Hip-Hop Projects That Shouldn't Be Forgotten in 2016 - #9
Earl Sweatshirt - "I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside"
Earl Sweatshirt first made waves as the missing-in-action member of Odd Future, after being sent to a boarding school in Samoa when his mother disapproved of his less than honorable antics and decision to become a rapper (no, we aren’t making this up). In an ironic twist, the 21-year old MC returned to the public eye first with Doris, and now his sophomore effort, the moodily titled “I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside” - two projects which focus almost exclusively on heavy brooding about the negatives of attention and achieved success, and the latter which elaborates on heart-wrenching topics such as coping with the loss of his deceased grandmother. Sweatshirt makes his mark by intentionally shedding and straying away from any monikers or elements of “gimmick” rap: everything from the oftentimes eerie, sometimes beautifully somber production to the expansive lyricism are straightforward; or as straightforward as one can be when trying to express a million constrained emotions in a claustrophobic setting - this particular case being Earl’s own mind.
