When Earl Sweatshirt was just 15, he was rapping about raping nuns and slitting wrists, so it's hard to imagine his lyrics getting any more demented than that. But on his new album, I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside, they do, albeit in a more subtle, depressing way.
Whereas 15-year-old Earl sounded like he was dreaming up the most repulsive situations possible for shock value, his new album has him decidedly in non-fiction mode. Equal parts breakup album, If You're Reading This It's Too Late-style fame-comes-at-a-price narrative, and classically dark Odd Future release, I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside finds Earl going through some serious shit, with raps to match.
Here are the darkest lyrics from the album.
“I spent the day drinking and missing my grandmother”
("Huey")
The first of several references to Earls' Grandma on the album.
If You're Reading This, It's Too Late
"You know you famous when the niggas that surround you switch
And if they hated in a passive tense
And now they hound your dick"
("Mantra")
This line in particular would fit perfectly on Drake's If You're Reading This, It's Too Late.
Item #3
"You can tell the Reaper I'mma meet 'em when he send for me
With a cleaver and a .30, and some twisted weed
I pick one, and let the crimson leak, nigga"
("Mantra")
Earl's imagery is on-point and spine-tingling.
Item #4
"Chasing dragons, tryna make it happen, on a mission
Step into the shadows, we could talk addiction
When it's harmful where you going and the part of you that know it
Don't give a fuck, pardon me for going into details"
("Grief")
Always fond of weed, Earl sounds like he's been dipping into harder stuff since we last heard from him on Doris, with references to multiple types of pills on the album.
Item #5
"Focus on my chatter, ain't as frantic as my thoughts
Lately I've been panicking a lot
Feeling like I'm stranded in a mob
Scrambling for Xanax out the canister to pop"
("Grief")
A sense of existential dread pervades nearly every track.
Item #6
"Raised up where every mouth that speak the truth get taped shut
Peep the evening news, my nigga, we don't do the same stuff"
("Off Top")
Darker than the already-pitch-black line about TV news on Doris ("Breaking news: death's less important when the Lakers lose"), this one kicks off possibly the most depressing song on the album.
Item #7
"I been like this since the Motorola Razr
What a bastard that baby was
Little mad nigga missing dad never praying much
Right around the same time his grandmama drank a bunch"
("Off Top")
This line becomes even worse when you realize that the Razr debuted in 2004, so Earl's saying he's been depressed since age ten.
Item #8
"I'm only happy when there's static in the air cause the fair weather fake to me
Living in the scope, hairs crossed like adjacent streets"
("Off Top")
Maybe L.A.'s not the best place to live then?
Item #9
"After this, mind in the trash next to where my fuckin' passion went
Dodge fanatics, half-a-Xanax when i'm traveling six hours or more
Brick out on the tour, got kicked out of the morgue
Spit cattle manure shit, shit, rally the Horsemen
Tally the corpses"
("AM // Radio")
There's almost too much chaos to process in this song-closing lyric. Mind and passion? Trashed. Reliance on drugs? Yup. Getting kicked out of a morgue? Huh? Allusion to the apocalypse? Obviously.