I Don’t Like Shit. I Don’t Go Outside.

I can remember being a senior in high school on the brink of graduation when this album released. A turning point for me in my personal life. And it’s kind of crazy that Earl was 21 years old when he made this and had already been rapping for a couple years before.

IDLSIGO is one of the most pivotal albums of Earl’s career for a multitude of reasons, but one of them being a self-produced and extremely concise album in itself and the concept of ‘’dead air’’ not existing on it. Earl is one of the best rappers ever when it comes to making the most out of every second on a song. This album was a hint of what was to come from Earl stylistically, but doesn’t dive too deep to where the fans of Doris and earlier projects are pushed away.

As incredible of a songwriter Earl is, his ability to mesh it with his competitive gene as an artist he makes some special tracks like Grown Ups with Da$h and Wool with Vince, two very respected blog era MC’s. He’s much more of a versatile rapper than people can give him credit for at times with his wordplay and more.

The most important thing for me about Earl is that his raps feel like if empathy became a human being. Although Earl can express some dark imagery from time to time, one of his unique traits is bringing a particular comfort for the listener.

Of course being one of the best rap albums of the 2010’s is a feat, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside is the definition of what a short and concise, yet full album is, and Earl producing it mainly by himself is only icing on the cake. A incredible effort all around.