Every so often, there's a young emcee that not only can hang with contemporaries that have been in the game longer than them, but in some cases can outshine them. Whether it's their delivery, pen game, wordplay, charisma, or all of the above, you know there's a shift within the game of emceeing that has provided enough intrigue to keep eyes and ears open to them as the next big thing to be aware of. In the early to mid-eighties, it was a teenage LL Cool J, once he dropped "I Need A Beat". From there it was the likes of Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, and Kool G. Rap. Once the nineties hit, one name in particular had heads realizing greatness was in their midst in '92 when a then-eighteen-year-old prodigious talent named Nasty Nas OBLITERATED Main Source's "Live At The BBQ", then again on MC Serch's often forgotten about "Back To The Grill". Obviously the likes of Biggie, DMX, Pun, and Big L all are others that quickly come to mind, but it's the fact that LL and Nas were both in their mid to late teens making that kind of noise. Same with Prodigy at nineteen, Illegal at fourteen, Shyheim at thirteen, and even highly disregarded emcee, Ali Vegas (whom was nicknamed 'Baby Nas') because of his identical usage of wordplay and clever maintenance of gritty imagery. Within the past two decades, not too many teens have made people take a bunch of notice to their potential greatness as much as the likes of Nas or LL. While the likes of Joey Bada$$ and Bishop Nehru could be in the conversation for tremendously dope young acts that were worth the attention, and especially a late teens Kendrick Lamar by the end of the mid-thousands. However, there was one sixteen year old kid that had the pen wizardry somewhat comparable to the likes of a Nas or Ali Vegas, just with more macabre imagery and juvenile, yet disturbing, humor. His birth name was Thebe Kgostistile, but the world first knew him as Sly Tendencies, but he would end up changing his name to Earl Sweatshirt. The Chicago-born, Cali-raised tyke was the son of a highly acclaimed critical race theorist-turned college professor and a South African poet/political activist, which means his knack for genius-level thinking and dissecting was in his DNA. However, with so much pressure to be great comes great stress, and Earl ended up quite troubled. His mother would temporarily send him to a boarding school in Samoa in the hopes of him cleaning up his act. All the while, he was a part of an emerging crew from Cali known as Odd Future (or Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All), which consisted of artists, skateboarders, producers, writers, and graphic/clothing designers. The crew included the likes of Tyler The Creator, Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis, Frank Ocean, Syd The kid, and Taco, and they were establishing a wave within L.A.'s underground. Just based off how he was spitting on his Kitchen Cutlery mixtape of '07 and then his first mixtape appearance with Odd Future, The OF Tapes Vol. 2, it was clear this kid had IT. He was EASILY outshining everyone in the crew lyrically and was the baby of the click at that. It was in 2010 when he dropped his first mixtape with Odd Future under the Earl Sweatshirt name, EARL, that got people really talking, but in both the acclaimed and the revolted ways. From there, he has amassed one of hip-hop's most captivating discographies, as we've seen him go from concerning juvenile with a penchant for nihilism to a younger thirties father of two and a husband that looks at the world a little differently, but still has one of the most acclaimed and prolific pen games within all of hip-hop. This is a list of his discography from worst to best, and keep in mind, with Earl, there is no "worst", just least best if you will. Without further ado, let's get into it shall we?!
