In 2018, Earl Sweatshirt released Some Rap Songs and thus ended his contract with Columbia Records, saying “riskier shit” was the direction he more wanted to pursue. The rapper, who had already been experimenting with dark vibes in his music, in turn took his sounds to a more subterranean level. In Feet of Clay, Earl lets go of any semblance of constraint and rigidity that might have been previously present and delivers a pure and raw stream of consciousness narrative that is more surreal and mystical than ever before. His latest album, timed at 15-minutes and 7 tracks, is, as he describes it “a collection of observations and feelings recorded during the death throes of a crumbling empire.” The title references the Bible’s Book of Daniel. In that particular story, a prophet interprets a dream of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, in which he sees a gigantic statue made of four metals: a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, body and thighs of brass as well as feet of iron and clay. The prophet tells Nebuchadnezzar the statue represents the kingdoms of the Earth, and that “a stone cut by non-human hands will fall on the statue’s feet and destroy it, a metaphor for the end times.” “We at the feet of clay right now,” Earl is quoted as saying. “We posted up live from burning Rome.” This could be a reference to current events, during which anecdotes about the apocalypse seem more and more relevant and feel more real.
