What shadows live in your silences? Random notes on the appeal of Earl Sweatshirt Jeremiah Follow Dec 3, 2018 · 8 min read

The first time I listened to Earl sweatshirt I didn’t get him. I’ll keep it a hunnid percentile. I didn’t get the deep voice that didn’t match the body of the kid, or the lazy sounding flow, neither did I get the double entendres and on the rare occasions I did, they didn’t get through to me.

Somewhere between not being into Earl and enjoying his teammates’ music (Odd Future), I found out he is actually hilarious. Vine days antics, holding shoes up to his ears in rapper poses and adult swim comedy skits and loiter squad shenanigans. It left an impression on me that these kids were doing things carefree. There was a refreshing authenticity to that, as much of the content from rappers we saw was so calculated.

Then something interesting happened, raps most eager contender for the throne Kendrick mentioned earl sweatshirt when he was asked who his favourite rapper right now was. I’m not ashamed to say that this renewed my interest again. Soon Earl released an EP called solace, songs like wind in my sails, mirror, and balance.

Let’s take wind in my sails for example. The intro of this song uses Eugene McDaniels’ “The Parasite (For Buffy)” A song which recounts the tale of the colonialists being welcomed by the inviting Native Americans in Plymouth, just to devastate their territory and locals. In a ten-minute tribute to the Native Americans that intensifies with every chorus, he closes suddenly in the strangest way: McDaniels begins to shout with awfulness at their situation and the band bounces to wild blaring screams. The commotion might come off guard to ears attuned to mostly trap music but regardless you can tell Eugenes heart is in it. The songs’ genius is in capturing something so close to the pain of the indigenous people through just vocals and melodies. With that in mind, I came back to earls song, surprised a 22-year-old at that time would choose a song like this as intro.

A lotta father figures followin’ trends I ain’t involved with ’em Lemmings like to fall off of cliffs And bring they squad with ’em I seen God in the mirror drinking I tee off when the spirit hit me And I don’t fear the ending I feel the envy I listen to my past when it whisper to me Half of it makes sense My nigga half of it riddles to me Moses with a makeshift staff Sending ripples through ya And through the land And the river been a plan But when I go to grab it, it slither out my hand So on my other hand I been hand-ling business

Wind in my Sails (2016)- Earl Sweatshirt

Apart from none of these songs being released through normal channels i.e. Spotify and co. they had a few things in common. The level of introspection with what came across like a lazy tone but after closer listens was actually a relaxed and natural way of rhyming. A better way to describe this is maybe more of a conversation on jazzy beats than rhyming. This was a shift for me. I suddenly was in the mind of a kid that is holding an honest conversation with his listeners. All the songs had sprinkles of moments of truth. A cadence that felt like it was always a step ahead of the slightly slow pace beats. Scattered piano keys often accompanied by no drums, sounds of trumpets and foreign instruments. The whole vibe had a slight depressive feel to it. Some parts I felt tore me apart emotionally, especially when talking about his mom or grandma. Still, I couldn’t beat the feeling that something great was going on here, his attitude on those songs also a had a refreshing youthful anger to them.

„Trynna sneak the cake up out the motherfucking bakery quiet Dodge and evade all the fire Watch what you saying to sire Stay out my face and my wallet Move state to state for the profit Said that on Sunday, you peeped it A tiny list of my peoples I see ’em all as my equal So the difference between us, is a just a pimp and a preacher I’m running quick from my demons I crush the spliff with my sneaker You know the difference between us These niggas fraud you could see it, all of them out of their feelings I know my heart so I speak it I love the squad so I lead it Eyes wide open, I’m sleepy I’m on the highway, I’m weaving in and out of my lanes I call mom say, that I was all the power I needed She say she glad I’m called she just can’t believe it I’m gone“

Quest/Power — Earl Sweatshirt

This led me on a journey into more of his music, luckily the months and years that followed had an influx of great music by earl. The juxtaposition of his social media persona or vine days shenanigans and the content of his music. Further, the contrast between his persona off mic, being goofy and other times serious and introspective created a unique character in my head and someone oddly relatable. More than other rappers at that time.