8. EARL
Production: Tyler The Creator, Left Brain, Beatboy
Guests: Vince Staples, Hodgy Beats, Ace Creator
We begin with the mixtape that got his name officially out there amongst the masses, EARL. The youngest of the Odd Future crew was seen as a more abstract Nas, in terms of how his lyrical wordplay and insight was beyond his years for sixteen (remember Nas did "Live At The BBQ" at the age of eighteen). However, while he had the lyrical wizardry of Mr. Nasir Jones, his shock value throughout this album was that of Eminem, Brotha Lynch Hung, or Esham. Shock value for shock value purposes. Cuts like the very appropriately entitled "Kill" and the Hodgy Beats-featured, "Moonlight" are clear examples of his juvenile maniac mindset. Topics of homophobia, murder, misogyny, sexual violence, and kidnapping dwell all over this album with almost over-the-top depravity. These images stain the most on the vile cut, "Epar" (yes indeed folks, it's exactly what it spells backwards). While sonically this is already a jarring sounding cut comprised of electro synths and a thick bassline, Earl and frequent guest collaborator, Vince Staples, deliver one of the most mouth-dropping cuts one could imagine, most notably Vince's harrowing verse, but the third verse of Earl's is just as bleak. While this may be the most conceptually revolting cut on here, it's definitely not the only one here. Cuts like "Stapleton", the Tyler The Creator-assisted, "Pigeons", and the title track are filled with such dark audacity that one would be surprised that he was only sixteen with a mind this morose yet a pen game so crazy. He turns the volume up on the violence with the stalking cut, "Luper", in which this cut has him falling for a girl in school that rejected him, only for him to kidnap her and unalives her in his basement. The extreme violence continues on "Couch", another Tyler assisted cut that explores themes of violence and even has quite the surprise ending. Rest assured, this album isn't for the faint hearted. Times were certainly different back in 2010, in which the majority of this album would've been canceled, picketed, and every other form of protest alive due to the constant F-word usage (not FUCK, folks), violence against women, kidnapping, and sexual assaults everywhere here. Make no mistake about it, EARL was a time in which shock value was the way to go for Odd Future, as later heard on Tyler's Goblin album, but what this also displayed was Earl's incredible use of wordplay, multisyllabic rhyme patterns, and ability to make the most horrendous of imagery sound almost scholarly at times. Listen to this if you dare, but understand, EARL is brutal and unrelenting. It craves you talking about how stomach churning this album is, while shamefully acknowledging his pen game, much like critics did for The Marshall Mathers LP or Season Of Da Siccness. In turn, that's the entire point.
7. Live, Laugh, Love
Production: artist, Navy Blue, Black Noi$e, Child Actor, Theravada
Guests: N/A
In 2025, he returned with a project that shows him in a way not seen before within Earl's discography, Live, Laugh, Love. Marriage and fatherhood. It can make the hardest of thugs turn into the most mellow of human beings (depending upon the type of partner you have). Over the last few years, Earl has become a father and a husband, thus he sees the world a little bit brighter than he did when he was sixteen when he put out the over-the-top shockfest mixtape, EARL, while a part of Odd Future. We get grown man hip-hop (of sorts) from Earl, and lyrically, he's on one. Always known for my his complex, yet superb, writing style, Earl doubles down on all of his lyrical strengths within this project. At times, he's full of idiosyncratic and eccentric wordplay, and other times, his knack for stream-of-consciousness style is as elegant and as scientific as early MF DOOM or even E L U C I D. Tracks like "Static" and "Well Done" are so full of double entendres and inside jokes, yet they also appear as if Earl is having a lyrical sparring session with himself. Similarly on the opener, "gsw vs sac", we hear Earl go ballistic with the pen proclaiming how hard he's worked to get where he's at, stating: "We taking the whole thing, they can't cloak it/the blade came with the roses/I still hold up the bouquet for the photo." However, we also get bits of mellowed out Earl, which has been traditionally quite rare, but on cuts like "Infatuation" and the woozy, yet intoxicating, "Forge", in which he shows more of his traditional duality complex. He loves the love, yet it seemingly scares him and he tends to zone back into pessimism mode, only to get back to enjoying the moments. His stability lies, primarily, with the peace of his son, as evidenced on cuts like "Tourmaline" and "Heavy Metal", but he also has a bit of basketball references as well, such as the aforementioned "gsw vs sac" and "Gamma". Production-wise, the album, overall, is as dense as usual, only with a slightly more melodic direction than we've heard from in past work, most notably thanks to Detroit Dj/Producer, Black Noi$e, who comprised the majority of this album much like he did his prior album, Sick! The authenticity in the production emphasizes Earl's ability to let loose acrobatically on the mic with avant-garde, poetic bars. Overcoming his troubled past, his tumultuous relationship with his deceased father, his searching for inner peace, and his bond with his family are all narratives throughout this album Earl brings us into, and with Live, Laugh, Love, Earl is the most calm we've ever heard him, while still a genius lyrical craftsman that very few will pick up on his points and subtleties. Many would argue that his best work was when he was either at his most deranged (EARL, Doris) or his most depressed and emotional (I Don't Like Shit...I Don't Go Outside, Some Rap Songs), but it's fascinating to hear Earl in a place he's been unfamiliar with, and it sounds refreshing and stable. The results are that of an album where we hear outstanding no-holds-barred wordplay with a substance that values the simple things in life. We see you, Earl!
