Album Review // Earl Sweatshirt & The Alchemist // Voir Dire

Gala Music

4/5 stars

A mesmerizing collaboration between hip-hop superstars Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist, Voir Dire feels like a victory lap. The duo manages to somehow deliver precisely what fans have come to expect while showcasing their knack for conscious verses and soulful samples. As always, The Alchemist presents an intricate tapestry for Earl to rap over, weaving dusty, warbly beats with additional instrumentation. These haunting backdrops create an appropriate canvas for the rapper's introspective lyricism, shining brilliantly on tracks like "Vin Skully" and "27 Braids."

Voir Dire may sound like an intellectual journey through Earl's outlook, but for once (perhaps even more importantly) it just sounds nice. In this way, the project feels like a brighter extension of the rapper's sophomore LP, I Don't Like Sh*t, I Don't Go Outside, a collection of gems that falls just short of the genre-bending brilliance of his strongest work, 2018's Some Rap Songs. Take an easygoing feature from MIKE, for example. The guest rapper brings added depth to single "Sentry;" it sounds like a beat he was born to be on. For fans of Earl's lyricism and The Alchemist's warm production, Voir Dire is as essential as it gets — in fact, it cements their status as tasteful trailblazers in the current hip-hop soundscape.