This Friday, November 30, Earl Sweatshirt will drop his long-anticipated fourth album, Some Rap Songs. It seems like ages since Sweatshirt, full name Thebe Kgositsile, dropped his critically acclaimed, and unapologetically morbid third relese I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside. IDLS, IDGO is a record whose ambling beats, messy synth counterpoint and off-jazz chording reflects both the tail-end of the Odd Future era and Earl at his most depressed. But in three and a half years, while Sweatshirt has remained sidelined his old collaborators Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, The Internet, and longtime friend Vince Staples have dropped some of the most ambitious and critically acclaimed R&B projects of the past few years. And now, subtly so, it seems Sweatshirt is finally ready to take a whack at the mic once again.

Once called Kendrick Lamar’s favorite artist a combination of heightened pressure, disdain for fame, and family tragedy have kept the 24 year old emcee away from the public eye for some time.

In 2010 At the young age of 16 Sweatshirt was first put on the scene with his gritty debut “EARL” which showcased an aggressive, controversial, and ultimately wise beyond his years teen who was unafraid of gore and willing to tell anyone to get lost. In the years since Earl’s lyricism have shifted from bloody ultraviolent-fantasy to grief and hopelessness, but in the singles released for Some Rap Songs thus far it seems Earl will be introducing a new concept, optimism.

“NOWHERE2GO” and “The Mint” feat. New York rapper Navy Blue,  the two singles off SRS are not happy songs, per-se, but they do include slivers of hope (“Even when I hit a low I still give thanks to the most high”). that have been lost thus far in Sweatshirt’s music. The tracks are an homage to his greatest influences, the Black Noi$e production revisits the impatient energy and crackle of Doom and Madlib records mixed with the loop wizardry of J Dilla. The album supposedly will be almost all loops, a nice contrast to today’s OVO multi-faceted polish that is found on most rap records. His commentary is diverse, inflicted on himself at times (“Tryna refine this shit, I redefined myself,”) and society (like gentrification) at others (“Crackers pilin’ in to rape the land”).  My favorite moments are his commentary on hip hop culture as a whole, (“Say I’m ballin’ out the hourglass/Grand total, it’s a whole lotta raps.”),  (“Noose on my chain is gold”).  Earl is technical wizard, and by using unique time-signatures and monorhyme techniques, as well as taking notes from tri-state rappers MIKE and Roc Marciano his flow has become untouchable. He is a rap scholar, called the “sharpest mind in hip hop”  and an expert on both the classics and modern favorites as reflected on his highly-praised radio show “Earl Sweatshirt Stays Inside.”

Earl revealed the track list for SRS last Monday on his Instagram. the album will contain 15 songs over 25 minutes and has some interesting features, including his late father Keorapetse Kgositsile and New York collective Standing On the Corner. Regardless of critical response it appears Thebe Kgositsile is finally ready to be Earl again, the controversial but ultimately respected young emcee who values his words and takes in reality with a grain of salt , and that’s good enough for me.

Some Rap Songs Will Drop on November 30 on all music streaming platforms. You can pre-order the album now on both Spotify and Apple Music.