little time with a hypnotic and psychedelic beat, locking in a tough to achieve loop as Earl/Thebeโs vocals seemed to have aged backwards almost (not shocking considering the album was recorded throughout a three-years span). I consider this a flashback of sorts into a darker time in his life, as after the chorus he opens the song with โSay goodbye to my openness, total eclipse / Of my shine that I've grown to miss when holding shyt in / Open my lids, my eyes said my soul is amiss (Soul is) / The signs say we close to the end (Close)โ
While obviously not every song has a clear date of when it was recorded (except for โDecember 24thโ), itโs a bit easier to figure out the timeline when considering how much fame weighs on Earl/Thebeโs conscious. โFacts, it's rugged on the peak / Don't stumble, serve culinary treats, bro (Please) / The herd hungry, gotta eat (Woah)โ calls back somewhat to Vince Staplesโ intro on โBurgandyโ:
Whatโs up, nikka? Why you so depressed and sad all the time like a little bytch? Whatโs the problem, man? nikkas want to hear you rap. Donโt nobody care about how you feel, we want raps, nikka. Raps.
Obviously the most ironic thing about Some Rap Songs is that a good majority of the album is about how Thebe feels. However, heโs been able tangle his personal life into the stellar wordplay heโs known for with less and less effort, as unlike some of his early inspirations like Eminem who developed what Iโll call โtechnical rap brain worms,โ Thebe is able to spin his life into poetry naturally. Thus, we get to โVeins,โ which was initially the albumโs last rap song in the original version.
โVeinsโ in general is a callback to the album we heard and the albums and songs we heard before it. With the Billy Jones sample and Earlโs tone, it definitely feels like it was intended to be the outro of sorts in sound too, not only content. Thereโs just so many good lines and bars here so Iโll just list it down to a top 5:
โStuck in Trump Land, watching subtlety decayin'โ
โWhen it's time to put my burnt body in a case / Tell my momma I said thank youโ
โSince birth mama raised and burped me, I ain't changed / I'm a man, I'm just saying that I stayed imperfectโ
โIt's been a minute since I heard applause / It's been a minute since you seen or heard from me, I've been swerving callsโ
โI've been eating good you can see it in my tummy / But I'm buggin', I've been spending more money than I'm making"
โVeinsโ and the following โPlaying Possumโ should have been seen as a victory lap. I mean just look at the night and day difference between the lines above from โVeinsโ and then this line from โsolaceโ:
I spent days faded and anemic
You could see it in my face, I ain't been eatin', I'm just wastin' away
Having the end of your album be a tribute to your parents with their voices going back and forth on a track showcasing their love and passion for their family and their work? Itโs wholesome as hell. Or was. Still is? Iโm not exactly sure, as right after we hear the applause play upon the end of Keorapetse Kgositsile reading his poem โAnguish Longer Than Sorrow,โ the album turns rotten, more foul than anything weโve heard before.
Itโs a taste more bitter for how familiar it is. On an album dedicated to his growth as a person and his wins in the battle against depression, his efforts are deemed futile by the sudden death of his father. Over a distorted sample and rusted piano chords, Thebe bears his soul. Trying to recreate the sounds and flows of โNowhere2goโ almost, he finds himself lost. Any ad-lib of โayyโ feels like one of denial. Lines like โFamily saw you on that stage, left it not amazedโ and โFlushin' through the pain, depression, this is not a phase, ayy / Picking out his grave, couldn't help but feel out of placeโ are brutal. Similar to โsolace,โ this song feels like the sonic embodiment of depression.
โVeinsโ in general is a callback to the album we heard and the albums and songs we heard before it. With the Billy Jones sample and Earlโs tone, it definitely feels like it was intended to be the outro of sorts in sound too, not only content. Thereโs just so many good lines and bars here so Iโll just list it down to a top 5:
โStuck in Trump Land, watching subtlety decayin'โ
โWhen it's time to put my burnt body in a case / Tell my momma I said thank youโ
โSince birth mama raised and burped me, I ain't changed / I'm a man, I'm just saying that I stayed imperfectโ
โIt's been a minute since I heard applause / It's been a minute since you seen or heard from me, I've been swerving callsโ
โI've been eating good you can see it in my tummy / But I'm buggin', I've been spending more money than I'm making"
โVeinsโ and the following โPlaying Possumโ should have been seen as a victory lap. I mean just look at the night and day difference between the lines above from โVeinsโ and then this line from โsolaceโ:
I spent days faded and anemic
You could see it in my face, I ain't been eatin', I'm just wastin' away
Having the end of your album be a tribute to your parents with their voices going back and forth on a track showcasing their love and passion for their family and their work? Itโs wholesome as hell. Or was. Still is? Iโm not exactly sure, as right after we hear the applause play upon the end of Keorapetse Kgositsile reading his poem โAnguish Longer Than Sorrow,โ the album turns rotten, more foul than anything weโve heard before.
Itโs a taste more bitter for how familiar it is. On an album dedicated to his growth as a person and his wins in the battle against depression, his efforts are deemed futile by the sudden death of his father. Over a distorted sample and rusted piano chords, Thebe bears his soul. Trying to recreate the sounds and flows of โNowhere2goโ almost, he finds himself lost. Any ad-lib of โayyโ feels like one of denial. Lines like โFamily saw you on that stage, left it not amazedโ and โFlushin' through the pain, depression, this is not a phase, ayy / Picking out his grave, couldn't help but feel out of placeโ are brutal. Similar to โsolace,โ this song feels like the sonic embodiment of depression.
Cloutius Maximus
with the aid of the Funk...
i actually wasn't feeling this at first but it finally hit for me last year and this shyt is 10/10 for me now
easily Earl's best album so far and will be seen as a hip-hop classic in time
easily Earl's best album so far and will be seen as a hip-hop classic in time
FukyourFort
All Star
Fully agree. Its a classic and his best album
Guvnor
Da Speculative Spectacleยฎ
maybe not his best but definitely his last good album imo.
KingsOfKings
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐! โ๏ธ
5 year mark today
KingsOfKings
โ๏ธ ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ด๐! โ๏ธ
6 years in
Fiji Water
Every moment is an opportunity
I thought I was the only one still bumping this