6. Sick!
Production: artist, The Alchemist, Black Noi$e, Navy Blue, Alexander Spit, others
Guests: Armand Hammer, Zeelooperz
In the downslide of the coronavirus of 2020, Mr. Sweatshirt dropped the full-length follow-up to his astounding, Some Rap Songs, in the form of Sick!, and it marked a slight change in the abstract, yet dense, narrative of the former OFWGKTA member. This album marked more obscure tone from him, yet still heavy in duality. We have a young man that still has pessimistic frustrations and cynical viewpoints, yet on the other hand sees lights at the end of never ending tunnels seemingly and embraces this odd, yet essential, transition. From the opening cut, the simply excellent Alchemist-blessed, "Old Friend", Earl reflects back on good times with former Odd Future collaborator and member, Left Brain, to show that, although they hadn't communicated a lot, that he still had love for him over a drumless and murky beat with pouring rain effects behind it. Once we get this out the way, Earl begins to dive into areas concerning the isolationism of COVID, fatherhood, and the drive to persevere through his inner calamity. He comes with technical precision and sharpness on cuts like "2010" and the title track, while also showing honest introspection with cuts like the tremendous "God Laughs" and another Uncle Al-crafted piece, "Lye", which has him asking questions about his spirituality and seeking for a depth he's hardly tapped into before. Earl manages to revisit his time in Samoa and his subsequent return to L.A. in an insightful, yet poetic approach, while he collabs with Armand Hammer on "Tabula Rasa", in which he hangs with those two lyrical giants much like they would end up doing on Hammer's cut, "Falling From The Sky", from HARAM the very next year. Arguably hitting his lowest personal moments with Some Rap Songs and I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside, we start seeing Earl see glimmers of hope in a seemingly never-ending tunnel on Sick! He still has issues within himself that have him in tough mental and emotional spaces, but at least he's starting to realize that there's growth in healing and vice versa. As evidenced with this album, he was starting to acknowledge this in his own highly talented and unique way.
5. Feet Of Clay EP
Production: artist, The Alchemist, Navy Blue, ovrkast, Black Noi$e, Mach-Hommy
Guests: Mach-Hommy, Liv.e, Mavi
Fresh off the highly introspective and reflective masterwork that was Some Rap Songs, Earl dropped a surprise EP the very next year with Feet of Clay. While Some Rap Songs was a lens into a young man that was navigating his new normal without his grandmother, father, and uncle, while fighting to affirm his strength in being comfortable not being or feeling comfortable, Feet of Clay is a more abstract approach to the world and society as one big rabbit hole. All or most of this seven-track effort was Earl in colorful, left-of-center aura in which cuts like "74" and the stellar Alchemist-crafted, "Mtomb" demonstrated his obvious dwelling grief over the loss of his father from Some Rap Songs. None was more apparent than on the track, "OD", in which Earl is in the aftermath of the passing, and his abstract, yet poignant, ideas within himself concerning the tone of grief as a whole. The tracks, "4N' (which also features an excellent verse from equally, if not more, enigmatic emcee, Mach-Hommy), and the Mavi-collaborated, "El Toro Combo Meal" are opposite sides of the same spectrum, both in terms of imagery and sound. The remainder tracks of "East" and "Tisk Tisk/Cookies" are obtuse and dense, yet clever and moody, in which Earl shines the most at. It could be said that Feet of Clay were loosies of SRS, but that would be too domesticated. This effort is a manual in the poetic and humanistic from the brain of one of the game's most low-key brilliant minds and writers.
