If you heard Earl Sweatshirt‘s latest album I Don’t Like Shit I Don’t Go Outside, you’d be right to worry about the dude’s health. That album was disturbing. The song ‘Grief’ takes maudlin to an elevated place far beyond just sad and breaches a somebody-check-this-guy’s-house emotional state.
But it’s chill, if you’ve seen an interview he did with NPR, or even given his Twitter a cursory glance you’d see that he’s doing fine – he just needed to vent.
In the NPR interview he speaks of being ‘woke’. Meaning he knows himself. He’s reached a plateau of clarity that extends past his day to day and recognises a holistic state of being. He also mentioned the project, ‘Solace’, that he’d finished a while back. And when you listen to ‘Solace’, you need to take his being woke into consideration. Especially when hearing things like; “Looks like the way that River Phoenix went gon’ end up my fate”.
The sound clip released on his dar Qness Youtube channel is him communicating with his audience as truthfully as possible. More vibe’ing out than wilding out, the 10 minute long project is full of ambient jazz, some slowed down Kid Koala-sounding effects, and slow chords punctuated by verses that sound like a journal entry.
It doesn’t bang, it’s not lit, but it is fire. As he Tweeted:
when you’re done turning up I’ll be right there handing you an instructional pamphlet on how to get in touch with your real self
— EARL (@earlxsweat) March 30, 2015
Give it a listen above and enjoy the homie finding solace in himself.
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