My Music: Earl Sweatshirt and the Raw Psyche

Depression. Its such a taboo in society even though countless people have experienced it at some point in their time on this earth.

So why does it remain such a taboo? I believe its because parents often believe that the sheer darkness is what spreads depression. This is of course ridiculous, considering that depression isn’t a mood, its a medical condition.

Earl Sweatshirt, born Thebe Kgositsile, has a fascinating backstory. His father was an award winning poet and politician in South Africa named Keorapetse Kgositsile, and his mother Cheryl Harris is a law professor based in California. The two of them had Earl out of wedlock and Keorapetse decided not to relocate from South Africa to LA, leaving Earl without a father figure throughout his childhood.

“It’s probably been twelve years since my father left, left me fatherless
And I just used to say I hate him in dishonest jest
When honestly I miss this ni**a, like when I was six
And every time I got the chance to say it I would swallow it”

-Earl Sweatshirt (Chum)

Feeling unstable at home, it wasn’t difficult for Earl to fall into bad behaviors whilst in his adolescence. Substance abuse and light theft are often eluded to in many of his songs. He says it was his search for a strong male role model that led him to meeting Tyler, the Creator and joining his rap collective Odd Future in 2010. It was also around this time that his mother caught wind about the sheer scope of his substance abuse and sent him to a rehab facility in American Somoa.

The major irony of the “Free Earl” movement is that, other than a few bars on O.F.’s “Oldie”, it doesn’t appear that he minded the experience that much. Though, the rehab stint did little to curb his drug habits.

Shortly after his return to the States, Earl released his debut project “Doris”, a project named as the result of Earls love for old people names. Just looking at the cover art for this album you can tell that the listener is in for a dark ride. However, unlike the dark humor displayed in the rest of Odd Future’s work Earls darkness came from a place that was deeply personal and truly reflected his feelings and overall mental state at the time.

“Trying to figure out how and when the f**k I missed moderate
Momma often was offering peace offerings
Think, wheeze cough, scoffing and he’s off again
Searching for a big brother, Tyler was that
And plus he liked how I rap, the blunted mice in the trap
Too black for the white kids, and too white for the blacks
From honor roll to cracking locks up off them bicycle racks
I’m indecisive, I’m scatterbrained, and I’m frightened”

-Earl Sweatshirt (Chum)

Doris was a critical success but its substantive nature likely is what prevented it from becoming a mainstream success.

Not too long after Earl would officially leave Odd Future as the relationships within O.F. declined. Though, Earl never cited a particular reason for leaving.

Earl pretty much went silent over the next 2 years. He pretty much went completely dark as far as publicity and music. His next album would give us our answer as to why he disappeared.

Earls 2015 LP “I Don’t Like Sh*t, I Don’t Go Outside” was so abrasively mental health themed that it would likely be hard for anyone who hasn’t experienced anxiety and depression to understand it’s aesthetic.

However the mixing was still fairly polished in a way that made it very clear that it was the same Earl from “Doris”, he’s just been through some stuff.

Then for 3 years there was silence. No social media. No US tours. No music. Nothing

For 3 years.

Babies were born during “I Don’t Like Sh*t, I Don’t Go Outside” who could walk and talk by the time he stepped back into the limelight.

On November 8th, 2018 Earl released his single “Nowhere2go”. Not gonna lie, when I heard this song for the first time I was so confused. To me it sounded like three older, bluesy folk songs, crookedly stacked on top of one another while Earl raps in a way that also doesn’t seem to fit in schematically at all.

It’s an acquired taste.

The more I listened to it, though, the more I started to like it. The crazy experimentation was no accident, it was his narrative.

“The Mint” was his second single off of his creatively named “Some Rap Songs”, and this is one of my favorite songs of all time. It was still experimental but far more palatable than “Nowhere2go”, and the lyrics were very indicative of Earl’s valiant battle against his demons, one he seems to be winning at this point.

“Some Rap Songs” is not for everyone, or for most people for that matter, but as a fan for life and someone who has been through somewhat similar struggles as Earl, it’s an incredibly heartfelt piece of music and I will hold it near and dear to my heart.

“Lotta blood to let, peace to make, f*ck a check”

-“The Mint”