Photo by Juliet Wolf

Earl’s back, and as usual, he never misses when all he has to do is simply keep it more real than his contemporaries with his flawless handle on a reflective flow. The short-release of the always-elusive-but-never-far-gone rapper with his fifth full-length effort, Live Laugh Love, is a characteristic double entendre coming from him on both the non-seriousness and seriousness of the modern day wisdom cliche. With the highlight, “CRISCO”, Sweatshirt bares his soul more so under the the latter.

Here, he opens up with blunt introspections on his upbringing, an unsteady family life around him growing up, and how he course-corrected his own way out of it all. “Pops was kinda janky, his replacement beat the failure out me / Made me violent, hated fighting / I know I can’t take no loss, my anger bottled” he rhymes in one tough bar — an explanation of sorts behind what was going on during all those M.I.A “Free Earl” years, only to follow it up with a throwback to a classic with the curtains pulled. “They knew shh was off when I was staying silent and stayed inside / I’m saying sorry for the pain I caused.” Navy Blue’s woozy, soul-spun beat helps peel back the last layers that we’ve been hearing him slowly get to in revealing himself over the years. The apology is honest and clear, though not necessary.

Directed by: Jimmy Regular

Earl Sweatshirt’s Live Laugh Love is available now on Tan Cressida / Warner Records.