Release Date: January 14
Genre: Abstract Hip Hop / West Coast Hip Hop / Trap / Jazz Rap
After a decent hiatus, Earl Sweatshirt has come back with his fourth studio album. Sick! was four years after his last album, Some Rap Songs. What many people had noticed throughout his material, especially with that album, is that he struggles with depression. His mental health has been a focal point of his music for a while now, and that has manifested itself into abstract, trippy beats, downtrodden flows and dejected and sorrowful lyrics. This combo has made his music hard to grasp yet captivating. I wouldn't say I'm even that big of a fan of Some Rap Songs, yet the production, the beats, the mood and the delivery are all so whacked out and yet so upsetting and heavy that I can't help myself from admiring what he was doing.
With Sick!, Earl seems to be in a much better place mentally. The beats are more clear, the production is brighter and Earl's vocal delivery is the clearest it's been since I Don't Like Shit. He still touches on his personal struggles with mental health, but lyrically, it's a lot more reflective this time around. This album is like a thematic breath of fresh air. If Some Rap Songs is the equivalent of drowning in a lake, thrashing to get to the surface, then Sick! is like the breath of relief when you make it back onto the shore.
As far as the tracks go, some of my favorite beats on any Earl project end up here. I love the ascending and descending crystallized notes on "2010." They're so icy and gorgeous, capturing me in a state of sonic bliss. Earl's slower, more meditated flow sounds great here, and the lyrics are a lovely and heartbreaking tribute to the late Mac Miller. "Vision" has a stunning piano sample that plays throughout the track, and it pairs quite well with the trap sample. Plus, the Zelooperz's verse is awesome. His flow may come across as lazy, but his drugged out delivery rides the beat so well, and his verse is well written. "Titanic" might have my favorite beat on the entire project. It's got a villainous quality to it that I can't get enough of. This also has Earl's most cold blooded delivery on the entire album. And then there's "Fire in the Hole," which is a nice closer with an instrumental outro that takes up half of the track. It sounds nice, and certainly ends the project on an uplifting note.
These are all the best tracks on the album, and there are some great moments in the rest of the project as well. However, there's a big thing that is preventing me from liking this album more: its runtime. This album is only 24 minutes with 10 tracks. Now, if you're familiar with Earl Sweatshirt, you should know that his projects are typically short. Hell, Some Rap Songs is also 24 minutes, yet that project has 15 songs, which means the average song length for that album is shorter than on Sick! However, the tracks on Some Rap Songs were structured in a way that everything connected. Though the songs didn't necessarily flow into each other, they fit together in a way that made the overall album experience not feel too short. If anything, Some Rap Songs sounds like one 24 minute song with 15 beat switches. With Sick!, that flow is not there. The tracks are more standalone here, resulting in the short tracklist feeling disjointed by its length. Whereas Some Rap Songs sounds like a complete vision with its short runtime, Sick! feels incomplete, which I think is the greatest sin this project commits. It may be Earl's complete vision, but it feels like it's below the bar of ambition, which I find pretty disappointing.
Of course, that's not to mention how underdeveloped some of these tracks are. As there are a good chunk of songs less than two minutes here, you have some decent nuggets of ideas that don't get the chance to flesh themselves out. "Lye" has a really awesome, jazzy beat, but the verse comes across like a first take freestyle. The same goes with "Lobby." It has the biggest banger of a beat, but it never really goes anywhere. "Sick!" is a pretty underwhelming moment, especially considering its the title track. I get the sentiment it has in its verse, but once again, its too short to leave any impression, and the nonchalant flow makes the song sound even more half assed than it already is.
Then, on the other side of the coin, we have "Tabula Rasa." It's one of the longest songs of the album at a little over four minutes. Sadly, it does not make great use of its time. I like the piano loop and the members of Armand Hammer give some great verses, but it drags. Plus, the sample gets annoying very quickly. The song lacks an oomph that some of the other tracks have. Maybe if there was a hook or a chorus of some kind, this song would be even better.
In fact, that is one thing that I wish Earl did more as a rapper. I'm not saying that all songs need choruses or hooks. Besides, his genre of choice is abstract hip hop, so structures and songwriting is looser in that field. However, his songs need something. They need something that grab onto the listener when it comes to his song's structures, because musically, they sound fine. I can't help but feel like there's something missing here. I especially feel this here, as this album does not feel like a complete experience like his past couple of albums have.
So all in all, I have somewhat mixed feelings on Sick! I do think it's a well made project. There is some great production and writing, and it's nice to hear music coming from Earl as he's entering a better place in his life. Unfortunately, the short length and lack of overall cohesion prevent me from finding this as gripping as his other stuff. But hey, that's my opinion. I'm sure there are plenty of Earl Sweatshirt fans that will eat this up. In that case, that's awesome. I just don't think this is entirely for me. Listen to the album yourself and form your own opinion.
Best Tracks: 2010; Vision; Titanic; Fire in the Hole
Worst Track: Sick!
Grade: C+
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