The Royalty of Earl Sweatshirt- “Voir Dire” 

Had the worst morning and seeing your post instantly changed my mood for the better. Your analysis of music and culture is unmatched and I truly hope more people can recognize the amount of work you do for these videos. Thank you so much for the content much love!

one of the best albums of 2023 honestly. cheers from Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦

I’m in college right now for engineering, but i still love the humanities (they just don’t make as much money) and your channel teaches me so much about so many things from linguistics to philosophy to history. I wanted to thank you for making these videos that allow me to connect my love for music and love for general knowledge. AVAA

on 27 braids he continues on with “I’m going through changes that I couldn’t fathom but growing pains lead to understanding” It’s probably my favorite line on the entire album. great video by the way.

really looking forward to playing this on the tv while i cook up a mean omelette

I love that you tried to to pronounce Ntate Kgositile’s full name. You’re alright Prof.

Keorapetse Kgositsile's Anguish Longer than Sorrow is a power poem and was actual used by Earl in his Playing Possum track

man you’re dropping some serious knowledge with this one. also, i’m gen z and had no idea how tf to access the album prior to the general release, hope they never do it again lol. AVAA! also! review Faith Is A Rock by Mike Wiki Alc!!!! please

awesome video as always!

AVAA- great analysis, appreciate your work king.

I know it’s been several years at this point since it was released, but I would love to hear your thoughts on Some Rap Songs. In my opinion it’s earl’s best and most interesting work. Great video as always Prof Skye !!!

first video ive seen of yours and i can already tell im really going to enjoy the rest of the channel. Your vast knowledge really adds so much perspective to an album i already loved that I never would have found on my own and the way you speak with so much passion for the subject matter is super captivating. amazing video

I've been listening to Earl for years and I never knew any of these things. Thanks for dropping such a cool review and helping us out with all that knowledge! It's very interesting and love learning about it! Can't wait to see if you'll do Al's other new album with "MIKE & WIKE - Faith Is a Rock" also AVAA!

Earl's lineage is truly astonishing. I - need - the odd future documentary cause i just cant stop thinking about him somehow meeting tyler and vince and them. what a beautiful brush of luck. love the vid, AVAA! < 3

You’re really good at this, man. I like your approach

AVAA Professor Skye I can always count on you to come through with APT analyses of the rap music I enjoy🤝🙏

AVAA, I really love seeing people talk about earl so highly, im glad you get it as you always do!

Thank You

Amazing video!! I love Earl, glad we can appreciate his "royalty" too

AVAA. Echoing the popular sentiment here, I’m really going through a period of trouble and wanted to write in to say how much I appreciate these videos. Music is the best, and having these educated cultural conversations makes me feel like we’re all going to be okay. Even when everything is on fire, we can engage in culture and find shared humanity. Thank you.

I usually never watch videos on music reviews unless its accompanied by a reaction to the tracks but this is awesome. Love the depth you go into and the time you take to really understand these artists

AVAA. Beautifully layered collaboration and one I'll be revisiting frequently (both for the deeper wordplay and the "easy listening" purposes).

I truly love your reviews professor Skye. You’re a gem amongst other reviewers with your intelligence and amazing ability to speak. Love from NYC!

I really appreciate the predictably random TMI bits of background you give on yourself on many of your reviews. RU-vid has plenty of reviewers pontificating about what instruments/samples used and this song works because of (x) or it doesn't work because of (y) concluding with a score that many people will use to justify to not listen for themselves or to argue/get mad -- thankfully your reviews are about trying to understand what's being said, why it matters to the artist and/or listener and how the project made you feel.

Great reivew

AVAA! Your dissection of hip hop albums is by far my favourite of all music reviewers. THANKYOU Prof. Skye!

AVAA. Thank you for always bringing up the books rappers rap about. I’m one of hopefully more than a few that actually purchases them, but if not for your videos I would likely not even pick up on the references from the music alone. My life is all the better for having read books like House of Hunger among others, and I’ll be definitely be picking up Notebook of a Return to My Native Land, too!

As always your perspective is a very interesting one. Perspectives in music have always been something that I think are more interesting than numbers. Your way of speaking about the art and creation of others really helps to understand the layers of creation and appreciation. What you said about parents and their own achievements in contrast to Earl also was something I had not realized in my own listening experience. Your perspective helped me appreciate this more. AVAA -BLANK-

What an album omg every line shocks me with how good it is even today after so many listens

AVAA! I always look forward to watching your Earl videos, he’s one of my favorite rappers today. By the way, and this is just me noticing very minute silly things, but I think viscount is pronounced like “vye-count”.

