Spawned by a poet/activist and a civil rights-minded law professor, and mentored by riot-inciting Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt finally reconciles those influences and the voices inside his own head on sophomore effort I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside. At peak high and mid-puff, “Huey” sparks a mad stream of consciousness. “I’m toasted as hell,” he admits. “And I got to jot it quick ’cause I can’t focus so well.” The first half of the album, submerged in production as thick as embryonic fluid, finds the 21-year-old L.A. rapper missing his grandmother (“Grief”), while agonizing over what he owes his mom – who shipped him off to boarding school following the release of debut mixtape Earl to keep him out of trouble. Unlike his star-studded debut LP Doris, Sweatshirt limits four guests to the second half of the disc. A$AP Mob attaché DA$H helps Sweatshirt assert his independence on “Grown Ups,” Ratking’s Wiki’s quirky lisp makes the perfect foil to Earl’s bottled-up verse on “AM // Radio,” and Long Beach spitter Vince Staples brings out Sweatshirt’s most emphatic delivery. (Earl heats up Emo’s on Thursday, May 21.)
This article appears in May 1 • 2015.