Some Rap Songs is a study in restraint and artistic performance. Featuring one of hip hop’s most well regarded contemporary lyricists, everything from Earl Sweatshirt on Some Rap Songs feels effortless and yet purposefully designed. His laid back flow, dragging behind the beat in a relatively monotone delivery, sounds like he’s recording in his bedroom directly into his iPhone. His Virginia Woolf esque stream of consciousness, measured and abstract, bounces you between ideas like a pinball. The album duration, which clocks in at a mere 24:39, features only two songs that eclipe the 2-minute mark, and notably feature abrupt transitions that rarely give you time or space to feel them coming. The samples are from a wide variety of musical genres, further emphasizing the short-form concept he’s looking to accomplish. And the album cover is unsettling while being inviting, almost appearing as if a good-natured smiling selfie was interrupted to let a creature from a different dimension enter the universe for a brief moment (it’s the three rows of teeth for me).
Amidst the deluge of Auto-Tune and immaculately produced club anthems, Some Rap Songs stands out as a work that doesn’t just showcase it’s rough around the edges aesthetic. It embraces them.
Standout Songs: “Cold Summers”, “Loosie”, “Azucar”
