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music
Earl Sweatshirt x MOCA in conversation with Cheryl Harris
Photographed by Peru Williams ![Photographed by Peru Williams](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472bb9dd9c940c1f9787a99_flaunt-earl-sweatshirt.jpeg) Photographed by [Peru Williams](https://instagram.com/thedankcrusader/) Thebe Kgositsile, better known as the rapper Earl Sweatshirt, recently released his latest body of work, _FEET OF CLAY,_ last month.  His 7 track EP that accumulates to a brief 15 minutes is anything but minor. The term “feet of clay,” originates from the Old Testament’s Book of Daniel that tells the founder of Babylonia that a giant statue made of precious metals and clay feet will foreshadow the fall of his empire.  With the vulnerable clay foundation, the statue collapsed and cemented the term clay feet which metaphorically represents an inevitable fatal weakness. With this in mind, Earl created this EP as “a collection of observations and feelings recorded during the death throes of a crumbling empire.”  Earl Sweatshirt has become the master of two minutes, caring less about the third verse and creating a compelling narrative on empathy and resistance in the same time it takes to walk to your car. Photographed by Peru Williams ![Photographed by Peru Williams](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472bb9dd9c940c1f9787a91_flaunt-earl-sweatshirt.jpeg) Photographed by [Peru Williams](https://instagram.com/thedankcrusader/) On December 7th, Earl Sweatshirt hosted a live conversation with his mother, UCLA Law professor and racial theorist, Cheryl Harris at the Geffen Warehouse, merging music and academia for the first time on the Museum of Contemporary Art stage.  Proud of her son’s latest release, she starts the conversation saying, “People who are elevated or given positions or admired or put on pedestals have to remember we all have feet of clay.   There is always something, some weakness, some struggle, something that we have to push against in order to realize who we are.”  She expresses her admiration of her son’s knowledge of empathy, willingness to confront difficult issues, and strength in vulnerability.  She continues, “But that ultimately our fight is ours.  It has to rest with us.  It has to be because inevitably we all have feet of clay.”   Photographed by Peru Williams ![Photographed by Peru Williams](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472bb9dd9c940c1f9787a95_flaunt-earl-sweatshirt.jpeg) Photographed by [Peru Williams](https://instagram.com/thedankcrusader/) Earl Sweatshirt comments on his art and latest EP saying, “Rap helps me figure out life.  It’s the medium I use to sort life out.” He describes a conversation he had with his friends about how cryptocurrency is transforming into capitalism and the ever present after life of slavery, which sparked this event.  Harris supports him saying that with this idea never being examined as a constant fundamental architecture that is institutionally supported, the system that keeps the marginalized oppressed is normalized and accepted. After the last election Earl asked his mother, “What do you think for America? Is this shit savable?”  Harris remembers saying, “I told you no, which is not the easiest answer to give your son but it’s the truth.” However, instead of naming the myriad of things to fix, Professor Harris introduces a new question, “What do we build?”