Earl Sweatshirt: “SICK!”

As unambitious as ever, “SICK!” is a brisk, withdrawn affair from Earl Sweatshirt. He’s labelled the album a humble capsule of his COVID-19 and lockdown thoughts. If you treat it that way, and nothing more, it’s deceptively intricate and gorgeously understated.

Vince Staples: “Vince Staples”

Vince Staples burst onto the scene with Summertime ’06. Ever since, he’s been a critical and fan darling, helped in no small amount to a personality not far-removed from a Black Jerry Seinfeld. He suffers from sky-high expectations on his eponymous album, Vince Staples. It felt like we were ready for something big. It had been a while. But this album simmers along, technically superb but never attention-grabbing. It’s a great piece of work. It can’t help but feel like he’s holding back, though.

Mac Miller Had Just Figured Out Music – And Life – When He Left

[Editor Note: We wrote a review for Mac Miller’s Swimming a month ago. Click here to read our review. We really liked it.]

Back in 2011, a white, very-Eminem-looking rapper released Blue Slide Park. That album sold a preposterous number of copies considering it was an independently distributed LP. In the SoundCloud/Spotify age, it’s the sort of thing that could be done easily. Back then, it signalled a phenom. And so, Mac Miller became a thing.

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