Album of the Week: Earl Sweatshirt’s ‘Live Laugh Love’
The Odd Future collective has influenced much of the current music scene, with its members still releasing groundbreaking music of their own.
There’s Tyler, The Creator, dropping acclaimed albums like Don’t Tap the Glass, The Internet’s Steve Lacy becoming a worldwide name with ‘Bad Habit’, and Frank Ocean doing whatever the hell he wants and people adoring him for it. Earl Sweatshirt is also among those still making waves, breaking new ground with his brand of lo-fi hip-hop.
The Los Angeles rapper, now 31, has gone through many changes since he demanded attention during his early OF days. He’s released a number of albums, including Doris, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside, Some Rap Songs, and Sick!, diving into subgenres such as jazz rap and psychedelic hip-hop along the way.
Earl returned with the release of his new album Live Laugh Love on August 22nd. Released on Warner Records, his first solo album in three years is made up of 11 tracks. Like most of his projects, his latest is kept to a concise running time of 24 minutes. There are songs like ‘Gamma (Need the Love)’, which references the late Dave Trugoy of De La Soul, and ‘Tourmaline’, about his fatherhood.
Erykah Badu provides vocals on the closing track, ‘Exhaust’, with producers like Navy Blue, Black Noi$e, Theravada, and Child Actor appearing across the project. Live Laugh Love carries similarities to the sample-driven Some Rap Songs and arrives at little to no notice.
A listening party took place in Los Angeles last weekend, the first time there was any idea of a project being in the works. Earl, himself, didn’t even make an appearance. Instead, the DJ, who joked, “I still can’t believe this is what he named the album,” brought out a random person to perform his music.
A zine was handed out to attendees, including contributors Donald Glover, Dave Chappelle, Vince Staples, The Alchemist, DJ Dahi, Hiro Murai, Liv.e, and Navy Blue. The bar included custom cocktails called Live Whiskey, Laugh Vodka, and Love Tequila.
Speaking on the album, Earl said, “I named it before I wrote it. And then everything started clicking. Constrictions breed creativity. There are rules to reality. It reminds me of Ifá—how spirits operate within that system. I need rules. I need assignments.”
He added, “Music is the thing I’m the most ‘leave it cleaner than you found it’ about. If you’re not hard on yourself as an established artist, it atrophies you. If you’re not resilient about the play of this shit—the core essence—your art becomes what it is: widely accepted but not challenging.”
Ifá refers to a geomantic system starting in Yorubaland in West Africa, teaching balance and harmony between the Forces of Heaven and Earth. Earl has come a long way since he was sent to a boarding school in Samoa. He’s now a father of one with another child on the way, and focusing on his health after struggling with weed and alcohol abuse. Live Laugh Love represents a new path.