There once was a time where many felt lyricism in hip hop was dead. Due to the fact of the mainstream clubby radio sound becoming so huge. Most thought all it takes is to have a catchy hook with a great beat. In some cases this may be true. But nowadays, in 2013, that's far from the case. A huge crop of new rappers have emerged that already have made lyricism popular again. Showing that it's far from dead. Take Earl Sweatshirt for example. All of the members of Odd Future stand out in their own unique way. But of all of them no one stood out to me more than Earl. I was overly impressed with his brilliant lyrical ability. Mind you, this was in 2010 when I caught on to him. When he only sixteen years old. To be able to spit lyrics like that at such a young age is just completely rare in hip hop today. Lyrical hip hop legends like LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, and Nas to name a few started around that age as well. Earl has the potential to follow in their footsteps. After his successful mixtape titled Earl in 2010 and a couple of Odd Future projects, it's now time for his debut album Doris. Now this was a project that I eagerly anticipated at the top of the year and had high expectations for. It's looks like my expectations were met...slightly. Now I do like the album and found it enjoyable. But there was a lot on this album that I didn't expect. With the exception of two songs he doesn't really go off into any serious subjects on this album. To me it sounds like just Earl straight spitting. Which is cool considering his lyrical complexity. But because of this the album kind of gives off a mixtape feel than an album. Another thing I noticed in regards to the subject matter is that it has took a major turn from what many were used to hearing from him these last three years. Unlike what you would normally expect from Odd Future or any of it's members, a lot of the topics and themes on Doris are more toned down. The topics are mostly about getting stoned, shrugging off career pressures, staring down his least favorite feelings etc. Basically the content overall was much less cartoon-ish. I guess Earl has realized the horror core/shock value content only gets you but so far and decided to go a different route with this debut. Well with this said I'll go ahead and get into my notable tracks. I'll star right off with "Chum" which was the lead single. This was one of two tracks where Earl showed some emotion and serious subject matter. The track is produced by Earl himself (under the name of Randomblackdude) and it has this very chilled piano filled beat. On here he speaks on the pain of his father leaving him with lines like "it's probably been 12 years since my father left/Left me fatherless/and I just used to say 'I hate him' in dishonest jest". Kind of the same relationship Tyler, The Creator talks about that he had with his father. Good song. Then there was the track "Sunday" which to me sounds like he's addressing some unknown female. Perhaps someone from his past. Whoever she is he showing a lot of emotion towards us. Frank Ocean comes in and delivers a decent guest verse rapping (similar to his verse on "She"). Another good song. "Hive" without a doubt is my favorite track on here. Super dope song. It has this distorted deep bass beat that's really dope. But what I was really impressed by was the guest verse by Vince Staples. He took the song to another level. I would have liked to hear Casey Veggies spit a verse too but I guess he was cool on the hook. He had two songs with Tyler, The Creator that I both enjoyed. The first is the second single "Whoa" in which this maybe the one song on here content wise that sounds more like 2010 Earl. Even Tyler says it in the beginning of the song. The beat kinda sounded like retro 90's underground horror core. This song just sounds like riding around in a car with your homies ready to commit all types of killings, robberies and other crimes. The second Tyler assisted song, and probably the better of the two was "Sasquatch". Now unlike "Whoa", Tyler actually spits a verse on this instead of just doing the hook. A dope verse too. On this song Earl to me sounds like he's describing the perfect crime spree while Tyler brings the usual OF comedic shock value lyrics. On "20 Wave Caps" Domo Genesis comes in and delivers another slamming guest verse like he did on Tyler's album. It's honestly because of that why I enjoyed that song. Earl was dope on it too but Domo brought more lyrical energy to it. "Molasses" I thought was real cool. Earl has the lyrical talent fit for a RZA beat and it went together so perfectly. Now things I didn't quite enjoy. In the middle of the album there were two interludes back to back. The first was "523" which was nothing but an instrumental. Pointless in my opinion. Probably was nothing more than an album filler. Right after that was the next interlude "Uncle Al" which had a extremely dope beat but the problem...it's an interlude. Why? This actually had somewhat of a mainstream-ish sound and would have been a favorite for most people had it not been just a one minute skit. The closing track "Knight" just didn't sit well with me for some reason. It had these weird pauses or break downs in between verse which kinda takes away from Earl and Domo's lyrics. Not only that it sounds rushed like they recorded it at the last minute. "Guild" will definitely have to grow on me. On here he and Mac Miller warp and distort their voices to make a trippy, stoner sound that fits Mac Miller's style more. What I didn't like really was the production. The beat just sounded way too flat for me. But I got a feeling it might grow on me. Well in closing, despite the many new routes Earl took with this album, I overall found it very enjoyable. I give it a final grade of a B. As mentioned before, in 2013, lyricism is not dead. What's also proven is age does not determine an artists talent on the mic. Earl Sweatshirt is living proof. Between his sharp lyricism, Tyler The Creator's ever growing popularity and Frank Ocean's notoriety on the R&B side, Odd Future gives you everything. In Earl's case, let's just hope that what I mentioned before actually happens. That he follows in the footsteps of lyrical legends who started young. I think he can. End.
Final Grade: B
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