Earl Sweatshirt-"Hive" TRACK REVIEW

Earl's hotly anticipated studio album Doris is finally going to be released upon the world on August 20th and Kvltwalter is awaiting its arrival. Sure, I have to wait a whole month, but it's not that unfortunate now that we have three official singles to rock out to until the time comes. All of them are fantastic, and his latest "Hive" is no different. This may even be the best out of the three, and after "Whoa", that's really saying something.

Earl's lyrical style for the most part specializes in some seriously esoteric multi-syllable rhyme schemes. It's honestly very difficult to understand what he's talking about, which either means that he's just spewing random words or that he's thinking an a whole other level than most of his contemporaries. I'm not much for reading lyrics, but I had to for this track and I'm still oblivious. I'd like to get into a conversation with Earl about this stuff, just to get into the mind of the creator and attempt to understand it.

Former Odd Future members Vince Staples and Casey Veggies make appearances on the track and their contributions are much appreciated. Veggies only appears in the chorus, but Staples takes up a lengthy third verse that's just as satisfying lyrically and flow-wise as anything Earl can do. And that won't be the last of the collaborations Earl will make on Doris; he'll collaborate with Domo Genesis, Mac Miller, Frank Ocean, BADBADNOTGOOD (YES!) and even the RZA of the Wu-Tang Motherfucking Clan (HELL YES!) who will also lend his production skills to the track (explodes with excitement). The instrumental is a little too basic for me, not bad, but basic. There are flashes of synths in the chorus, but that's it when it comes to interesting things happening on "Hive", musically speaking.

Basically, I can barely wait for Doris to drop, and it just might have the makings to be the best thing Odd Future has ever released, more than Wolf, more than Bastard, if "Chum" "Whoa" and "Hive" are any indication. Stay tuned for my review of the album next month!

8.5/10