by Henry Goldman

If you’re not familiar with the saga of Earl Sweatshirt, I’ll sum it up quickly. The best rapper in this massively hyped, angry young rap crew called Odd Future got sent to reform school in Samoa, cut off from the rest of the world, right as his friends we’re hitting youth culture hard as a sidewalk face-plant. There’s been too much breathless reporting on Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All’s significance to rap/music/hipster/punk culture. So, if you don’t know about them and are actually interested, I suggest you read their coverage in either the NY Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, or one of those other countercultural media outlets the kids are so fond of.

The main thing to know about Earl is that his only “album”, which has 10 tracks and runs about 22 minutes, was my favorite debut album of last year. He has an insane grasp of flow, and great command of imagery, and he does that thing where he rhymes 12 different times in the space of 8 bars, which I love. AND the album is dark, darkly funny and utterly terrifying for parents, in the way great youth music SHOULD be (in fact, it’s so terrifying for parents, that when Earl’s mom heard it, she sent him to the reform school in Samoa).

The other thing to know about Earl Sweatshirt, which I’ve been thinking about since he reappeared in the real world (read: signed up for a Twitter account), is that he is now enrolled in a high school to finish his senior year.

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