I’m Happy that Earl is Happy
Ten years ago, Earl Sweatshirt released I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside. A marked shift towards compact albums and filled with some of the darkest lyricism and themes I’ve heard in rap/hip-hop, I was drawn into the abyss after seeing the “Grief” music video. Haunting, depressing, cold, angry, lost. Those are a few words to describe this near-half hour record, and while it holds a special place in my heart, most fans wondered by the time it ended: Is Earl okay?
Some Rap Songs was also written during harder times, detailing the loss of his father and the absence of closure that enveloped him. Even then, there were still lighter moments centered around his family, as he featured vocal samples of both of his parents on “Playing Possum”. Sick!, his 2022 release, represented songs written during the global lockdown that started our 2020’s. Now in 2025, Earl is the parent, passing his own knowledge down through his poetic, playful way with words.
Earl Sweatshirt presents Live Laugh Love, ten years after I Don’t Like Shit. The title is about as telling as the latter was. This time around, the music is focused on his relationship with his wife and his recent fatherhood, and the lessons it taught him about himself along the way. The music video for “TOURMALINE” is brighter, intimate, and feels like a step out of the darker waters that mystified his audience for years.
I have always appreciated Earl’s music and what it has given me, but I am even more appreciative of what it provided him throughout his career. Live Laugh Love is a statement on finding your own peace and understanding with yourself and your place in the world. I am happy that Earl is happy, and he’s yet again made a dense twenty-something minute album, now filled with his own optimism and honesty that’s afforded him as of recent. I especially enjoy the album ender, something Earl has often made unforgettable through all of his releases. He calmly ends the track, and album, with the lines “at the end of the day / its really just you and whatever you think / im airmailing you strength”
Written by Evan Lurie
