Drake finally dropped For All The Dogs, so we guess it’s as good a time as any to talk about Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, the 29-year-old rapper, singer, and songwriter better known by his stage name Earl Sweatshirt. His latest Alchemist-produced LP VOIR DIRE, the highly-anticipated follow up to last year’s hermetic SICK!, has now officially come out. Twice. The first time on 25th August, exclusively as a ledgered transaction in its blockchain-powered non-fungible version, offered via decentralized peer-to-peer platform Gala Music. Yup, you read that right. While the 11-cut project still remains fully free to stream on said project’s site, for all intents and purposes that record is solely being offered as a digital collectible. With any additional content, merch, or experiences having to be purchased at an additional crypto-cost.

Well, VOIR DIRE came out again last week—this time in its altered licensed DSP-version. Albeit still sequenced with eleven individual tracks, as many as three of them fell on the cutting room floor (“All the Small Things”, “My Brother, the Wind”, and “Geb”), in order to make room for “Heat Check” at number four, as well as a combo of superb Vince Staples-assisted collabs (“Mancala” and “The Caliphate“). These tweaks, in addition to the previously included staccato-beat feast “Dead Zone” upgrading its tracklist sequencing by one slot, tacked on another minute of runtime to the official Tan Cressida/Warner Records distributed version—yet still keeping the project lean and compact, clocking in at less than half an hour of material.

This kind of two-pronged roll out antic does warrant the question; which of the two versions, tracklists, and musical narratives does the Some Rap Songs MC hold for true? Or truer? Does his standpoint differ from that of The Alchemist? Is there a fake rendition of the LP at all? Aside from fanning flames of contemporary discussions around albums becoming subject to continuous updates in a way not dissimilar from software and apps, the intrinsic semantic valence of its veracity fits like a glove on a record like VOIR DIRE. The clue is literally in its title (‘voir dire‘ is an old French expression translating to ‘telling the truth’). Although alluding to the legal standard of prospective jurors being questioned to determine whether they can be fair and impartial as part of their trial duties, one could argue that by unveiling two different varieties Earl Sweatshirt is superimposing a heuristic interpretation to VOIR DIRE‘s creative meta-state. It’s either that, or dude’s simply covering his bottom due to “All the Small Things” taping a potentially unprotected lyrical interpolation from blink-182‘s namesake smash hit.

Musically, the newest version, the one dropped this month and widely available for streaming and download, is superior. It flows better, has a harder crop of tunes, and does without the more pronounced highs and lows of its fluctuating NFT counterpart. Even its front cover looks like a more accomplished and thought-through graphical affair (compare both artwork versions below). “Heat Check” is plain and simple a stronger joint than “All the Small Things”—albeit eerily similar in its blueprint and sound, raising more suspicion around this being some kind of elaborate art installation. Elsewhere, Thebe and Staples masterfully feed off each other’s energy and pockets with unparalleled chemistry on “Mancala“, while their penultimate heart-on-sleeve confessional “The Caliphate” is a top five all time Earl Sweatshirt song. Period.

Without getting too ahead of ourselves, it’s worth mentioning how the former Odd Future fixture has historically set an awfully high yardstick for himself, with his last two studio exploits in a row making both the 2018 and 2022 Albums of the Year shortlists around here—the October version of VOIR DIRE does have everything it takes to be considered for such accolade again. Yet, this bears the natural query: which one is the true VOIR DIRE up for nomination? Had the second public availability edition not come out, its AOTY merit and buzz would admittedly falter a smidge more (plus, part of us feels it wouldn’t even deserve it, by virtue of the tacky and cornball-y distribution method chosen…).

Should one only zero in on the core constituent parts found on both versions, it’s not like the conundrum naturally dissipates, either. Sure, the MIKE-cosigned “Sentry” as well as “27 Braids” contain some of the coldest and rawest bars Earl’s ever committed to tape, but it’s not like deeper cuts “Mac Deuce” or “Sirius Blac” don’t get topped by more exciting moments on each single one of his past four records. Yet again, album bookends “100 High St” and “Free the Ruler” are exactly the Alchemist-type beats of spineless and concentric sampled pockets that couldn’t call for a better rapper’s flow to be enveloped in than Earl’s. And then “Vin Skully“, at number two on the project, is perhaps the most triumphant belter upon repeated listens, not least on account of its fervent lyrical poignancy: “I don’t know what it is / I remember the ghost inside the crib / Hosin’ down the problem with gin and tonic / How to stay afloat in a bottomless pit / The trick is to stop fallin’ / Only option to start with a step, bet“.

Whether Earl and Al devised this in a deliberate way or not, one thing no one can take away from VOIR DIRE is its gnarly existence across multiple dimensions. There are of course the two sonic plains, embodied by both the non-fungible and licensed DSP version of the full length. Then there’s the greater performance art piece of the album assuming its title’s form, by thought-provoking the epistemological materiality of its meaning. Maybe, the whole point of it all is that there even exists an Earl Sweatshirt version, and an Alchemist one—who knows, perhaps even more? Nonetheless, we can’t quite shake off the feeling that the revered abstract hip-hop producer/rapper duo wasted a giant pun by not naming the record FAUX DIRE. Regardless, we think the joke’s on all of us.

We’d like to thank you sincerely for taking the time to read this and we hope to feel your interest again next time.

AV