I refuse to believe he’s talking about the periodic table lmaoooo. Is that a psychedelic also or name of weed?

Feel free to read here: https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/70766/1/what-does-it-mean-to-be-underground-uk-ug-esdeekid-fake-mink

prod by me

idk what to feel about it honestly yea sure he dont fw minors ok great but it feels like hes jumping on the trend for shits and giggles

I’ve been reading Amiri Baraka’s Blues People, specifically “Swing—From Verb to Noun,” and I think a lot of what he was describing in jazz still applies to how Black music enters white America today, especially once money gets involved.

Baraka’s point is that Black music comes out of a specific way of living and seeing the world. White musicians could learn the sound without sharing the life that produced it. Once that happens, the white artist can become a kind of shell for that music, a familiar face that helps carry it into a market already built to understand him.

Condition becomes costume.

A lot of Black culture comes from adapting to circumstances that weren’t chosen. Poverty, segregation, incarceration. Black people experience those conditions and create culture inside of them.

Later somebody else can purchase that aesthetic.

You can put on the clothes, use the slang, copy the posture, rap about the lifestyle, and take it back off whenever you want. The cultural appearance gets separated from the experience that produced it.

From verb to noun.

I love the name of Baraka’s chapter.

The verb is the living thing. People doing something because it means something inside their actual lives.

Then American capital turns it into a noun. It gets named, packaged and sold as a genre.

Black experience produces slang, flow, cadence, fashion and sound. Then those things can be packaged so cleanly that somebody can buy the image without ever touching the life underneath it.

The Trojan horse.

This is what I keep thinking about with white UG rappers.

For a lot of America in the 1920s, their first idea of jazz came through white musicians influenced by
Black musicians instead of the Black founders. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band became the first jazz band to record, and Baraka points out that they were heard by much of America before the actual Black innovators.

That’s the Trojan horse role.

The Black culture inside. The white artist gives it a face America already knows how to understand.

The parasitic translation.

As swing moved further into American culture, white swing musicians got access to studio work and higher-paying opportunities while Black musicians were being excluded from those same opportunities.

The creature feasting on it thrives. The people who made it don’t.

Participation isn’t automatically exploitation.

I wanna make this clear because Baraka does too.

He says white participation in jazz wasn’t always just imitation. He gives Bix Beiderbecke credit as an actual innovator and talks about white musicians who genuinely entered the music and made something of their own through it.

The debt still exists.

Even when white musicians developed legitimate styles of their own, Baraka still says the debt to Black music and the culture it came from had to be understood.

You can participate. You can innovate. You can make great shit.

But the lineage doesn’t disappear just because the music wears a different face.

Would love to hear thoughts or criticisms.

Oh god , why did I pick this....

Here we have the first ever mixtape from the one who basically invented the new school of abstract hip-hop , alternative hip-hop and AI-chemist ( Yes , AI chemist ) coke rap , Earl " Thebe Kgositsile " Sweatshirt , and as a guy who enjoyed Doris and SRS , this shit ain't cutting it to be honest.

Released in 2010 , at the surge of popularity of the California-based rap group Odd Future after the release of Tyler The Creator's " Bastard ", EARL reflects the clique's main genre of Horrorcore while introducing extremely good bars and lyrical content , something that the majority of members like Hodgy Beats , Left Brain and the Super Three were lacking off.

And look , I know that Earl was , 16 I believe ?

He was extremely influenced by the same idols that were major influences to Tyler and the group , Eminem , ICP , Bizarre , DOOM ( ik ik , he's not horrorcore ) , yk these kind of rappers , and I understand that he wanted to break away from the already saturated scene of bling rap and ringtone rap , so he combined them into two to create.... whatever the hell this mixtape is.

Production wise , it's easily the weakest out of his discography , it's minimalistic but in a way that makes it look crude and amateurish , they should've actually payed for FL instead of using the free trial version , although I actually liked two songs from the mixtape because of that , and they are " EARL " and " Couch " , but it's mostly a testament to the flows and lyrical content too.

You'll usually hear pitched down snares , kicks , toms , mellow synths , and the recognizable early Tyler-eske production on this one , especially on songs like " Stapleton " and " Moonlight " , with the odd 4-beat Pharrell start , another influence of Tyler's.

And now , onto the lyrics , aaannd....

Yup , just as I expected...

It's filled with cruel jokes , rape bars , molesting women , and how everyone describes Tyler's second project " Goblin " , basically edgy 14 year old " Thank God 9/11 happened " humor , or what we call now the average IG reels comment ( Or the average Matt Proxy tweet ) , oh and don't forget the satanic references everyone !

On the other hand , the delivery and flows on the project are very good actually , the way that he uses metaphors , comparisons and double/ triple-entendres shows us that he was gifted early on , and he still is gifted lyrically to this day , albeit without this type of shock value.

Lastly , the features , which are plenty in the album actually , you'll hear the likes of Syd the Kid , Vince Staples ( wasted feature ;( ) , Hodgy Beats ( easily the worst ) , and Tyler himself ofc on the mixtape , sharing the same lyrical content but not wit and delivery as Early Birdy.

Overall , EARL showcases the performative and edgy humor of Earl , and amateurish production while still saving itself with the delivery , flows , and creative entendres.

I thank the lord that Earl Sweatshirt actually grew as an artist , as his next projects showed us less of the edgy humor and more self awareness , with a sprinkle of depression in IDLSIDGO , right up to Live Laugh Love.

Giving it a 4/10.

What do you want me to review on the next one UG-HEADS!!! 🗣️🔥

I would love some new album recs if anyone got any upcoming artists I should check out let me know 🤞🏿🤞🏿🤞🏿

EXPLANATION:

A pride flag for people who feel spiritually connected to TDF beats, dark plugg, and its surrounding scene of artists & producers (i.e., slimekrew, makkgin, etc).

[effacé]

Lotta ug on here figured I’d show