4. Doris
Production: artist, Tyler The Creator, Pharrell Williams, RZA, BADBADNOTGOOD, others
Guests: Vince Staples, Mac Miller, Tyler The Creator, Domo Genesis, RZA, Casey Veggies, Frank Ocean
Fresh off the HIGHLY controversial mixtape, EARL, came Mr. Sweatshirt's debut major label album, Doris, an album that truly shows his star making appeal from a lyrical standpoint, but also highlighting a complex, occasionally morbid, and conflicted soul that is still trying to make sense of the world and how it all affects his outlook and his psyche. Although the majority of the album was recorded before his sabbatical to Samoa and a boarding school over there, some tracks were done once he went back to L.A., and they all still flow distinctively in its own chaotic, yet harmonious, structure. The first single, "Chum", is evidence of his beyond-his-years writing (he was around nineteen when he wrote the song), as well as topics such as his strained relationship with his father, his feelings being sent to the boarding school, and other areas that concerned his upbringing. Gloomy, yet engaging, production provided by Christian Keys sets the tone as Earl glides through this cut reportedly in one take. With his second single, the Tyler The Creator-assisted, "Whoa", is Earl going practically bonkers with the pen over a pretty melodic Tyler creation, and "Hives", the third single, features Vince Staples and Odd Future member, Casey Veggies, is more dark and menacing with its production and sounds. Earl clearly is painting pictures of how struggle looked in L.A. at the time, while Staples challenges cats on what it really means to be a real street cat as opposed to flexing on wax. With these singles to get you open, he goes more into a mixture of deliberately keeping you distant while also tentatively bring you into his troubled mind. Take for instance, "Burgundy", which also features Staples, in which he questions why he's even rapping considering all the drama and inner turmoil he had been experiencing in his life at the time while also expressing industry and personal insecurities. Over a slick Neptunes (peace to Chad Hugo) track, Earl is virtually in a counseling session with Staples, and he lets off jadedness in a form that comes off very genuine. He gets back to a bit more of EARL on the RZA-crafted and featured, "Molasses", in which the witty vitriol that helped him to garner such shock and awe from the aforementioned mixtape is represented here, only not nearly as drug-infected and painted with nearly as graphic imagery. One interesting track, in particular is the cut with Frank Ocean, "Sunday", which has Ocean subtly referring to the incident at the Grammy Awards involving him and fellow multiple time Grammy Award winner, Chris Brown, backstage at the event, but also Earl's troubles with him quitting weed usage. Meanwhile, he and the late, great Mac Miller collaborate on the drug-celebrated duet, "Guild". The irony here is unfortunately obvious, as Mac would pass five years later of the same thing they speak about within the cut, but if anything, this cut, over another psychedelic opus by Earl (under his production pseudonym, Randomblackdude) displayed the apparent chemistry Earl and Mac had together, and that there was more that we wish we could've heard from them together. A lot more. With other standouts such as (yet) another Vince Staples collaboration, "Centurion", the Domo Genesis-assisted, "20 Wave Caps", and the excellent, "Hoarse", Doris is a very worthwhile major label full-length debut from the clear prodigy of the Odd Future camp. Although clearly not in a lot of good, sunshine-inducing mental moments, his open game was innovative and ahead of its time. When you look at other legendary emcees over the years that weren't quite in their twenties when excellence was already upon them such as Nas, Mobb Deep's Prodigy, Roxanne Shante, and both members of Outkast, Earl was thrusted immediately into that list, and this was the beginning of what would be quite the outstanding acclaimed career of the most unlikely underground star in the game at the time.
