GQ&A: Earl Sweatshirt GQ (Ft. Earl Sweatshirt)

[GQ]
When I turned 19, I spent my birthday watching "Bruce Almighty" with my parents. Or maybe I went bowling? Please tell me yours was cooler.

[Earl]
Nope. I played video games with my friends and ate tacos.

[GQ]
Still better. What's the biggest difference between Earl Sweatshirt in 2009 and Earl Sweatshirt now?

[Earl]
I'm fucking grown now. I was a little-ass kid in 2009. I've figured shit out – well not figured shit out. That's ridiculous. Not in some pretentious way, just as a result of time.

[GQ]
Same question, but this time for Thebe.

[Earl]
Same shit. I don't draw a line between them.

[GQ]
Let's talk about Doris. There's a lot of pretty overt talk of mental illness on the album. At one point in the track "Sunday," you and Frank Ocean rap in unison, "What good is West Coast weather if you're bipolar?" At another point, in "Burgundy," there's a voice-over that asks, "Why you so depressed and sad all the time like a little bitch?" How did your own experience with mental illness inform this album?

[Earl]
I don't know about mental illness, but I'm a sad bitch sometimes. That's the shit I'm more attracted to, so even if I'm not, the shit that gets me excited is all very moody and unstable. That's some shit that I don't even see changing. Like, I can't make that good of music when I'm happy. Some shit has to happen that either pisses me off or that's very grave.

[GQ]
It's a really personal record – very different, content-wise, from Earl.