Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, commonly known as rapper Earl Sweatshirt released his 5th studio album “Live Laugh Love” on the 22nd of August, 2025, and it wasn’t great, sure if you aren’t well versed in Earls music, I’m sure you would like it, but to an avid fan of Earl and (or) the genre surrounding his Group “OddFuture’ featuring artists such as Tyler the Creator and Frank Ocean you would unfortunately see what I mean, the songs as per usual, have an extreme amount of talent and lyricism which we don’t see so much nowadays in the world of commercial pop and music designed at being marketed to a large stage as opposed to an individuals uniqueness and experimentation.
The theme of the album at a basic level is based on finding joy, and celebrating the growth of his life and fatherhood with his new wife Aida Osman, although I personally found the direct messages and ideas presented aren’t clear and direct, and instead explores a range of emotions in a 24 minutes, which isn’t bad so to speak, but when everything has been chucked up in the air, it really makes it hard to follow and relate to the music.
First thing, the production. Earl’s genre of music can be defined as ‘alternative Hip Hop’ with strong references to jazz, lo-fi, and earlier on horror core, with a focus on strong lyricism and meaning emphasized through the use of double entendres and other poetic devices, to convey meaning and messages, and artists such as MF DOOM, known for his cartoon inspired beats and strong wordplay that I’m not even sure he (MF DOOM) understood.
All of Earl’s other albums and individual songs, they feature a very abnormal beat, not in a bad way, the type of beat you would hear and think, “Wow! Earl would kill on this beat.” Or “What was the producer smoking before he made this?” But not this album, all his songs sound like if you got one of his old songs, put it through ChatGPT and asked it to remake it, they all have the same tone and vibe which sounds cool for the first song or two until you listen to the whole album and you realise wow, every song sounds the exact same with random lyrics and references which I don’t understand. C’mon, who told you this was okay to drop? And at that, it was only 24 minutes. Technically, a lot of his albums are around the 20–30 minute mark, but a lot of those albums focus on the instruments, which all have a ‘raw’ undertone and unique feel, which sets each song and album apart with their unique feels and ideas expressed. Earl does describe himself as a perfectionist after all, but unfortunately, he’s gone over the top with the effects.
’24 Minutes’. I think I’ve mentioned that three times now, and now you’re thinking, what does 24 minutes mean? The other half of music, in this case, is the lyrics and the ability to portray a message or idea and tell it through a story. When you search up Earl Sweatshirt, along with being described as a Producer, artist, and a lyricist, which is true. Earls’ line on the hit song Oldie, “Threw his own youth off the roof after paradise.” It is my favourite bar. Paradise in this context symbolises his success he achieved from his rapping career, and how that career affected him with drugs and money. Being sent to Samoa from age 16 till right before his 18th birthday to sort out his problems associated with his fame. And the cool thing about music is you can interpret it. I always thought this meant sacrificing your childhood for success later on, whether that be studying or pursuing a sport, etc, but this new album, there’s no depth to it.
Take song 11, for example. Exhaust. The beat firstly sounds like it’s being played through the worst speakers of all time; it’s so punchy and over-mixed, anyway. The first lyrics are ‘Worked harder than a b**ch. Operating on a tight shift, god steering the ship…. Slave to the vices, I don’t got all day to play with ya.’ It really does give me grocery store music vibes, walking down the aisle at colesworth, hearing that doesn’t sound out of the ordinary, it’s generic and unoriginal, I don’t want more Earl I really don’t.
It’s a shame, really, but I don’t think its a loss of passion or talent. Time doesn’t stop for no one, It’ll keep going whether you like it or not, Lebron is 40, Halle Berry is 59, Tobey Maguire is 50. I think the main idea ill take out of this is you cannot take everything for granted, and to enjoy every moment, good or bad rain and shine and make the most of it. Earl was once an young man, making crazy music, doing crazy stunts, addicted, and now he has a kid and a wife. Cant stay young forever, sometimes we have to throw our youth away to find paradise, which is life.
Adam Morolla 
Jessie Goates 
Layla