When Odd Future crashed into the hip-hop scene in 2010, a then 16-year-old Earl Sweatshirt took the internet by storm with his advanced and potent lyrical skill. And then, out of nowhere, Earl disappears at the height of Odd Future’s popularity.
We all know the story by now. His mother sent him to a Samoan boarding school, unhappy with his delinquent behavior and declining grades. A year later, he returned seeming like a new man, and Doris is what he has to show for it.
Doris is an incredible yet easy album to listen to. It’s completely smooth from start to finish. Earl may be best known for his precocious way around a rhyme, but Doris features instrumental interludes and expanded mid-song diversions. “Chum”, Earl’s single that’s been out for a while now, isn’t exactly the album centerpiece, but it’s the song you’ll go back and listen to over and over again purely based on the simplicity of Earl’s rhymes his personal reflections over a haunting repeated piano melody.
Doris is sprawling, weird, extremely original, yet also light and beautiful when you catch the right moments. It’s a comforting return to minimalism and musicality in hip-hop.
Tracklist
1. “Pre” f. SK La’ Flare
2. “Burgandy” f. Vince Staples
3. “20 Wave Caps” f. Domo Genesis
4. “Sunday” f. Frank Ocean
5. “Hive” f. Vince Staples & Casey Veggies
6. “Chum”
7. “Sasquatch” f. Tyler, The Creator
8. “Centurion” f. Vince Staples
9. “523”
10. “Uncle Al”
11. “Guild” f. Mac Miller
12. “Molasses” f. RZA
13. “Whoa” f. Tyler, The Creator
14. “Hoarse”
15. “Knight” f. Domo Genesis