Yknow its funny how apparently there was supposed to be a collaboration between Earl Vince and Alchemist but apparently Earl and Al spent most of the time smoking weed 😂 Also you could hear Kgositsile and Earl's mom on Playing Possum on Some Rap Songs. Thanks on the break down on the Voir Dire title! I thought it was mostly about jury selection but Speak Truth makes alot of sense. AVAA ! 🎉

I LOVE THIS ALBUM!!

really appreciated this review, thank you. i typically just think that "no one misunderstands art better than Criticism" (Rilke), but you buck that trend for me. also typically not one to comment on videos, but because i feel you love this album on like the same level as i love this album, and bc i couldn't see anyone else mention it in the comments, i feel compelled to tell you this: the first release of the album has got three tracks on it that got replaced on the streaming release (and the uncensored version of Free the Ruler). of these first release tracks, there are two - Geb and All the Small Things - that i think are the earl's best work (obvs it's a tight race, obvs every track on the album is my favourite). Geb is just so hard, just bars on bars: "the ceilin ain't that high either / you see the cracks, right? / the black sky peaking past plight / head high, hands high, praise God." All the Small Things is all heart and heavy soul: "my grandma, Juanita, said it best / roll with the punches, keep em comin, i'm prepared / imma parry some, variables make me bend / but i never fumble, carryin it like a man / even when i buckle under egregious demands." Al's production exquisite as always. some hero uploaded the first release onto the internet archive, so you can listen to the replaced tracks there - just requires a simple google search, you can do it, and you'll be pleased you did! will listen to Makeba immediately. AVAA. peace.

Keorapetse Kgositsile is a very respected poet in South Africa, im from south africa as well so finding this out about Earl is so cool

you seem like the coolest professor lol i really enjoy your content. it’s awesome how in-depth you go with the research you do on an artist’s background - i can also tell that you know a lot about contemporary hip-hop as well as previous eras of hip-hop + music in general. it’s really cool keep it up 👍.

just found you and have been loving your videos professor. I would recommend to you a project called Trees & Truths by a great rap artist Mick Jenkins. incredible poetry intertwined in hard hitting raps over some very unique production. allusions to biblical and philosophical themes that i think youll enjoy. ive been listening to it for literally 10 years and i still find out about bars i didnt get at first with nearly every listen

AVAA! you inspire me

amazing stuff, as always, professor Skye! a viewer from Brasil here, and I would like to know if you happen to know any music from our country. I would suggest especially brazilian rap group Racionais MC's. you can find songs by them such as "Capítulo 4, versículo 3" and "Negro drama" with english subtitles pretty easilly. anyway, keep up the great work

Thank you for this awesome history lesson and review!!! Just so you know , 27 is the blonde color of hair extensions you can get. Black people usually braid these extensions once installed.

AVAA, coming live from South Africa 🇿🇦

amazing review, Professor! i would love to see a review for Excelsior by Slauson Malone, it came out on friday and its album of the year imo, incredible and very thought-profoking!

Would be really cool if you could make a reading list compiled from all your videos. I bought The Black Jacobins after you recommended it a year or two ago. AVAA

Love the minimalist thumbnail

AVAA! Some raps songs! Even if you dont listen to the whole album, just listen to the song "Riot!". Great video! Also got a new sub lol would also love some mf doom reviews too!

As a South African I couldn't be prouder of Thebe. Not bad on his father's name pronunciation😅

These types are reviews are the reason I fuck w/ you. When you go deep into the language of the songs it's like the greatest thing because I don't think anyone else is doing it.

AVAA, Thanks from South Africa. Earl isn't famous per se here but if you listen to underground then you'd probably know about him, most my friends used to listen to Doris during high school. They didn't like some rap songs, but you grow and learn I guess.

AVAA! I'm gonna listen to some Miriam Makeba right after I finish this video

AVAA. as always prof please do more Navy Blue, MIKE and ofc Earl Sweatshirt

I enjoyed this album.

i'd love to see your take on Navy Blues album from this year Ways Of Knowing

Mhondoro is Shona, from Zimbabwe, north of south Africa

AVAA, btw Earl actually has dreadlocks in real life and not braids, which is probably where your confusion around the 27 Braids thing came from. This felt like one of your must in-depth reviews ever, I loved this album already but you made me view it in a different light

AVAA. This album is so 🔥

Only way forward is unafraid and focused ✊

AVAA! would be super interested to hear what you’d think of MIKE’s projects Beware of the Monkey & Disco, he was a big influence on Earl’s more recent style and I love his work so much, very similar themes in his lyrics too in terms of mental health and family being the center of it all.

