Twelve years after the religious imagery on the cover of Doris, Earl Sweatshirt stares you dead in the eye on his brand new album Live Laugh Love. This stare is not one of judgment or pain; instead, it’s one that charismatically shouts, “I’m here. I beat my demons and I’m here.”

Odd Future’s Earl Sweatshirt has become a household name in hip-hop at this point. Debuting with the lyrically layered Doris in 2013, Sweatshirt’s monotonous flow and vivid wordplay garnered a following within the underground. By the time of 2018’s Some Rap Songs, he was laying his struggles with depression and grief over sample-heavy production that pushed the boundaries of beatmaking. Ever since, Sweatshirt has continued to experiment with abstract hip-hop and drumless-rap, cementing himself as one of rap’s most uncompromising voices.

With Live Laugh Love, the rapper sounds a lot more content than in his previous works. The mumbly cries for help from Solace are replaced by triumph in Static as Earl lightheartedly references the NBA, Prince, Future, and Jean Dawson in under ninety seconds.. Meanwhile, CRISCO rewinds it back a decade as Earl seemingly apologizes for his pessimistic outlook previously reflected on 2015’s I Don’t Like Sh*t, I Don’t Go Outside: “They knew shh was off when I was staying silent and stayed inside / I’m saying sorry for the pain I caused”. His optimism is also on full display on Gamma (need the <3), where he honors the late rap legend Dave Trugoy and Roy Avers on top of polyrhythmic drums and a loop of strings.

Life has not been easy for Earl; he lost his grandmother and father, and struggled with depression and addiction all in his twenties. Nonetheless, he’s absorbed the lessons it has taught him. On INFATUATION he raps “Circumstance raised a baby to a beast” and that “The low hum of hunger had my stomach singing a song of sadness”. He then follows this up with a recurring question, “Tonight we dining where?”, making it clear that he’s in a good state of mind in the present, but reminds himself of his past to learn from it. At the end of the day, he’s married and a father now, with responsibilities that he never had before.

Mainly handled by Queens producer Theravada alongside household names Navy Blue and Black Noi$e, the production on Live Laugh Love is crisp and lively. As to be expected from an Earl release, the beats pull samples from jazz, funk, and soul. Only this time, the synths are brighter and the loops shine with hope and positivity instead of gloom and despair. On Live, Noi$e combines two different samples from the same 1970 Jimmy McGriff album as Earl pens a two-part track about a conversation with his sixteen-year-old self and family life. If this were Earl from ten years ago, the track would be dark; instead, it’s decently celebratory and charismatic.

It’s never easy to write about an Earl Sweatshirt album. That is not necessarily because of their lengths; Live Laugh Love is only a mere twenty-four minutes in length, but more so because of how dense Earl’s lyricism is. On TOURMALINE, one of the few tracks with a repeated chorus, Earl raps, “Your son bouncin’ through the funhouses / I got used to the comedown, I leaped around and jumped out”. On the surface, it might seem like a testament to how Earl beat his addiction, but it is also a celebration of his son literally bouncing around as they play together.

On the penultimate closer, exhaust, Earl delivers a single verse, tying the whole album together effortlessly. He repeats the lines “Worked harder than a b***h / Operating the tight shift, God steering the ship”, showing how he has worked with his faith to overcome his battles. He adds, “We went our own ways, I still think of you highly / Give my baby my daddy last name and his likeness”, reminiscing about his Odd Future friends and his late father. It all comes full circle here. In his 2013 breakout single Chum, Earl had previously rapped that he “hates” his father “in dishonest jest”, albeit that he misses him but “swallows it” every chance he gets to say that he misses him. Now, Earl is breaking this chain of emotional distance, embracing his heritage and seemingly promising to be a good dad to his children.

Live Laugh Love is a soulful snapshot of Earl Sweatshirt’s newfound happiness as he celebrates his hard-earned peace. His subject matter is not bleak this time around, and that’s okay. Let the man be happy for once.

order Live Lough Love by Earl Sweatshirt HERE