Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist: VOIR DIRE - is just Good (Album Review)

 

This album review is about the newly released collab album between legendary East Coast style producer The Alchemist, and alternative West Coast rapper Earl Sweatshirt. Going into this album I had different attitudes and connections to the collaborators work. Starting with  The Alchemist Im very familiar with his work, and Im holding him as one of the greatest HipHop producers of all time. While Earls previous work Im somewhat familiar with, however is something that Ive honestly just skimmed through, instead Earl is someone that I mostly know from his come up with Odd Future. However, this project definitely caught my interest as Im always interested how different artist will perform over Al beats. 

Starting whit Als performance on this project, I think he delivers as always. The production and beats on this album sound simple but very nice and smooth, that gives the album a cool Jazz Rap and Boombap feel. However all the songs are very short, which makes the production somewhat hard to judge as they often are just a short loops. Therefore I can't help to think that it would be interesting to see some of these beats and songs further developed. Continuing with Earls rap performances, I believe the rapping showcased is just fine. Even though his flow fits the style of the laidback beats, the rapping becomes rather repetitive with the same kind of delivery and energy on all the songs. Also because most of the songs are very short, often just one rap verse from start to end, the project lacks some catchy moments or impressive flow switches. But don't get me wrong, momentarily Earl is showcasing some cool rhyme-schemes and wordplay, but I wish more where shown. Instead I believe the most impressive rap performances are shown by Vince Staples. The songs featuring Vince are my favorites on the project. Mostly because Vince comes through with different style and energy to complement Earl, which creates a more dynamic song than the ones with just Earls rapping. 

Overall I believe this album is an enjoyable listen if you're looking for a chill and laidback style of rapping and beats. However it left me wanting more out of the project. If more different rapping styles had been showcased and some of the beats further developed, I think it could have been a more impressive overall experience.