3. I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
Production: artist, Left Brain
Guests: Vince Staples, Wiki, Da$h, Na-Kel
One thing about Earl: he can be a dark place dweller when he wants to be, and his music can certainly reflect as such. Following up the critical and commercial success of Doris was not an easy task, but he did it, and did damn well with I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside. With no promotion for this project, this album appeared basically out of the blue on DSPs with an accompanying video, the highly dense, brooding, yet oddly dreamy, "Grief". Earl's honesty and complexity is something that he exudes all through this album. This first single alone is filled with enough mental health depressive episodes that it's as angst as it is relatable. What follows is a trip through the mind of a young man still discovering his life filled with confusion, depression, and chip-on-shoulder hunger, as evidenced with the opener, "Huey", as well as the likes of "Mantra", and the heavy-themed, lo-fi-sounding, "Faucet". With the latter, this cut Earl comes off practically hopeless at times, stating, "Shit in a pile never change, I'm stupid for trying", and other lines make this cut especially jarring, yet highly personal. He and Staples collaborate on the nodding, "Wool", but it's the cut "DNA" that will cause one to pause whatever they're doing at the time. Over production that could easily be lo-fi drill-type beats, he and former Odd Future collaborator, Na-kel, experiment with double-time flows, as well as start-and-stop delivery that flows and glides while he's spitting, but Na-kel's verse is especially gripping, as he reminisces over a fallen friend that, reportedly, passed just before the recording of the cut which explains the powerful nature of his verse. He and rapper, Da$h, spit back and forth with venom and aggravation clearly angry about points within their lives. Weighty, claustrophobic, and certainly compressed in imagery, I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside is another example of how Earl's prodigious talent for a young one his age at the time can be conglomerated with real life mental health issues and an inward look that matches his outward pessimism. Leaning away from the overtly shock of EARL, and more at a secure point than Doris, IDLSIDGO is an evolution of Earl, be it morose or otherwise. If there's one thing that's bright from this otherwise confined album: it was definitely his future, and it was no longer going to be an odd pone either.
2. Voir Dire
Production: The Alchemist
Guests: Vince Staples, MIKE
One day in 2021 on social media, Mr. Alan Maman, aka The Alchemist, indicated that there was a "hidden" album on YouTube that involved him and Earl. Heads were up in arms over it trying to find this, possibly, mythical album. If this album truly existed, it would potentially be one of the best albums of the decade, and heads knew this. Two years later, there was mysterious link that appeared on Earl's site that connected to Gala Music's site, which contained little Easter eggs concerning this mysterious album, including Uncle Al tweeting "Speak the Truth", which is English for the French term, "Voir Dire". Days after this bizarre, yet highly intriguing, Easter egg, Al dropped the music video for the cut "Sentry" featuring Earl-influenced NY emcee, MIKE and Earl over a drumless, vocal looped sampled cut that indicated the album was, in fact, a real thing and was dropping sooner than anyone thought. The album, Voir Dire, was all the way real and first dropped on the Gala Music sight and could be purchased NFTs. About two to three weeks later, it made it to DSPs, and frankly, this album was worth the wait and the hype equally. A video for the single with Vince Staples, "The Caliphate" was released, and the chemistry that Vince and Earl demonstrated on earlier cuts like "Hive", "Centurion", and "Wool" over a neck-snapping, bass-heavy, two-note piece. Al's production lies between surreal samples revolving around minimalist percussion and soulful melodies that tend to incorporate thick basslines, haunting strings, or sharp piano keys. All of which Earl glides over tremendously well, as evidenced by cuts like the stellar opener, the "100 High Street", "Vin Skully", and "27 Braids". On cuts where Al gets more stripped back, Earl's talents are even more brightly displayed. On the outstanding, "Mac Deuce", Earl is at his most lethal pen work over an incredible sample as he's giving a tribute to his late friend, the late, great Mac Miller. Earl's multisyllabic rhyme scheme mixed with his off-beat, on-beat rhyme structure that often goes in waves are the catalyst that separates him from many contemporaries, and his flow is as permeant as ever on cuts like this. He similarly displays this gifted delivery on the church-sampled, "Mancala", in which he and Staples again show why they're one of the most dynamic duos hidden in plain sight, while the delightful ear-candy that is "Sirius Blac" has Earl making heady-type rhymes while making his point clear and vivid complete with another magical sample from Alan the Chemist. One area Al likes to lean into sonically is crafting eighties, R&B-sounding, synth-percussion tracks. In this case, it would be "Heat Check", in which Earl eloquently reminds us why he stays to himself, and he doesn't trust many people. When we hit the final track, "Free the Ruler", Earl salutes another late friend, bay area rapper, Drakeo The Ruler, over a minimalist track in which Earl tackles depression, grief, his relationship with his parents, and how violence ultimately never benefits anyone, as it was violence that took the life of Drakeo. While many have scoffed at the thought of Al providing Earl with "safe" beats, Earl hadn't sounded any more revived and refreshed than over this "safe" production from Uncle Al. With Voir Dire, Al's back to basics approach brought out a lion in Earl that we hadn't heard arguably since Doris, and this long-awaited dup collaboration was well worth the search and eventual reveal. This album served as a benchmark for Earl and proved that his sonic relationship with Alchemist is one that's very special.
