“SICK!“ by Earl Sweatshirt was released on Jan. 14, 2022. His album is short — running only 24 minutes long with most songs being under three minutes — but concentrated with emotional revelations and relatable battles.
Sweatshirt wanted to capture the emotions he experienced during the pandemic and having to stay in isolation. Throughout his music career, he has spent a lot of time in isolation as he’s crafted his albums, so it wasn’t hard for him to illustrate the struggles of being lonely.
Nevertheless, Sweatshirt showcased how his spirit was almost revitalized during the lockdown. To me, this was one of the most hopeful albums from Sweatshirt I’ve ever heard.
While I was expecting the experimental avant-garde jazz rap that he produced on “Some Rap Songs,” I was pleasantly refreshed with the contemporary trap sounds he brought to a lot of these beats. The album served loose flows, as well as funky and hypnotic melodies. Despite Sweatshirt’s often monotone delivery, his unique rap style and rhyming schemes brought something revolutionary to the hip-hop scene.
Ever since Sweatshirt returned from a reform school in 2010, he has shown little inclination to chase the same kind of stardom some of his peers have found. In a Rolling Stones interview, Sweatshirt said he scrapped a 19-song album because it didn’t feel real.
“The album I was working on before had a really optimistic energy towards it, but it felt gross. It felt political, like a mayoral campaign,” said Sweatshirt.
Well after nearly four years, it’s safe to say Sweatshirt fans across the world are ecstatic for his return, and his music reflects that.
Old Friend, a song with fantastic beats but (in my opinion) weaker lyricism, Sweatshirt said “Mad hatters cappin’ every line/ It doesn’t matter to the ten of five.” Here, he is talking about how rappers today often lie in their rhymes, referring to the Mad Hatter, a famous character in Alice in Wonderland. I rate this song a 6/10.
2010 alludes to his return from reform school. The music video captures two different fears: isolation and disassociation, and the terrifying aspects of an uncomfortably intense drug experience. Sweatshirt detailed the feeling of being trapped inside one’s body, as it fails to experience the immediacy of one’s materiality while simultaneously feeling isolated and distant from it. He described this as though our bodies are not us, but an ‘Other’ that constrains and attacks us. I give this song an 8/10.
“SICK!” featured some unique vocal samples and hazy flows. The song included a skit of an African American man saying, “music cannot be for enjoyment, music has to be for revolution.” This is always what Sweatshirt’s music has felt like to me, there’s always a sense of purpose behind it. I rate this song a 9/10.
Like “SICK!,” “Vision (feat. Zelooperz)” featured good samples. This song was used to detail Sweatshirt’s reconciliation with God, as he is a former atheist. “Vision” also talked about overcoming pain and mental distress. The way he constructs his rhymes is so intricate and filled with detail, Sweatshirt said in “Vision”, “rainy day came/couldn’t rinse the stains off.” Instead of just saying ‘I was hurt by this event,’ Sweatshirt finds a poetic way to reveal these feelings. I thought this song was a 10/10.
“Tabula Rasa (feat. Armand Hammer)” sampled beautiful vocals and gave the impression of a more conscious, mindful Sweatshirt. Tabula Rasa is a Latin word for ‘blank slate.’ It’s the theory that everyone is born with no knowledge and that humans possess knowledge through personal experiences. This is evident in Sweatshirt and Hammer’s dynamic, as they take you through these personal experiences and show how it developed a certain mindset. Once again, this song was a 10/10.
its out rn !!!!! pic.twitter.com/zcYAuotqk2
— thebe kgositsile (@earlxsweat) January 14, 2022
Other notable mentions included “Lye,” “God Laughs,” and “Fire in the Hole.”
I rated “Lye” a 10/10. I really enjoyed the funky and hypnotic feel to the song and the Alchemist, an American musician, provided beautiful horns on the song.
“God Laughs” was an 8/10, with a psychedelic atmosphere and strong 808s it was hard not to like this song and it will definitely play as a strong contestant in my rap playlist.
I rated “Fire in the Hole” a 9/10. The guitar strings were rich, and he nicely translated his emotions into lyricism. “Lobby” and “Titanic” were not as impressive for me but they still had a distinct, emotional sound compared to most of the songs heard on the radio these days.
Overall, I recommend giving this whole album a chance. There are definitely some niche and unique sounds, but they are suitable for all genre listeners and the album offered deep and relatable subject matters the audience can connect to.