Chum (song)

"Chum" is a song by American rapper Earl Sweatshirt, released as the lead single of his 2013 debut album Doris.

"Chum"
Single by Earl Sweatshirt
from the album Doris
ReleasedNovember 2, 2012[1]
Recorded2012
Paramount Recording Studios (Hollywood, California)[2]
Genre
Length4:04
LabelTan Cressida
Songwriter(s)Chad Hugo, Kehinde Hassan, Taiwo Hassan, Thebe Kgositsile[2]
Producer(s)randomblackdude, Christian Rich, Hugo (Outro)[2]
Earl Sweatshirt singles chronology
"Elimination Chamber"
(2012)		 "Chum"
(2012)		 "Super Rich Kids"
(2013)
Music video
"Chum" on YouTube

Production and composition

"Chum" deals with Earl Sweatshirt's feelings and thoughts after a week since his return from Samoa in 2012.[3][4] These would include his absent father, his relationship with his mom, and being raised with problems about his identity.[3] According to Syd tha Kyd, "Everybody had missed him so much and nobody really knew what to say. At the same time, Thebe had his own plans and he was kinda scared, cause he didn’t want to disappoint anyone."[4]

Production duo Christian Rich helped Sweatshirt produce "Chum". Sweatshirt had heard of the two before, and the duo met with Sony's A&R staff for Sweatshirt to hear their beats. According to a member of the duo Kehinde Hassan, "he was going nuts in the studio like, “Wow, okay listen, you guys got to do this project with me.”"[5] Sweatshirt's first album Doris was produced over the course of about four or five months, and "Chum" was created on its first three days of making the LP.[5] The song was produced using Logic Pro,[6] and the beat was the quickest and rawest made on the album.[6][7] The song was recorded by Julian Prindle at Paramount Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Jaycen Joshua mixed the track at Larrabee Sound Studios in North Hollywood, and it was later mastered by Dave Kutch at the Mastering Palace in New York City.[2]

Taiwo Hassan wrote the chorus for "Chum", and Sweatshirt came up with the verses.[6][8] Kehinde Hassan said in an interview with MTV News that "Most of the sessions were about five hours of talking crap — what artists you like and you don't like, having fun — and then he'll just black out and be like, 'OK I got a verse.' That's how 'Chum' worked."[8] The song's instrumentation consists of a tumbling piano loop, a low-octave, fuzzy bass, drums, vocals, and other sampled sounds.[3][6] Christian Rich originally considered Thom Yorke to perform the hook to make it sound bigger, but Sweatshirt refused, as he didn't want to go for that sound.[6]

Sweatshirt came up with the piano and bass line,[6] and recorded his vocals in one take,[8] while Christian Rich made the drums.[6] The sampled sounds used in the track includes a scream sound effect played at the beginning, which was from a Wu-Tang Clan song the duo listened to years before and wanted to use, a looped recording of Taiwo Hassan saying to the song's engineer "Can you turn that up? Can you get that beat in my headphones louder?", and a sample of Chad Hugo laughing.[6]

Personnel

Credits are from liner notes.[2]

  • Earl Sweatshirt - writer, producer (credited as randomblackdude)
  • Christian Rich - writer
  • Chad Hugo - writer, producer of outro, trumpeter
  • Christian Rich - producer
  • Julian Prindle - recorder
  • Jaycen Joshua - mixer
  • Ryan Kaul - assistant mixer
  • Trehy Harris - assistant mixer
  • Dave Kutch - masterer

Release history
Region Date Format
United States November 2, 2012[1] Digital download

Left Brain Remix
"Chum"
Single by Left Brain
ReleasedMay 15, 2014
Recorded2012/14
GenreAlternative hip hop
Length3:24
LabelSelf-released
Songwriter(s)Chad Hugo, Kehinde Hassan, Taiwo Hassan, Thebe Kgositsile

"Chum: Remixed by Left Brain" is a remix song, of the song "Chum" American rapper Earl Sweatshirt, by American producer Left Brain.

References
  1. Music - Chum - Single by Earl Sweatshirt Archived October 26, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. iTunes. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
  2. Doris (Media notes). Earl Sweatshirt. Columbia Records. 2013. 88883 75170 2.CS1 maint: others (link)
  3. Fitzmaurice, Larry (November 2, 2012). Earl Sweatshirt: "Chum". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
  4. Naomi Zeichner, Duncan Cooper (May 7, 2013). Footnotes: Earl Sweatshirt. The Fader. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
  5. Wete, Brad (June 5, 2013). Christian Rich Producer Talks Earl Sweatshirt Work, House EP, and Chris Brown's 'X'. Billboard.com. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
  6. Christian Rich - Off The Record: Earl Sweatshirt's "Chum" Archived 2013-11-09 at the Wayback Machine. HipHopDX. August 28, 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
  7. Inside The Making Of Our Favorite Songs From Earl Sweatshirt’s ‘Doris’: "Chum". XXL Magazine. August 19, 2013. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
  8. Alexis, Nadeska (July 31, 2013). Earl Sweatshirt 'Blacked Out'... And Created Doris. MTV News. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
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