Doris

Doris is the debut studio album by Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt. The album was released on August 20, 2013 by Tan Cressida and Columbia Records. Doris follows his free-album Earl which was released in 2010 when he was sixteen. After returning from a forced stay in a Samoan boarding school, he began working on his debut album and signed a deal with Columbia, rather than Odd Future's Odd Future Records. Doris features guest appearances from Odd Future members Domo Genesis, Frank Ocean, Casey Veggies, Tyler, the Creator, along with Vince Staples, RZA and Mac Miller. Production was primarily handled by Sweatshirt under the pseudonym randomblackdude and production duo Christian Rich. Additional production was provided by Matt Martians, The Neptunes, RZA, Samiyam, BadBadNotGood, Frank Ocean, and Tyler, The Creator. The album was supported by three singles; "Chum", "Whoa" featuring Tyler, The Creator, and "Hive" featuring Vince Staples and Casey Veggies. Upon its release, Doris was met with universal critical acclaim from music critics, including perfect scores by The Guardian and Los Angeles Times, which praised Sweatshirt's rhyme schemes and lyrics along with the gritty underground production. The album also fared well commercially debuting at number five on the US Billboard 200 and number one on US Top Rap Albums chart. (wiki) ==================================== by David Jeffries With the 2010 drop of his debut mixtape, Earl, rapper Earl Sweatshirt became one of the main reasons the underground rap crew Odd Future went from obscurity to everywhere. Then, Earl's mom decided he was an "at risk" kid (not because of his ugly, ugly music, but because he was "getting in trouble"), so off to the Coral Reef Academy in Samoa he went, quickly falling into the category of "more of a legend than rapper" as Odd Future broke out the "Free Earl" T-shirts with no other explanation for his absence. As such, his official debut falls into the category of "highly anticipated," but the real story behind the murky and free-flowing -- almost globular -- Doris is that the morbid horror-show rapper heard previously has grown into an observational maverick-style artist, offering downtrodden and even dour rhymes that come off like MF Doom recounting his visit to the Grand Guignol. Swaying slowly with Tibetan monk vocals in the distance, the ghostly "Hive" with Vince Staples and Casey Veggies offers the vivid "Come around we gun 'em down/Bodies... piled... Auschwitz," while the Tyler, the Creator feature "Whoa" kicks off with the Odd Future leader declaring "This ain't no 2010 sh*t," which Earl proves by dropping crooked rhymes about pot ("Steaming tubes of poop and twisted doobies full of euphemisms") and Harry Potter ("Bruising gimmicks with the broom he usually use for Quidditch"). MF Doom fans will be familiar with the style, and while the rumored Doom collaboration does not wind up on the final Doris, another obvious influence, RZA, is here, appearing on the aptly titled "Molasses," a slow, rich mix of Wu-Tang and Wolf Gang flavors. Mac Miller's recent embrace of the underground pays dividends during the bent and broken "Guild," while Frank Ocean influences Earl to sing his own blues on the great "Sunday" ("Nightmares got more vivid when I stopped smoking pot/And lovin' you's a little different, I don't like you a lot"). Underneath all this mumbled madness are some truly wonderful sounds -- much of it made by Earl under his alias randomblackguy -- as "Chum" runs like an underground indie suite of excellent ideas while "Centurion" twists a Krautrock and Can sample into something thug and stately. All that said, Doris is unsettled, messy, and takes a bit to sort, but there are codes to crack and rich rewards to reap, so enter with an open mind and prepare to leave exhausted.