Earl Sweatshirt – Doris

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With an excess of the Digital Age’s youth using their Rap aspirations to pollute bandwidth, in 2010, a then 16-year-old Earl Sweatshirt took Hip Hop’s corner of the Internet by storm with advanced lyrical skill and cunning charm. Shortly thereafter, his juvenile delinquent behavior had him forcibly removed from celebrating Odd Future’s newfound success, leaving behind an enigmatic myth regarding his disappearance that wouldn’t be quelled until his 2012 return from a therapeutic facility in Samoa. As if finishing high school and readjusting to normalcy under the spotlight weren’t enough to accomplish once back stateside, Earl was greeted with an overbearing media and impossible expectations that have leveled artists far more accustomed to the perils of stardom. Finally reaching out to an impatient audience clamoring for mere flashes of his brilliance (many hoping he’ll live out the Herculean mission of crafting the rarely achieved “classic” album), Earl Sweatshirt has been equally confident and reluctant in presenting his retail debut, Doris to the world.

Where obsessing on the strength of each creative decision could spiral into insanity, Doris contains little calculation and false pretense on the part of Earl Sweatshirt. Having rid himself of the once unbridled psychosis and violent fantasies that paid homage to Eminem’s most deranged moments, Earl invites listeners to accept an honest and vulnerable epiphany: his current instinct isn’t to be a fabled Hip Hop savior or to even necessarily make good on his prior potential. This nonchalance is a drastic change from his initial concerted effort to win attention, as he now lashes out to become disassociated from old perceptions.

The opener, “Pre” sets the album’s wonky tone with Earl hurdling out the gate over a slow trap-inflected tempo, dead set against fitting into a neat box with the stubbornly prideful boast, “Not with the grain and these bitch niggas wishes.” Determined to make the most of his moment, “Burgundy” is a transparent and emotionally charged manifesto explaining his aversion towards massive popularity. As Vince Staples imitates his comrade’s countless pesky intruders, telling him, “Niggas wanna hear you rap, dont nobody care about how you feel,” Earl answers with, “I’m about to relish in this anguish, and I’m stressing over payment / So don’t tell me that I made it / Only relatively famous…” One of Doris‘ most anticipated moments, “Hive” could be considered a subconscious escape from pressure, as OF’s arguably most competitive spitter passes the baton off for Vince to run the victory lap. 

Though Doris excels in every technical aspect, its primary weakness is a lack of cohesion when compared with Earl Sweatshirt’s first, self-titled release done under the tutelage of his big brother figure Tyler, the Creator. With it no longer feasible to attempt the rebellious gimmick that put their crew on the map, their collaboration on “Sasquatch” comes off as but a half-hearted concession to day one fans. Nearly left to his own devices as Tyler’s music has departed from darkness, Earl aimlessly throws ideas at the wall such as linking up with Mac Miller for “Guild,” a low-pitched stoner anthem on a project already littered with numerous marijuana references. This blatant tactic to avoid commercial accessibility likely stems from a need to diverge from the sensationalism that surrounded his name while he was gone.

Preliminary speculation suggested Earl Sweatshirt would use Doris to channel introspection thanks to “Chum,” which details his troubled adolescence, issues with obedience and a hesitance to resurface within Rap. This courageous act was followed up by the more familiar straightforward barrage of the second single “Whoa,” furthering the intrigue and overall hype for what was in store. As it turns out, neither fully convey Earl’s ambition which is torn between bearing his soul and maintaining an impressive bravado. Evidently the approach taken has become serious as the Frank Ocean accompanied “Sunday” deals with matters of the heart, but demented fun is wedged in with “Molasses” as RZA chants, “I’ll fuck the freckles off your face, bitch.”

At times difficult and avant-garde, Doris rejects any clear concept of how Earl Sweatshirt’s character (previously posturing as Satanic for shock value) should be received at this point. Where he has yet to master the art of making complete songs (“Uncle Al” clocks in under a minute long) and his diction tends to lacks clarity, Earl paints pictures in a manner more poetic than just about all within his peer group. The hectic journey towards this moment has played the biggest role in both his ingenuity and uncertainty, producing the carefree attitude sure to alienate inconsiderate onlookers, while others cheer him on. Whether selfish or smart to persist on remaining a standoffish mystery, Earl prospers in establishing himself as a 19-year-old with an unusually high standard for rhyming that should be separated from urban legend.