I suddenly understood the appeal he had and why he had such strong following. The authenticity in his backstory squaring up in backyards (you can find the worldstar type footage on youtube to this day). At the height of his newfound fame, being sent off by his mother, to live in group homes on a distant island. Returning and not knowing how to navigate fame and who can be trusted. As well as the thin thread of black consciousness and reality that ran through his later releases. The verses in his rhymes served as therapy for himself and his listeners. They didn’t come from a holier than thou place and not from below either but on eye level with the listener. Charging straight at him without shucking and jiving.

Interestingly, just around the time I finally grasped what made earls music so different, is when he seemed to have disappeared into the shadows. During earls hiatus, his Father South Africa’s National Poet Laureate, Keorapetse ‘Bra Willie’ Kgositsile passed away. So it was safe to say none of us were expecting any music from earl for a while.

A poem earl posted after his father passed.

But lo and behold the boy dropped a song called ‘’Nowhere2go’’. This song had all the usual signs of earls type of music. But you can hear that the youthful anger got less. It was replaced by what sounded more like purpose, making a way out of a rut and towards inner peace. The song sounds psychedelic, with tribal drums and harmonic obscure African vocals in the background.

Many of the song’s lines had a potency to it like “u niggas gave me a cape but that never gave me no hope”. He knows kids look up to him for direction but he himself seems to struggle with that. Continuing ‘’I found a new way to cope, ain’t no slavin my soul, I keep the memories close by’’ even though the song feels melancholic, it still permeates a triumphant spirit. A mastery over his spirit over his environment. On his new album SRS (Some Rap Songs) he courses through the songs in a similar fashion.

This style of rapping where he removes all of the barriers to understanding by using simple language in the local dialect or slang that cuts straight through to his listeners. The topic of afro-american slang makes its appearance on the album as well. With a constant sample playing, that has a man asking, when Slang will be accepted as a form of dialect. Some Linguists’ who are in touch with their times, would call this way of talking informal and unmonitored speech. In other words, the way you talk at home, with close friends and family, when you’re not self-monitoring and censoring yourself.

To take this further especially on this new album, is the earnest simplicity of his writing. His writing doesn’t attempt to manipulate the listener, and it doesn’t seem to aim beyond high school English in complexity. It’s workmanlike, unaffected, and personal. To me, this sort of style of writing brings to mind the style of musicians like Fela Kuti and Bob Marley mixed with a good dose of MF Doom.

Omi o l’ota o

If you fight am, unless you wan die

I say water no get enemy

If you fight am, unless you wan die

Omi o l’ota o

I dey talk of Black man power

I dey talk of Black power, I say

I say water no get enemy

If you fight am, unless you wan die

I say water no get enemy

I say water no get enemy

Omi o l’ota o

Omi o l’ota o

Water no get enemy — Fela Kuti

And I’m not saying that these idols are like rappers using simple language, or maybe I’m elevating earls music beyond the status it normally attains. But if you think about this, for example, if we say the way subcultures in music function hasn’t changed much since the days of Fela-Kuti and Marley. Then would you say its far-fetched to say the kids that listened to these musicians could have similarities (at least in temperament) to kids that listen to the earls?

(Never miss your water until your well runs dry

No matter how you treat him, the man will never be satisfied.)

Say something! (Could you be — could you be — could you be loved?

Could you be — could you be loved?)

Say something! Say something!

(Could you be — could you be — could you be loved?)

Say something!

Could you be loved — Bob Marley

You find overlapping themes in the content of all these guys. The way the close and personal bleeds into the larger political. The core theme of which is figuring out a reality in which a young blacks can coexist, know themselves and by the extension, live their lives fully. This central idea permeates through all of the music, with no clear answers but guesses. Perhaps there is ‘’Nowhere2go’’ as earls single title suggests, nowhere to go but into oneself and perhaps the best way to achieve that is to get back into a tradition of using honest and simple language.