So this album has been a long time coming, I don’t want to be the crazy fan but it’s been over 1300 days since the last album. I was a freshman in my second semester of high school, now being a freshman in college, when Earl dropped “IDLSIGO”. So in honor of that I thought I’d drop my first review on my page, I’ve kind of ghosted since school started but this is worth the post. So here we go, “Some Rap Songs” reviewed by me.

The Art

PS. I’ll post the production credits at the bottom

1. “Shattered Dreams”

- On my first few listens I found this song to be my least favorite on the album tbh, it’ll probably grow on me but right now I feel like there’s nothing in it that makes me say wow. There’s some nice bars here and there, but overall It’s an ok opener to an album that might possibility be Earl’s best.

7/10

2. “Red Water”

- The sample on this song is insane, and Earl is spitting spitting on this one. That magic johnson double entendre is crazy. I just really like this song, the instrumental is weird enough to keep me intrigued along with Earls’ trademarked wordplay.

9/10

3. “Cold Summers”

- Probably the closest track on the album to what’s been released in the past. A grimy ass New York sounding beat that Pro Era in their prime would’ve been fiends for. One of my early favorites for sure.

10/10

4. “Nowhere to Go”

- So this song, I listened to when it first dropped and honestly I was not fucking with it at all. I didn’t like the slow tempo and no rapping rapping type Earl but over the past couple weeks I really started to like it. The lyrics fit the vibe of the instrumental really well and the beat has grown on me. Listening to it in the context of the album though it makes even more sense why it was dropped as a single. It was to prepare us for what was to come with the whole project.

9/10

5. “December 24th”

- WE FINALLY GOT BAD ACID NO MORE TO SAY ABOUT THIS BESIDES THE CDQ IS HEAVENLY!

10/10

6. “On the Way!”

- This is like the Appetizer to the Mint and honestly I really like how all the songs on this album flow into each other in a weird way. Over the past couple days since the album came out people have been saying they wished Frank or Tyler were on the album. I think Frank would’ve fit perfectly at the end of this song.

9/10

7. “The Mint”

- Once again I heard this song when it was initially released and this song fits more in context to how the album progresses. I had never heard of Navy blue before this song and after his little verse I went to check out more of his stuff. Both their verses on this song though threw me for a loop the first time because it’s off like 1/4 a beat. Earl has some very noticeable and introspective bars on here, my personal favorite is probably “I hit the spliff but don't promote it, Under overpass, no cap”. Also the outro of this song is lowkey really catchy.

9/10

8. “The Bends”

- Another crazy soul sample with amazing bars and flow. “My niggas came a long way from dickies and dirty jansports, jack of all trades, was dealing niggas a handful”. Like goddamn honestly what’s not to like in this song.

9/10

9. “Loosie”

- At this point in the album I know what the fuck is going on and now I’m just taking each song for something different. The sample gives this song more of a eerie vibe which is a good contrast to the next track. This song isn’t one of my favorite but it’s still alright. One thing about this album that’s good is if there’s a song or two you don’t like they’re usually only a minute.

7/10

10. “Azucar”

- So ten songs in and we get a song that sounds like Earls’ victory lap for what has been put on this album so far. ”Theres not a black woman I can’t thank” is a fucking bar. This song is full of bars and a great beat, I fucking love it.

10/10

11. “Eclipse”

- This song was not a favorite for me on my first listen but after a couple days I love this fucking sample and it’s just a shit show that works. It’s got this charm about it. “Hopin’ I don’t total my shit, that’s me though, Play the game no cheat code, Had to dish ‘em a free throw”. This song is great.

9/10

12. “Veins”

- Another early favorite that I just keep loving more the more I listen to it. The what I think is a Curtis Mayfield sample goes crazy on this one and It’s just bars. “Earl is not my name, the world is my domain”

10/10

13. “Playing Possum”

- This song was a sucker punch in the gut for me on first listen. If you had told lil odd future fanboy me 9 years ago that Earl would have a interlude track with his mom and dad sampled. I would’ve called you a fake fan lmfao, but this track just gives me idea that Earl made a bit of peace with his mom and that makes me happy. So for that reason...

10/10

14. “Peanut”

- From what I’ve read this song was one of two that were made after Earls father passed away, the other being “Riot”. You can tell listening to it because this song is absolutely gut wrenching. After the past few songs I had thought the more depression filled songs were done, but I was wrong, because this is the saddest song on the album. “Picking out his grave, couldn’t help but feel outta place”, like Earl just seems lost on this song. The fact he and his father were not that close yet he gets a say in where to bury him just hurts me thinking about it. I think overall though this song is amazing. It captures the emotion perfectly.

10/10

15. “Riot”

- When I was first reading the track-list for this album I thought this was going to be Earl barring out, but after hearing the previous track I knew that wasn’t going to be the case. What I was not expecting though is how happy this instrumental is, it’s almost like Earl is trying to say everything’s going to be ok after hitting us with probably the saddest song he’s ever made just before this one. The guitar is beautiful and when them horns come in I almost bust a nut.

10/10

OVERALL RATING : 9.2 out of 10

In Conclusion

- This isn’t an easy album to listen to if you aren’t really a fan of Earl, weird samples, or rap in general. I really think though this is his best project to date, as introspective as “IDLSIDGO” was it doesn’t compete with this project. I feel like I’m listening to Thebe not just Earl Sweatshirt (as corny as that sounds). This is most definitely in my top five of the year, my only gripe is that I wish it was longer but that might ruin the magic of the project.

The production

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