AVAA! Is the audio available somewhere /in a podcast format? Would love to listen as i go around and youtube videos arent always best for this!

Ritt Momney's album review is the one you need to watch for the Mitt Romney stories ! (Avaa)

I believe there is a song on some rao songs that has a bar that goes like "poppa called me king" which is intetesting when considering the odea that earl means of noble decent and that earl is rotalty in way

a some rap songs video would be awesome, you'd definitely dig it. AVAA

AVAA, thumbs up on that vince staples joke

AVAA! I hope you get a chance to review CASISDEAD's Final Last Words. It's out later this month, throw some UK rap into the mix!

Love your videos, have you ever listened to the album Reasonable Drought from Stove God Cooks? Would love to hear your opinions on it.

Avaa, Earl has a great feature on mikes album that dropped today. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the album.

Laughing at the fact that when he said "What else are you doing, what are you playing FIFA?" at 29:30 I was actually playing FIFA. Great content as always though, such an interesting listen.

Hey Professor! I love your videos! I do wanna recommend the new album by MIKE (who was featured on this album) called Burning Desire. It def has a lot of things on it and would love to hear what you have to say

The name "Earl Sweatshirt" is from an episode of the show Children's Hospital. It is a coincident lol. Cool one though.

The mariam album at the back

would be curious about your opinion on ethan p. flynn debut album abandon all hope :)

I commented something similar on your last Earl video but I highly recommend listening to some tracks from his first two albums for context. The progression of his writing style is very interesting. He seemingly loosened up his rhyme schemes over time to achieve this sound. But you really have to hear how methodically he approached his early verses. My brother is an English professor who’s favorite Shakespeare play is Tempest so I would like to get him the version you were talking about. Could you please respond to this comment with the spelling of that author’s name? I couldn’t see the spelling when you held up the book. AVAA

as far as I'm concerned, earl is the title of his royalty. he's the earl of sweatshirt

He said “excavate what I can” on free the ruler

AVAA yet again you say you think Marcas Smart is the best basketball player, if you remember I was the Grizzlies fan who mentioned the trade when it happened. I would love your in-depth explanation! It seems the "Deep Music Listener" / "Basketball Fan" venn diagram doesn't include a lot of people haha

You should listen to gala music version because there are 3 songs that this version is missing

Earl does have dreadlocks but sometimes gets them braided which is also possible. So, technically you were right in your labeling of them being dreadlocks.

You should check out Kesha's new album. The ultimate evolution of an artist.

Do MIKES burning desire, great album I think you’d enjoy it foreal !

To me this is easily his best since Doris. His discog is still respectable but im not a fan of the more extremely dark and abstract route he took following his debut. Nice to have an Earl album to play all the way through a bunch after a decade

Are you a fellow tidal user?! Also great video

Earl the goat

AVAA dont gamble!

Album of tmyear for me. Great review. Chech out The Alchemist other new album with MIKE and Wiki, Faith is a rock

Sky I have been telling people that earls music is poetry for real it’s like they don’t get what he saying but I may just be a die hard fan but I like the sleepy flow too. I mean it’s his flow why would you expect anything else.

You asked what an Earl wears: it’s a sweatshirt.

Please consider reviewing the new Animal Collective album 🙏

Why does the streaming version of this album have a completely different tracklist to the previous version. Like half of the songs got replaced by brand new ones???? My favorite song wasn't even included...

AVAA, if you like Earl you gotta listen to MIKE! He just dropped a tape with Alchemist and a solo album called Burning Desire, both amazing albums!

AVAA! for next time, the Kg in Kgositsile is pronounced like a hard french R, then the rest is sit-see-lay :)

AVAA!

Please review some of MIKEs music his whole discography is amazing. AVAA

I think by the “mid” he means mid city in LA

Avaa :))

AVAA professor!

please review MIKEs new album ‘Burning Desire’ ❤️❤️

avaa ! also - check out poet/ rapper 'isaiah hull' - think you'd fw his writing, would love to hear your thoughts on his stuff

While lyrically intricate, I wasn’t as big a fan of Earl’s later works as I was with Doris era stuff. This project however felt like what Earl should’ve been doing, and it’s his best work to me.

AVAA Watched all ads 😎

AVAA ❤

So me and my crate digging at the age of 22 are already at death’s bed ?? 😩😩😭😭

He has Locs.