1. Some Rap Songs
Production: artist, Navy Blue, Denmark Vessey, Black Noi$e
Guests: Navy Blue, SOTC
We all know the, at times, unbearable and complex waves of grief, and mourning loved ones. It's strange at times, debilitating, other times, and impossible to navigate in other occasions. Tears of good memories can turn into tears of missing these people within an instant. Plus, there's no timeline as to when grief leaves. There's truly no such thing. All one can do is adapt to the change and get used to the new normal. For Earl, this came in the form of the passing of his uncle and his father. Both passed around the time of the release of his third full-length album, Some Rap Songs. Far away from the reckless and internally poisoned teenager from EARL, and we get a lot more of Thebe. The death of his father, especially, was the one that, unsurprisingly, got him being the most reflective and meditative he had been in his young career up to this point. The sounds here are as blurry, distorted, and disfigured as the cover of this album, but while doing so, he created a whole new lane of avant-garde sounds and cloudy jazz undertones mixed with left-field samplings and minimal percussion. The tone was set with the first single, "Nowhere 2 Go", in which he tackles the comfort in his isolationism and how he manages to maintain. While dark on surface levels, it's his security in knowing who he is that makes this relatable and empathetic. He followed that up with the Navy Blue-assisted, "The Mint", in which these two sound excellent together over a mellow beat that comes off as among the breeziest on the album, if not the breeziest altogether. The emotion spills from the words in his rhymes while staying in the same monotone delivery that he's very known for. While I Don't Like Shit... was an album that presented stark duplicity in embracing his enigmatic thought processes and deliberately providing more questions than answers, SRS is naked with nothing to hide nor fear. Lyrically, the young reluctant genius forms his thoughts together with such poignancy and precision that there's an aura of craftsmanship that stands out even more on this album than any other album he had done before, and truthfully since in many aspects. Subject-wise, he resonates the most with pain, insecurities, and the convoluted path he's seeking to find. On cuts like the opener, "Shattered Dreams", "The Bends", and "Veins", Earl is a cautious, self-loathing poet that examines the world around him with uncertainty and an internal self-awareness that's both vulnerable and uniquely self-empowering. However, there are moments when Earl gets on his multisyllabic grizzly, and displays a hunger that first established him as a prodigy of the game in the first place on cuts like "December 24", but goes back to the abstract with enchanting cuts like "Veins", "Red Water", and the haunting, yet cautionary, ode to LSD, "Loosey", which has him dissing this drug in personification form. He similarly goes to the abstruse wordplay route with "Cold Summers" by contrasting the good with the bad. He spotlights mental health, depression, and addiction on the jolting cuts of "Ontheway!" (featuring a spot by SOTC emcee, Gio Escobar) and the gloomy ode to his deceased father, "Peanuts". Perhaps the most touching cut on this out-of-this-world album is "Playing Possum", which has Earl featuring his mother reflecting about Earl and an audio recording of his late father reciting a poem entitled "Anguish Longer Than Sorrow", and it ends up sounding like both his parents are conversing about Earl in a makeshift conversation which is equally moving and outstandingly clever. The