184 thoughts on “Earl Sweatshirt – Doris”

  2. Great review. You guys give (by far) the best reviews on hip hop albums, always stating a smart and original opinion, covered with details and reasoning to back up your claims. Going to cop Doris now, pretty excited!

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  9. this little homo aint rap.this kid is thrash its fucking bullshit baby 2013 rap. the game is getting worse and worse

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  11. This album deserves way more than 4.0, but fuck who are these kiddos at HHDX? Life is Good and God Forgives, I don’t both got a 4.0 too, makes me start to wonder again if I should read these things anymore.

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  16. Respect the kid a lot, his music is just not for me. Boring sound, obnoxious beats and guest verses that outshine his own.

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  19. this album is pure dope. i just can’t enough of listen to it. “Hive”, “Chum”, “Burgundy”, “Molasses”, “Whoa”, and “Guild” are favorite tracks on the album.

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  23. I honestly liked this album. Sure, it’s not “all that”, but it’s still worth listening too. At least he’s not talking about raping women every single song he makes.

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  24. wut everybody has to keep in mind is this dude is still young wut is he 18? 19? Tho he may not have every aspect of songmaking completely down, his substance is dope and he truly has a lot of potential to fukk sum shit up. As far as his tone, he’s laid bakk… if u want sum hype go jam waka. Yung dude is gon do sumtin and it comes with time..He jus has an involuntary hype that ppl want him to live up 2

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  28. Earl gets so much hate for being the ugly nigga and yea more than likely he would be raped in prison but I still fucks wit him lyrically hes dope

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  29. Really tired of these major labels paying these internet websites to give shitty albums good reviews. Earl Sweatshirt is a garbage ass rapper very little skills. ….DAMN 4 out 5 really on what planet….TRASH!

    Reply

  30. Had really high expectations with this album. Lyrically, this is a great album.
    Alot of these beats are too slow, and not in a dope ClamsCasino way. Raise up
    the BPM. And I don’t what happened to this kid in Africa, but since he’s been
    back he’s got no life in his voice. Lots of potential, but weak ass delivery.

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  33. I see niggas saying lyricall this album was good, but in all honesty no it wasn’t. Theres no display of over the top lyricism. Kid is an average mc at the most and he put out a boring ass album with hardly any replay value. Sad thing about it is, i used to like this kid.

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  38. This album is pure fucking Genius! You guys say its boring,butt,& stupid I say you do not understand some of the smart words he is saying. All I see here is people who wanna hear is money,girls, & cars. Earl is a smart dude 9/10 Kinda Dark.

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  40. This album makes as much sense as the title, but everything else is 5/5, (apart from Tyler’s hooks on ‘WHOA’ and SK La’Flares verse on ‘Pre’) one of the best albums this year, and I’m a 49 year old Black male before you start hitting me with that ‘your a kid’ bullshit…

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  41. Fuck all them haters and shit below who don’t appreciate good music, this nigga KILLED every feature on this album son, 5/5

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  45. Only problem I have with this album is that the majority of the tracks are waaaay too short. Other than that good semi-debut from Earl.

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  46. doing the math a lot of people are giving it a 1/5 without listening. this is my favourite album of the year so far, aside from the introspective tracks, most of it sounds like getting mugged in an alleyway

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  49. really great. expected more personal tracks, but its got the best of both worlds. needed less features though

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  50. overhyped. overrated. mediocre debut. the only good tracks are the ones that have been released as music videos. earl has tremendous potential though. itll be interesting to see his progress.

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  59. very diverse and high quality earl. deserves way better he has stunned me again. fuck hip hop if you cant recognise the potential and greatness in this kid

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  61. I haven’t listened to it yet and I am looking forward to doing so but I remember when people were saying he is going to be the greatest rapper ever. That sounds likes a bit of a joke.

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  64. bullshit album.. hes 2010 album was so much better.. i hope hes career in major label dies and he goes back to do what he used to do

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  66. Stop complaining, lyrically it’s one of the best albums this decade, and overall is an amazing album. Earl said he anticipates gaining and losing some fans, he didn’t make it for you to love it. Definitely worth a purchase and many listens
    Molasses, guild, pre, burgundy and hive are my favourites but all are great, consistently strong album. Get it and stop hating

    Reply

  67. His album cover deserves a 5 mics itself. What the fuck kinda album cover is that???

    Only Heard this guy rap a couple times, He’s decent in those couple videos up there. Anyone in wolfgang is gay tho, so-so rappers that seem to purposely pick out the most god-awful beats ever.

