As Earl has grown up over the years, so has his music. Once an immature little kid rapping with his fellow Odd Future friends, Earl Sweatshirt and his latest album “Sick!,” represent the progress he’s been reaching for since his emergence in the rap game.
With a poet father, it’s no surprise that Earl Sweatshirt can paint a beautiful picture of metaphors in the listener’s head as his words poke pins in the soul. Over the years, listeners have sat with Sweatshirt searching for a sound to call his own, with every album he’s released coming closer and closer. At last, it seems he’s finally made it to where he wants to be.
Sweatshirt has never been a typical rapper that talks of money, drugs, and women. An alternative rapper, he shows his style through atypical, instrument-heavy beats and complex rhymes. In the song “Titanic,” he alludes to late rapper MF DOOM, representing the rapping style that Sweatshirt has developed over the years. Of course, anyone can rhyme words together, but like MF DOOM, Sweatshirt can produce complex rhymes that leave the listener stunned and wanting more.
“Sick!” resembles a concept album as listeners are not presented with a clear endpoint until the album comes to a halt at the end of the final track. Additionally, the album has an abundance of themes that coincide with Sweatshirt’s previous work. These themes include blackness and living up to his family’s image.
One downside to this album is the length. Sweatshirt leaves listeners wanting more with only ten tracks and a playtime of 24 minutes. However, It’s hard to encounter an album where you don’t want to skip a single song, and if Sweatshirt were to add more to this album, it probably would not be as good as it is. In previous albums, Sweatshirt has expressed his distaste for record companies’ minimum 16-track requirement for albums. With this in mind, listeners should be grateful that Sweatshirt has reached a point in his career where his albums can be exactly how he wants them to be.
