For someone as young as Earl Sweatshirt, it's been a long time since he first revealed himself to the world as wise beyond his years. Save for fickle fans and casuals who only perceive Thebe Neruda Kgositsile as Gen Z's favorite sad and slacking spitter, listeners have witnessed his personal growth from the numb depths of records like I Don't Like S**t, I Don't Go Outside all the way to the glistening tenderness of VOIR DIRE with The Alchemist. And for those out of the loop, Live Laugh Love and its press run spell out its mentality and mantra for you in all its ironic glory. You either get it or you will soon.
Nevertheless, what makes this new album so special in Earl's catalog is how it goes further beyond his trajectory of self-reflection, fatherhood, marriage, and happiness that his recent run represents. What came off as condescending criticism of other rap peers on first listen morphs into a scathing dialogue between his two halves by the fourth. The more you shine light on precious possessions, they gradually cast a darker shadow. It never overwhelms the joy on display, though; distortion can't bring a good sample down. But this engages with evil forces in a more proactive way than previous records, and by accepting familiar spaces with greater purpose, the Los Angeles rapper makes magic.
Earl Sweatshirt's Lyricism
The clearest example of this is in Earl Sweatshirt's pen on here, which hits the ground running. "I just paint pictures, you just chip in on a frame," he raps as an ode to Niontay on the opener "gsw vs sac." It's the first instance of the 31-year-old's consistent flexes on those out of his wavelength, which come across as much more striking when compared to an LP like SICK! "Static" is a whole track of this approach, containing his hardest flow on the tracklist on a bombastic Black Noi$e beat, plus slick references to Vince Carter and Future. Earl sounds hungrier than he's been in years, or at least more confident in talking his smack with more intention.
"Live" explains the reason why. "The family focused, my wingspan is the globe / I'm glad to be home... I'm in the house, I keep a bag packed by the door / Like Batman, I get the signal, then I'm adiós," he raps about his wife Aida Osman and their newborn daughter. The mix on here also sends Earl's voice far away, like he's busy at home with his loved ones or on the road providing for them. Still, by having a home to come back to, Earl Sweatshirt foregoes the aloof and sheltered way in which he previously championed his lyrical superiority. Instead, his focus and venom stab sharper thanks to a newfound perspective on not just his career, but his agency.
What's The Theme?
It makes for one of Earl's clearest and most impressive examples of songwriting and conceptual vision across his whole career. He really hones in on a song concept or theme to distinguish each track while also establishing it as a brick in the overall foundation. "WELL DONE!," produced by Navy Blue, wades through a muddy and sleazy instrumental with references to religion and faith, which allude to Thebe's own spiritual temple and ironclad will. Yet other lyrics contribute to Live Laugh Love's overall theme of "tour as a lifestyle to domesticity," as he put it in his Popcast interview. You live, laugh, and love not because you want to, but because you need to.
"Mining through myself, gumboots / The bottom started to melt some, I felt stuck," Earl raps. After already recognizing and engaging with self-betterment on VOIR DIRE, it was time to step out into the world. It also helps that many of these tracks were premiered on tour across the past few years, further cementing the "story arc" he captivated us with here. For all the lessons Earl's learned on this journey, he still didn't have the home base to settle them in. Now, his family life allows him to engage in the same bravado he exemplified in his 2010 breakout with less risk concerning slippery slopes. Also, his acknowledgement of the harrowing world around him feels more courageous now rather than cynical.
Live Laugh Love's Production
As such, both sides of Earl Sweatshirt collide on Live Laugh Love, and the production reflects that breadth. Theravada takes over much of the production on here with flying colors, including a nasty emotional clash on "FORGE." Brooding pianos contrast with bright chords as the "WalkOnBy" MC raps about a never-ending February and heads on sticks. Much like the bars, which might be read as a Black History Month reference or a more general tribute to resilience, the beat compellingly leads you to your own conclusion.
Even the most gorgeous samples on here, like Child Actor's beat-of-the-year candidate "Heavy Metal aka ejecto seato!," still have some of the same sandy distance and gruff texture as Some Rap Songs' most bleak moments. Regardless, there's still plenty of detail to uncover. Buried hand percussion panned to the left on "Gamma (need the <3)" gives intoxicating groove, and plenty of effects, samples, bizarre audio clips, and sonic manipulations add a lot of flavor and personality throughout the album. Even the most straightforward productions like "INFATUATION" still have strong charm and hypnosis to them, especially when Earl Sweatshirt's dropping gems like "The Earth mother gave the Sun a lap, it sat me on my a**."
The Duality Of LLL
The impact of fatherhood first emerged for him in 2019, when his son's birth before COVID put up a mirror between his childhood and his current state. Earl said this was an identity crisis of sorts, and when he's not talking about himself or his experiences, he might be speaking directly to himself and his traumas. "TOURMALINE," perhaps the most immediate track on Live Laugh Love, contains some bars about the Sun (son) peering through a bounce house, and then he inserts himself in the situation. Thebe has been through too many comedowns, and wants to be better at keeping his circle afloat to mitigate them.
"CRISCO," one of the best hip-hop performances of the year, perfectly shows the duality of this album in a simple way. The first verse is boastful to a fault, whereas the second relentlessly connects the dots between Earl's resistance to industry games, the violence and pain instilled in him, his spiritual and mental strength, and all the legacies he carries. But don't fret; all this depth and complexity still leaves room for stingers. "Mama say, 'His face ain't look like yours' / It's on the floor, go out and scrape him off it." Equal parts untouched rage and love that cuts a little deeper.
"At The End Of The Day..."
All in all, this was a long path for Earl Sweatshirt to take, and its latest stop Live Laugh Love couldn't have come in a more enthralling, gratifying, and sonically cohesive package. Everything's sharper, more meaningful, more mature, and more lived-in here: the competitive hip-hop spirit and skill, the lackadaisical happiness, the indignation, the production, the growth, blood, sweat, tears... The gratitude.
This is the part when I pull some grand takeaway from this conversation of Earl's eras and how he took control of his reality. But Live Laugh Love's closer "exhaust" – and its very last lines – beat me to it: "At the end of the day / It's really just you and whatever you think / I'm airmailing you strength." And there you have it.
User Reviews
Out of eight reviews, HotNewHipHop users have rated Earl Sweatshirt's latest album, Live Laugh Love, 4.38 out of 5, with particular praise for the rapper's evolution. One user wrote, "love to see his growth man."
