Day 46
Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
So I know what your probably thinking, oh god its another ****ing Odd Future review I hate those guys. Now I can see why you might say that, but you have to give this album a chance, and I'm about to give you the reasons why.
So a bit of backround because without knowing that you can't really get the full idea of what this album presents. Earl Sweatshirt is a California rapper and prominent member of LA based hip-hop collective that is OFWGKTA or Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. His debut mixtape EARL came out when he was 16 years old, and throughout told stories of brutal murders, rape, cannabalism, and general mayhem and damn was it good. The lo-fi production from Tyler, The Creator completely fit the punk or DIY asthetic being displayed in those Early OF releases, and Earl's rapping felt juvenile on the surface, but digging a bit deeper you really can tell what an accomplished writer by the time of the albums release. And then he dissapered, completely out of the limelight while other OF members like Tyler, The Creator, Mellowhype, Domo Genesis, and Frank Ocean went onto great success. Meanwhile Earl (a.k.a Thebe) was sent to a boarding school in Samoa by his mother for various reasons. Two years later he comes back, and is pushed to release something and Doris is the product of that.
Doris is great on two major levels, the first being how far Earl progessed as a rapper in his time in Samoa. And secondly it's a deeply personal album even self-deprecating at times some thing that is not shown very much in modern mainstream rap. Songs like Chum and Burgundy really show this off, with the latter having an intro done by Vince Staples where he talks about how no one really cares how Thebe feels and they just want raps, they don't care what he has going on even calling him a little bitch, and they just want an album from the guy. The first lines "Grandma's passing, but I'm to busy trying to get this ****ing album cracking" really show this on display even sounding like he's tearing up at the very beggining of the song. Another thing worth mentioning is Earl's style of rapping, it's almost completely monotone throughout the entire album, and I love it. It sounds like Earl almost disinterested in how people think of him, and doing this for himself. Other songs like Prez, Hive, and Centurion (which btw features an awesome Can sample) show a darker side, but not the cartoonish dark on EARL more of a personal type of dark. And while yes most songs on Doris end up being very personal and sometimes very depressing, the album is not without its fun moments like Sunday, 20 Wave Caps, and WOAH!. Sunday is more lighthearted track about past relationships, and a great guest feature from Frank Ocean, whole 20 Wave Caps features Domo and is one of the few more bragadocious tracks, but it dosent break up any kind of consistancy the album already has going, and WOAH! features and is produced by Tyler and it really brings out the most lighthearted Earl is on the enitre album, it truly sounds like they had a lot of fun working on this track. It is reminiscent of AssMilk, but without all the murder and rape on that.
All and all Doris has been the OF release I've enjoyed most of there discography beating o it WOLF only because of the condesed feel of the album, with all songs being fairly short and the album only lasting about 40 minutes as opposed to the 70 we get from WOLF. I feel it's a must listen even if you're not a fan of Odd Future, and encourages multiple listens.
|