other big part of this album is the lo-fi, psychedelic jazz sounds that make this album as distinguished and engaging as anything he's ever delivered. Aforementioned cuts such as "Cold Summers", "Peanuts", and "Veins" are so sonically ambiguous that it puts you in a soulfully alternative universe with a basement feel of dusty crackles and cassette tape hisses. Beautifully meticulous sample usage almost make Earl be the co-star to his own album, as he occasionally loses his vocals within the layering of these highly obscure beats and esoteric samples. As complicated as Earl's inner workings may be, Some Rap Songs is the most stripped away look at Thebe Kgostistile in the most colorful and ever-winding imagery within his entire discography. An avant-garde rap classic, Earl peels the layers back of grief, acceptance, and the duality of how peace and madness can overlap. If EARL was his blatant shock rap introduction, Doris is his breakout version of The Slim Shady LP, and I Don't Like Shit... is a look at the brooding and dark seed behind his morose humor and seemingly warped outlook, then Some Rap Songs is his coming of age in somber, yet revealing, detail. Most tracks are around a minute and a half, allowing for no wasted room lyrically, stylistically, or musically, and he achieves this wildly. Jarring, concerning, and fearless, Earl didn't stay away from the spiral he was in. He embraced it, and it reflected in the bizarre album cover, as well as the hallucinogenic, soulfully psychedelic production here. This is genius level rap, and Some Rap Songs ranks among the most intricate pieces of brilliance of the past fifteen years.
It remains to be seen what else lies ahead of the one-time boy wonder from the OFWGKTA team, but one can be assured that Earl is still a heavyweight within his lane of left-brained, avant-garde, poetically abstract rap. He influenced emcees such as MIKE and Navi, not to mention he has one of the game's most intriguing and distinctive discographies around. Thebe was once a trouble kid that used hip-hop as an outlet despite his concerning behavior and inward look to a husband, father, and one of the most highly regarded emcees on the planet. His talent is only accompanied by his elusive aura, but please believe, his talent and the true star here, and his "off future" never looked better.
Here are noteworthy tracks within Earl's discography that display his exceptional talent:
*all tracks produced by Earl Sweatshirt/Randomblackdude unless otherwise noted*
"Chum"
"Old Friend" (production: The Alchemist)
"Mac Deuce" (production: The Alchemist)
"Guild" feat. Mac Miller
"Thisniggaugly" (production: Tyler The Creator)
"Vin Skully" (production: The Alchemist)
"Grief"
"El Toro Combo Meal" feat. Mavi (production: ovrkast)
"Hives" feat. Vince Staples, Casey Veggies
"Hoarse" (production: BADBADNOTGOOD)
"Infatuation" (production: Theravada)
"20 Wave Caps" feat. Domo Genesis
"gsw vs sac" (production: Theravada)
"Tabula Rasa" feat. Armand Hammer (production: Theravada)
"Fire In The Hole" (production: Black Noi$e)
"Earl"
"Mtomb" feat. Liv.e (production: The Alchemist)
"Sunday" feat. Frank Ocean
"Veins"
"The Mint" feat. Navy Blue (production: Black Noi$e)
"DNA" feat. Na-Kel
"Kill" (production: Tyler The Creator)
"Faucet"
"Molasses" feat. RZA (production: RZA)
"Stapleton" (production: Beatboy)
"The Caliphate" feat. Vince Staples (production: The Alchemist)
"4N" feat. Mach-Hommy (production: Mach-Hommy)
"Gamma" (production: Theravada)
"Moonlight" feat. Hodgy Beats (production: Tyler The Creator)
"Wind In My Sails" (production: The Alchemist)
"Solace"
"Whole World" feat. Maxo (production: The Alchemist)
