By now it's definitely no secret that Tyler, the Creator snatched a VMA award for best new artist and was even nominated for video of the year. I'd just like to say congrats your massive win Tyler, your hard work definitely paid off. Not bad for someone who was just signed mere months ago.
During his acceptance speech, Tyler did mention his little brother, Earl, couldn't be there at the awards show. If you've been following Tyler or OFWGKTA for any length of time, you've no doubt seen the "Free Earl" campaign. Earl is also an artist in the hip-hop community, but he's under 18 and his mother isn't exactly approving of his vicious and violent lyrics. So, she made it clear that Earl wasn't to be featured or create any tracks, so long as she has custody of him. So now the world waits for April, 2012 when Earl finally hits 18. But, wait! He's already put out an album. Yep, when Earl was 16 he released "EARL" on OFWGKTA, and even better, it was a free release.
Let me go ahead and say something controversial: I think Earl is better than his older brother Tyler. Shocking right? Well, let me follow it up by saying I haven't listened to Tyler's new album "Goblin" yet. I have a lot of respect for Tyler and his work ethic, so I want to actually pay for his music and not just rip it. I have heard the track Yonkers though, so I at least have some frame of reference, but mostly i will be comparing Tyler's first album "Bastard to Earl's "EARL".
"EARL" is much less of a concept album when compared to "Bastard", meaning that the album is intending to tell a story throughout. In "EARL" Earl vaguely describes the events of one day. As opposed to "Bastard" which has nearly every track referring to the same counseling session between Tyler and a shrink. That being said "EARL" has a better sense of direction and continuity over "Bastard". The tracks on the latter tend to all be in the same vein of mind, while sounding distinctly unique. On "Bastard" the tracks bounce all over the place, sometimes sounding like they were written by different artists, or in the case of the song French! the song is split into two vastly different parts, both of which are strong enough to stand on their own. One can make the quite reasonable argument that "Bastard" is meant to be like that to show the schizophrenic mind of the main character in the lyrics, but I'm a bit hesitant to buy into that. Earl generates tracks that sound like they were ripped from a deranged schizophrenic teenage, without having to jump from style to style. In the end though I suppose that's up to your personally preference. Do you want an album to have vastly different tracks on it, like it was made by several artists, or do you want one strong continuous style throughout? Earl also has more traditional beats than Tyler. Earl's beats are much more drum and bass centered as opposed to Tyler's which span in every direction he damn well pleases.
With the overview out of the way, let's focus on some individual tracks. "EARL" starts off with a track that has no music and is just a conversation someone is having with Tyler in the studio, insulting Earl's physical appearance and his ability to rap constantly throughout, hence the title: Thisniggaugly. And that basically puts Earl's rage in the ensuing tracks into context. The title track is the first real bit of rapping brilliance on the record, and it showcases one hell of a dirty beat that will make you wear out your speakers and subs in a heartbeat. Not to mention, the music video is just brilliant. Couch features Tyler as "Ace Creator" and another amazing beat and Earl's trademark every-line-is-quotable lyrics that never let up throughout the entire album. Oh, yeah and Tyler kills Earl at the end of the song. The third track, Kill, begins with Earl remarking "Nigga thought he killed me, huh?"
I could just do every track from here on out, but it just be cascade of me spooging over every single track saying how great Earl is and that he is the second coming of Christ Almighty. I'll spare you, and just command you to listen to it yourself. IT'S FREE!
Golf wang, fuck Steve Harvey, free Earl, burgundy carpet, etc.
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