Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside: An Album by Earl Sweatshirt (2015)
On this album, Earl Sweatshirt once again doesn't ever stray into horrorcore territory, but rather, continues to tread the depressing lyrical content of "Doris" into even darker and deeper waters, as we pry into the mind of a young man who has a huge fanbase, has gotten to meet several of his musical heroes, and a fat wallet in his pocket, but somehow it all just doesn't mean anything to him. His accomplishments are nothing but something to check off of some mental bucket-list before he dies, and from the sounds of this album, he really doesn't give a fuck if he dies tomorrow. One really interesting thing about this album is that most depressing albums seem to wallow in their own self-pity, going "woe is me" the entire time, but Earl's response to the depression is to fight back with drugs and internal violent thoughts, just as eager to pull the glock out and shoot a fan who gets too close as he is ready to pull out a few pills just to be able to have the luxury of getting to experience the temporary relief of sleep tonight.
Another interesting comparison to make between this and a lot of other hip-hop albums that are depressing ("By the Throat" by Eyedea & Abilities is a personal favorite that I consider a brilliant work of art) is that while they rely on the whole thing of "I'm gonna speak depressing lyrics over a good beat, so when you DO actually listen to the lyrics, it shocks you!" which doesn't take away anything from those albums but has become a cliche in itself (especially with Twenty One Pilots being around to profit off of it like a gimmick to their fanbase), "I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside: An Album by Earl Sweatshirt" thankfully only uses this trope in the very first song "Huey", because the rest of these tracks even musically sound depressing as fuck. The beat to "Grief" is so fucking numbingly suffocating that it just so perfectly fits everything Earl has to say, and "DNA (feat. Na'kel)" is a highlight overall (Na'kel wrote his verse immediately after learning that a good friend had died) but it's just so fucking sad sounding, especially with how Earl lets the instrumental fully ride out for around a minute for the ending, almost as if to give a minute of pseudo-silence out of respect for the friend who had died, as the dark, depressing instrumental pounds the meaning of the song into you.
Aside from "Off Top" in which Earl lets loose some of his internal rage, and the (hardly fitting) closing track "Wool (feat. Vince Staples)" in which they show what a fucking great duo they could be full-time, with them both dropping nonstop FUCKING FIRE lines over a great beat, there are really no bangers on this album or even shit to really blare in the car at all. The album is to be listened to beginning to end like you found the diary of a recently deceased person and -know- it's wrong to read it, but you can't stop. This is definitely not an album that will appeal to most people lyrically or even musically, but to the ones who do, or can even sadly relate, it's full of those little thoughts you've had that you thought "No one cares about this, it's too small, I'm being stupid" before they ever even had the chance to leave your mouth. Remnants of a broken relationship leading to trust issues, the loss of a loved family member, drug addiction, and the anger/depression that goes with it all makes this a brutally honest hip-hop album that's particularly interesting because we've seen Earl's depression get worse over the course of all of his releases so far, and the ability to just air it all out for the entire world to hear is sure to influence an entire new wave of rappers, we just haven't seen its effects quite yet.
"I'm here and I'm there, and I'm up and I'm down, and I'm low and I'm peakin'.. It's cold in the deep end."
8/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
