A platform for the disaffected to assert themselves to inject hard life into the soft arts. In a rapper’s verbal playground, that hardness manifests most clearly in what hip hop technicians formally call “braggadocio.” ![]() “Everybody wants to be hard,” as Fat Joe once said. In its 40 years of life born from Bronxian block parties and mastered in black America’s spartan urban grit, hip hop and, especially, the art of rapping have never been a game for the insecure. Videos contain strong language and imagery “That was butt,” Earl cuts in, “that was awful.” He’s in another world, and when he stops the freestyle, Sway nearly falls out of his chair. ![]() Then, the young rapper pushes forward, his lips split, and the words flow. “Hold on,” Earl stalls, “let me listen.” Ten more seconds. Sway laughs awkwardly and it looks as though he’s not so sure Earl is going to even try. “I’m not sure I can rap on this,” he says. Finally, a trickling, low-speed rhythm oozes into the headphones. “I’m only gonna do this for you, Earl." Three more beats. As Sway gives him a beat, Earl breaks protocol and turns it down. ![]() And typically those rappers are itching to tear up the mic.Įarl’s performance is much different. He’ll test their skills drop a beat, and see what the rapper’s got what he or she can spit off the cuff. From Snoop Dogg to Tech N9ne to Kendrick Lamar. Sway interviews some of the biggest and soon-to-be-biggest rappers in hip hop, today. They’re talking about one of the most anticipated hip hop releases of 2013 - his debut major label studio album “Doris”. His motions are two-parts measured, one-part unsure, as he speaks cautiously into the mic. At 19 years old, Earl looks much younger in the YouTube upload from the hip hop show “Sway in the Morning.” Earl is skinny - sitting next to the hulking, 42-year-old host Sway Calloway, he’s really skinny - with a high forehead and wide-set eyes. The voice is Thebe Kgositsile, the teenage rapper and producer better known as Earl Sweatshirt, if you know him at all. ![]() “I made a promise," says a young voice, hesitant, "I would never rap seriously on the radio. Twitter facebook Email This article is more than 9 years old.
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