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  70. Tasteful album! If your okay with godly lyrics that may or may not take a little bit of knowing the artist and research to understand. Don’t let the monotone, low pitch steer you away, their is meaning behind the big lipped ugly dude you see.

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  71. I got 8 tracks in and gave up. This is garbage, cant listen to his depressing ass voice, too many features and production is too dark. God this guy is depressing.

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  82. Some dope tracks but a little too heavy on the features. Earl’s got some nice lyrics. He can definitely rhyme. Flow is kinda eh. And sometimes he loses the listener with his mumbling. But he’s still young and has mad potential to go places.

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  83. My first encounter of Earl Sweatshirt’s material,I must admit the pace of the album felt dreary at the first listen. But immediately I delved deeper into the content, I was impressed by the intricate wordplay and obscure lyricism employed by Earl. The production provides a perfect backdrop for his style of delivery.To some extent I agree with the review it’s hard to narrow down the album to a single cohesive concept, but it’s a strong effort that makes for an intriguing listen.

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  87. ehhh, i don’t know.. i guess i was having high expectations for this album since earl made his mark back in 2010 with his mixtape.. but doris is pretty underwhelming.. his flow and lyricism is still there but he’s really starting to mumble his words a little too often and some of the beats are either bland or sound unfinished.. and you would think that after all his criticism of magna carta and telling his fans to unfollow him if they liked mchg that this album would be just as good or even better than jay’s, but mchg is shitting on this album right now to be honest.. i’m a fan of earl as well, so maybe this album will grow on me after a few more listens.. for now, i’ll give it 3 stars..

    Reply

  90. Enjoying the album a lot more second/Third listen over,
    Yes it is a bit slow paced but I guess it was to be expected. I much prefer his delivery on Doris than EARL, Vince Caples, and Domo kill it too! .. It’s on a constant play atm so i’m yet to decide on any fave tracks athough Burgandy and Knight standout for me at the minute. A

    nother EP before year is out would be Awesome!

    Reply

  91. this kid has no energy. he cannot write a coherent song. the beats are down tempo clunkers. his flow is repetitive. he has no range. in other words this kid sucks on every level. the fascination with odd future is truly bizarre. a bunch of random rhymes about nothing over weird beats that don’t move. this kid sounds tired, weak, and depressed. nas was 19 and he wasn’t rapping about jizz on weird beats for white kids. stop gassing this kid for being young and capable of rhyming. good rhymer wack rapper.

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  92. wow, an somewhat honest review its like the others are payed to gass up this shit, i dont know why people think he has such good rhymes, half the time they suck or im just to stupid to get the point of” vagabond,had it since i was a padiwan”? the fuck? it rhymes but what the fuck?. i admit he has potential , and this shit is better this most mainstream rap but this shit still sucks and i have to be stoned to even listen to it. ive yet to see a grown man actually listen to his music just kids who think its cool to smoke weed.

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    1. LOL i love to see comments like this. Sorry that he’s using big boy word that you can’t understand. Maybe Trinidad James or Lil Wayne is more your style?

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    2. In reference to the vagabond line,Earl means he’s been directionless since he was a child (Padawan is a term from star wars, for young jedi in training) SO no dude you’re not stupid, you don’t know his referencing, Earl uses obscure references the same way MF DOOM uses them. Yeah you may have to look it up (basically Rap Genius), but that shouldn’t be bashed, the cleverness of the rhymes should be praised, and or respected. and dude I’m 22 and listen to this. Maybe not old enough but still, Generalizations aren’t much of an argument. jus sayin.

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  99. While it’s easy for you dumb-asses to count this dude out because you don’t understand what he’s saying or because he has “no energy”, yall need to understand this: EARL SWEATSHIRT IS A WRITER/POET. I’ll admit that his verses sometimes make me go to RapGenius to figure it out, but that’s how you get to see how poetic his rhymes are. His father is a respected political figure and poet in Africa, so he takes his writing seriously. Don’t write it off just because u can’t understand it on first listen. Dudes flows and rhyme patterns are more complex than anybody YOU listen to right now, believe dat

    Reply

    1. oh look a geek that looks at rapgenius while he listens to mutant kids rap about molestation on trash beats is defending his fav. bunch of weird rhymes that suck for weird people that suck at life. no one gives a fuck about his father either. does his father look like a retard with AIDS too?

