Album: Doris (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This subdued, menacing track finds Earl Sweatshirt spitting some dark rhymes alongside fellow West Coast upstart Casey Veggies, while early Odd Future member Vince Staples guests on the hook.
  • Earl supplied the song's beat with Matt Martians. He credits Christian Rich, who helmed several of the Doris tracks, for showing him the production ropes. "When he came back from Samoa he was messing around on Logic, so [we] gave him some sounds and just showed him how to quantize it," Taiwo "Christian" Hassan of the production duo explained to MTV News. "I didn't realize that we were teaching him how to make beats. I didn't even know he was trying to be a producer, and then before we even got in the studio he already did 'Hive.'"
  • The song's creepy music video was directed by Japanese-American USC film school graduate Hiro Murai, who also shot Sweatshirt's clip for "Chum." Said Murai: "We kind of had something that we already built and we were just building off of what we did for 'Chum.' Odd Future has this very specific brand, but Earl was clearly looking to do something a little more low-key and restrained. So there was a lot of back and forth trying to figure out where we were idea-wise."

    Murai told Billboard magazine that he always pushes the artists he's working with to "go a little weirder." He added regarding this visual, "This one was rough for Earl. He had just gotten off tour and was in the studio right before we pulled an all-nighter for this. People ask me what we did to make his face look so strung out, but he showed up that way! He caught pneumonia three days later."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks

Ron and Russell Mael of SparksSongwriter Interviews

The men of Sparks on their album Hippopotamus, and how Morrissey handled it when they suggested he lighten up.

Strange Magnetics

Strange MagneticsSong Writing

How Bing Crosby, Les Paul, a US Army Signal Corps Officer, and the Nazis helped shape rock and Roll.

Elton John

Elton JohnFact or Fiction

Does he have beef with Gaga? Is he Sean Lennon's godfather? See if you can tell fact from fiction in the Elton John edition.

Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root

Michael Glabicki of Rusted RootSongwriter Interviews

Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)Song Writing

How a gym teacher, a janitor, and a junkie became part of some very famous band names.

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in Songs

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in SongsSong Writing

Elvis, Little Richard and Cheryl Cole have all sung about Teddy Bears, but there is also a terrifying Teddy song from 1932 and a touching trucker Teddy tune from 1976.