Thoughts on SICK! by Earl Sweatshirt and From a Birds Eye View by Cordae

The first two albums of 2022 that really hit my radar and I checked out in full. Cordae's I knew about for ages, since he dropped that short EP appropriately named 'Just Untill....'. And compared to Cordae's, Earl's was a pretty quick turnaround, he had a couple of singles to get the people going, but checking his Instagram, it was only about a month from announcement to drop.

Earl Sweatshirt - SICK!

Before his post announcing the new album, I was actually thinking and hoping Earl was going to do something in 2022 - on my 2021 wrap up I was going to do a little wishlist for 2022 but I never did it in the end, and even if I wanted to, by the time I got round to doing the wrap up it was a few weeks into January and Earl's album was already on the airwaves. The first single '2010' is what really sparked my interest, the song title may have been a callback to his previous sound, with the rough lo-fi mixing that we heard on 'Some Rap Songs' and 'Feet of Clay' dropped, and instead we got a clear sounding Earl over a trippy, free-moving instrumental that felt like no other I have heard before. Although I like 'Some Rap Songs' now, 'Feet of Clay' was a bit too-far leftfield for its own good for me - I didn't like the beats and as well as Earl sounding uninterested/uninteresting, his voice was mixed so rugged and rough to the point it stopped me from drawing connections to his lyrics or what he was actually going for with that record. 

I wouldn't say 'SICK!' is a full 180' though, stylistically it falls between his older stuff (Doris, I Don't Like Shit...) and his newer stuff (Some Rap Songs and Feet of Clay). There are still loads of cool sampling, 'Tabula Rasa' felt a bit like the sample was fighting against the light keys and soft drums, but Earl and Armand Hammer (first time hearing him) went in with their verses. Super nice flows and attacked the beat really well in my opinion in the pockets that they rapped in. There were a couple of songs where it felt a drag to listen to, but for the most part I did enjoy SICK! more than 'Feet of Clay', not sure about 'Some Rap Songs' though. The beat on 'Titanic' was a cool cosmic-sounding trap beat that was really cold and Earl's performance was strong on the verse too, resulting in my favourite song on the album. I liked the guitar instrumental on 'Fire in the Hole' and 'Vision' was another one of the better tracks. 'Vision' would sound amazing live, I hope I can see it one day - I feel as though a lot of Earl's more recent music would sound significantly better through a mega sound system Overall, it is a pretty decent album, some of the themes and content bypassed me but in terms of the music there's some great tracks in there, will be interesting to see what route he takes with his music next.

Star Track - Titanic

6/10

Cordae - From a Birds Eye View

Just when I was starting to find Cordae a little bit on the side of corny he comes back and drops a really creative and lyrical album that displays why he is one of the best and capable MC's to come out in the past few years. His first album was brilliant, but it didn't contain anything that say, was different. Not only has his rapping stepped up levels (see the track 'Super' for reference), he has tried his hand at newer sounds and styles. The cadences and flows absolutely make the track 'Momma's Hood' an amazing piece of artistry whilst he also pours his heart onto the beat. Cut Cordae and he bleeds multi-syllable rhyme schemes loool, his performance on 'Sinister' (shoutout Lil Wayne for going in) and on 'Parables' (not too enthused with Eminem's verse - cringe bars and a flow that is somehow both impressive and unlistenable) were evidence that Cordae has skillful flows, really sick bars and a super nice, confident delivery and tone. Cordae has learnt from the best and his influences are clear in his music but in a sweet way that is not bait or anything, you can just tell he is a real student of Hip Hop. 

It was great to hear him flexing his singing ability once again, 'Chronicles' was fantastic and H.E.R. really added a nice, silky smooth element to the track. Lil Durk wasn't as necessary but he did have some cool melodic moments at the end of his verse.

'Today' featuring Gunna was one of the more hyped-up songs but turned out to be a bit 'by the numbers' and felt more of a tracklist filler. 'Champagne Glasses' was another that was talked about a lot when the tracklist dropped prior to the album (due to it having Freddie Gibbs and Stevie Wonder on it), and it was certainly better than 'Today' and added nicely to the tracklist, but was somewhat underwhelming when people were clamouring for it to be the 'track of the year' in mid January. Stevie Wonder closed the track with a really nice harmonica solo, erm, but I had a similar conversation when Elton John was credited as a feature for a piano solo on a Lil Nas X song. Don't get me wrong, it is really cool to see, but not entirely sure a listed feature would be given out if it was not Elton John, and in the case of Cordae's track, Stevie Wonder. I think it would've been cooler to not have it listed, and if you know or find it out, then you know and that's it. 'Jean-Michel', 'Want From Me' and without a doubt, 'C Carter' were all chilled out numbers, that at this point, seem very 'Cordae' - them tracks are quintessential Cordae tracks, that's what he does and that's what he does best. Overall, time will tell me if I come to prefer this album over his first, we will see, but for now I can say that Cordae is stamping his mark over the rap game at the moment in a dignified, lyrical and undeniable way. His music lacks 'flash' to me, but if he did start becoming like that, I'd see it as fake and ingenuine. Cordae, keep being yourself, keep pushing your pen and keep spitting - mad important to Hip Hop in my opinion.

Star Track - Momma's Hood

7.5/10