Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist‘s Voir Dire album has finally made its way to streaming services — listen below.
The first full-length collaboration between the West Coast lyricist and veteran producer, the project clocks in at 11 tracks and features appearances from Vince Staples and MIKE.
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To celebrate the release of the album, Earl and Alchemist also dropped the video to the standout track, “Vin Skully,” on Friday (October 6).
The Ryosuke Tanzawa-directed clip finds Earl in a reflective state but striving to move forward. While constantly in motion, he appears in different settings such as a room with dated furniture, a church and a bathroom.
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As for the lyrics, there is no shortage of clever wordplay as the former Odd Future rapper makes reference to the career of the late Vin Scully, the longtime baseball broadcaster for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Big grip, get flipped/ Hand over fist, that’s quick/ Snake oil salesman with the pitch/ Ain’t no tellin’ when it end/ No matter the spend, I know when I got a hit/ That’s it, that shit get sent over the fence/ I’m home, another run on the road, look how I slid,” he spits over a funky loop from Uncle Al.
Voir Dire was initially released as an NFT via Gala Music in August. Only 1,000 copies were made available at the time.
Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist are also gearing up to take their new album on the road this fall on the aptly-titled Voir Dire Tour.
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Announced last month, the 11-date trek kicks off on November 6 in Seattle and wraps up on November 27 in Detroit, with stops in cities such as San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, New York and Boston along the way.
Joining the duo on the road for select dates will be MIKE and Black Noi$e.
In a review following its initial release, HipHopDX gave Voir Dire a 3.8 out of 5 score, with writer Anthony Malone praising Earl’s “elegant and intricate” penmanship and Al’s “delicate and meticulous” production.
However, the review concluded that: “Voir Dire is an exceptional collection of raps, but missing connectivity between Earl and Alc holds back the tape’s potential. Where Earl breathes life into his verses, Alc plays it safe with more simple ideas that feel a bit boring and recycled.”
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The pair have collaborated a number of times over the years on songs such as “Uncle Al,” “E. Coli” and “Mtomb.” More recently, they teamed up on “RIP Tracy” alongside billy woods on The Alchemist’s Flying High EP.
Stream Voir Dire below:
