Welcome back to the Music Criterion for the first installment of this new semester. This is a special one to start off, as my favorite artist released an album in mid January that I would like to discuss. 

Earl Sweatshirt has returned with his fourth studio album, “Sick!” Earl Sweatshirt has been a controversial artist for many years in the hip hop community. He started his career very early in his teenage years, capitalizing on shock value and aggression with his Odd Future counterparts Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, and Domo Genesis as well as close friends Mac Miller and Vince Staples. 

His artistic evolution from those early days has been beautiful to watch, as his music became more experimental and in turn, more divisive amongst listeners. After 2015’s, “I Don’t like S**t, I Don’t Go Outside,” there is a newly apparent influence in Earl’s music from a  group of creatives out of New York known as sLums, which consists of artists like MIKE, Standing on the Corner, Ade Hakim, and King Carter. Earl’s inspiration from them led to what many would call his magnum opus, “Some Rap Songs” and the more divisive spin-off EP, “Feet of Clay.” 

These two projects left fans wondering where Earl would take his sound next and this new offering, “Sick!” seems like a natural and expertly planned progression. Earl takes the lo-fi sound he perfected on “Some Rap Songs” and adds more accessible ideas on the production side, thanks to the legendary Alchemist and Black Noi$e co-producing the project. 

Earl’s vocals are much clearer in most of these new tracks than they have been on his last two which allows his flows and lyrics to shine through to the average listener more than they did on “Some Rap Songs.” The album opens with the hypnotizing track “Old Friend,” and moves into a hard hitting three track run comprising “2010,” “Sick!” and “Vision.” These songs go back to back with dizzying loops, dark undertones, and some of Earl’s most exciting and clever lyrics since 2015. 

A notable standout feature on this album is delivered by Zelooperz, an artist I have written about in the past. He continues his hot streak from last year on the track “Vision,” where he raps over a hard to grasp cascading trap-esque beat that comes in out of nowhere after an intro skit. 

Earl’s lyrics and overall concept on this project cryptically makes ties between the political landscape of the U.S. during the pandemic years and his own personal struggles throughout these years with drug use and depression. 

He establishes ties between the COVID-19 pandemic and drug epidemics in major cities around the U.S. to later explain how he has personally been affected by both. His writing does remain as heavy and layered as all past projects, which means I am still figuring out the meaning and purpose of many verses on the project a month later. 

This is a great new project from Earl Sweatshirt and similar to “Some Rap Songs,” despite the very short run time of 24 minutes; though, there is weeks worth of content throughout to unpack. Everything from the production to the lyricism is purposeful and sharp. My favorite tracks are “Vision,” “Tabula Rasa” (great features on this song from Billy Woods and Elucid), “Lye,” “God Laughs” and “Titanic.” I rate “Sick!” by Earl Sweatshirt 9/10.

Other Albums I Have Been Listening to Recently:

• Al. Divino & Futurewave – Kataklizm
• ICYTWAT – Siddhi
• Your Old Droog & Tha God Fahim – Tha Wolf on Wall St II
• Sideshow – Farley