This pithily captivating and ruthlessly introspective third full-length epistle from the twisted mind of still-only-21-year-old west coast microphone tyro Sweatshirt is no less of a hip-hop landmark than higher-profile recent communiques from Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
Doris made it clear that Earl’s not the kind of artist who’s going to outdo himself with a Paul McCartney and Rihanna feature, and his follow-up I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside only pushes that album’s muted, beats-and-rhymes aesthetic to even further insular extremes.
I Don’t Like Shit moves at a stroll not because it’s lazy but because its creator knows exactly what he’s doing, such that there’s no need to show off.
Never in any danger of overstaying his welcome, Kgositsile shows an overall maturity on Outside that suggests great things in his future.
The album staggers by quickly, making it easy to miss a lacerating line here or clever double entendre there. In that respect, it lends itself well to multiple listens.
This portrait of the artist might be a gloomy, oppressive one but it’s grimly fascinating nevertheless.
He's at his best on final song Wool, eschewing his inner turmoil for a raw verse that shows him at his most confident: wisecracking, carefree and defiantly proud of what he and a group of outré misfits have accomplished.
With nothing to prove and no longer an upstart, Earl sounds, more than ever, simply like himself.
On the deeply atmospheric I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside, Earl Sweatshirt has leveled up and grown into his talents as a rapper and producer. The unnecessary shock value buffer between he and his audience has been cast away leaving an impactful artist in its wake.
On I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside, Earl forgoes youthful cheap thrills to tell the tale of the kid who'd rather stay inside to hone his craft.
I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside is an exceptionally realised and meaningful work from an artist looking well beyond turn up culture in the pursuit of something deeper and longer lasting.
His paranoia is as thick as Drake's on the similarly inward If You're Reading This It's Too Late, from earlier this year. However, I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside is a much leaner, less showy effort (Drake is an actor, Earl decidedly is not), and Earl turns his pen on himself, too, not just everybody else.
I Don't Like Shit is heavy and lacks much hope, and yet it communicates these feelings with such skill and artful understanding that it still fills the soul.
I Don’t Like Shit is Earl Sweatshirt’s darkest and most honest work. Each word on the album is shaped by his orotund tone as he nosedives straight into depression.
I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside is smaller than its predecessors but more explosive; it bursts like a match, flickers intensely and then vanishes, leaving a trail of smoke and the distinct smell of burned bridges.
On his excellent second LP, Earl Sweatshirt keeps deepening his game — spooling out dense, mordant rhymes over zombifically blunted tracks as he somehow sucks you into his sunless reality.
It's a pared-back approach, which could easily be viewed as effortless if it wasn't so evident that this album finds the rapper focusing his trademark sputter on content over delivery.
_ I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside_ doesn’t stand out for advancement for Sweatshirt or the rap genre, but offers something the other releases lacked – a human relatability.
I Don't Like Shit may be a master class in ominous mood-setting and a cutting excavation of a wounded psyche, but it also reveals that Earl is at his best when he engages the outside world rather than getting mired in his own emotional claustrophobia.
The art comes first, and as a result, Earl’s produced an album that’s concise, consistent and cerebral.
The little dude is a poet. Still, at a relatively lean 30 minutes, it’s hard to argue this is a heavyweight album.
OMG hehehehehe he is literally me!!
While I'm not Earl's biggest fun, I like the dude. I've only heard Some Rap Songs before this project from him, And while I love the album overall I might need to come back to it to fully understand how I feel about it. This album is definitely an easier listen then SRS. Which is a funny thing to say considering the heaviness of this project.
This album is certainly heavy, In terms of the lyrical content and the atmosphere of the album. Earl builds an ... read more
(88 -> 100)
Definitely one of my favorite Hip Hop albums, it helped me a lot when I was down. Earl's flows on this album are immaculate, they're absolutely GOATed, I like to think Earl Sweatshirt on this album is one of the best rappers when it comes to flow. The features also have really great flows and lyrics. Also I just realized I should have waited 4 days to review this album since it's 9 year anniversary will be then... oh well. Yeah, this album is pretty GOATed in my opinion, you ... read more
Not always a fan of more minimal instrumentals but these go so well with Earl's voice and flow. Great atmosphere, a couple of the later tracks are a bit weaker than the start but still very solid.
'Grief' would be one of my favorites easily but the beat is so loud and compressed compared to everything else. Sounds like it got ran back and forth through an mp3 converter 10 times or something idk, still a great song but why is the mix like that
Favs: Huey, Mantra, Wool, Off Top
1 | Huey 1:52 | 87 |
2 | Mantra 3:48 | 88 |
3 | Faucet 3:07 | 89 |
4 | Grief 4:10 | 90 |
5 | Off Top 1:46 | 85 |
6 | Grown Ups 2:57 feat. Da$h | 79 |
7 | AM // Radio 4:02 feat. Wiki | 84 |
8 | Inside 1:49 | 83 |
9 | DNA 3:52 feat. Na-Kel Smith | 83 |
10 | Wool 2:33 feat. Vince Staples | 87 |
#10 | / | Dummy |
#13 | / | Time Out New York |
#14 | / | Noisey |
#16 | / | Blare |
#17 | / | Gigwise |
#18 | / | Complex |
#25 | / | Pitchfork |
#27 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
#27 | / | SPIN |
#27 | / | Sputnikmusic |