      Reply

  100. Dope Album, reminds me of DOOM’s albums obscure lyrical content and odd production. People who hate on this must love Big Sean, or dickride Kendrick (whom I’m a fan of too but still).

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  101. It’s good. But it ain’t shit new. When Earls first tape came out that shit melted niggas minds, now its just some abstracted, imagery-based lyrical content. Now his content is alright, but I just don’t care about hearing what this fools subconscious has to say for a full length LP in his monotonous spoken-word flow. 2.8/5

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  102. Man the West Coast is on fire this year! From Kendrick to Tyga, Tyler the Creator and now Earl Sweatshirt, and next Schoolboy q. The West is dominating hip hop now.

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  103. NON-BIASED OPINION:

    It’s a mediocre album. Too many features, I just want to hear Earl rapping, that’s it. Domo, Vince, Frank, and the others did their thing, but really didn’t enhance the album.

    Earl sounds like has no passion, no energy. 40% of his verses are random gibberish made to sound “complex” when in reality those lines were irrelevant to the overall song. His delivery is very boring. His monotone voice is not appealing to listen to. He does have great rhymes from time to time though.

    I wanted to hear a talented MC spit, but in this album I heard a lot of lazy verses with no passion, unnecessary features, mediocre at best production, and I was VERY DISAPPOINTED. Earl’s rhymes were weaker than I was expected, not to mention he gets cocky and drops wack/stupid lines constantly. Rhyming nigga with nigga twice in a row, seriously?

    I thought he was supposed to be the next Nas?

    Overall, it’s a mediocre album at best. This is coming from an OF fan.

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  109. So you can’t just listen to the music and enjoy it for what it is? Dude made the album he wanted to make, not the album you wanted to hear and all you can do is dissect this shit and say the dude lacks cohesion on his album? Fuck you.

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  111. look at all these stans, calm down, it was an ok album. he’s an above-average lyricist, but theres no direction really, which isnt always bad, but it isnt always good….especially cuz wolf was pretty dog-gone good. its just a little disappointing is all

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  114. This fish nigga sucks heaps of dicks god how can anyone call this hip-hop explain cuz i dont see any meaning for him to make music except to tells people he’ll fuck ur freckles off… WHY????

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  115. I wanted to like this album. I want to like Earl. I even wanted to like Odd future and Tyler the creator for a while.

    But this album wasn’t very good. I’m starting to think Earl isn’t very good. I know I hate Odd future and Tyler now. They’re basically like a bunch of rich white kids that hate everything and think they’re so creative and funny…but not even as good as lonely island.

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  118. “Abrasive as phuck and they all pay me, I’m chuckling cross faded in public. Heart racing until blunt is lit. Then you don’t give a phuck again right.” (that’s his style lazy distorted)

    “To the fathers that didn’t raise us . To every old hater , now unable to say much. To critics doing dirty with comments: A ninja paid for an apartment yesterday off some songs I haven’t yet made up.” (Advance check)

    Dude is 19, a true poet and his lyrical levels are far above veterans in my opinion. Just to balance all this hate I see.

    Hip hop dies when no one is a fan and no one gives credit when credit is due. Earl’s a beast. His verses on “Between Friends” and “Oldies” alone are nearly untouchable.

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    2. Well said. His style is pieced together like a million part puzzle, and anyone that can’t see this has a lot to learn.

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  122. I really enjoyed this album. I realize it’s not for everyone though, but I love just vibing to this shit while while I’m smokin or studying.

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  123. This is a lyrical album. dont care for some of the beats. but the flows and bars are on point. Earl is one of the nicest from this new wave of spitters

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  126. Came bakk 2 rate it. Yo first I thought the album was good then I gave it a couple deeper listens and honestly I think this album is better than anything else I have heard this year. Its not all glued together, and his delivery is a lil laidback but that’s his steelo indecisive and scatterbrained… But he’s only wut 19 n has a long way 2 go n his flows r sick. By the way im not some OF fan who gushes over them every chance they get. Listen to the music b4 u put it in a box yo

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  130. At first listen i tought it was decent 3/ but the more i kept listening to it the more i started to get everything earls says and his flow is so sick and how can people not like the beats on this every beat was raw as fuk like pre and fuck periods niggas CLASSSIC ALBUM 5/5

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  132. Dope music. Can’t wait to see Earl live at The Sinclair in Boston this sunday! The Doris tour is what I’ve been waiting for.

    Reply

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