Doris

4/5

Doris

Earl Sweatshirt

Doris is Earl Sweatshirt’s debut album following the success of his 2010 mixtape, Earl. Production began on approximately February 2012 as revealed through one of his tweets when he returned from Samoa. On December of the same year, he would announce the album’s title and various music outlets reported its supposed feature list. Earl would then confirm the release date for Doris on July 2013, to be on August 20th of that year, in addition to displaying the tracklist and cover for the first time. Earl explores various themes throughout the bulk of Doris; mostly on reminiscing his past, his Read more on Last.fm.

  1. gives it a: 3/5

    Good, but kind of meh compared to the expectations I’d set for him. After listening to Tyler’s LPs, I thought that Earl would be dropping rhymes just as good as Ty’s, if not better. “Pre”‘s simplistic schemes and slow pace disappointed me, then it started picking up with songs like “Sasquatch” and “Uncle Al”. He does call for assistance from his fellow Odd Futurists, Mac Miller, and RZA from the Wu Tang Clan (the forefather of Odd Future). Understandable, but I would’ve liked to see more than just three tracks just by himself. Songs like “Chum” shine light on his backstory, which is just as dark as any rapper’s. In the end, a very impressive album from the youngen of the collective, but it could be built upon.

  2. gives it a: 3/5

    His lyrical acrobatics don’t always pan out to much more than over indulgent exorcises. But it’s clear that we’re dealing with a future legend, no joke. The promise is there.

  3. gives it a: 4/5

    ‘Doris’ starts off slow, but majorly picks up steam.

  4. gives it a: 4/5

    It would be a stretch to call it his swan song by any means, but given the insurmountable hype, it’s a wonder Thebe just about managed to pull it off. I shudder to think he might still just be warming up … he’s already on par with some of the heavyweight MCs. This record is imperfect, but DOPE.