Hive

"Hive" is a song by American rapper Earl Sweatshirt, featuring Casey Veggies and Vince Staples, and the third single from his debut studio album Doris. The writing, recording, production and engineering of the track took place at Syd tha Kyd and Matt Martians' old home, and it was recorded in three hours. The lyrics of the slow-tempo song describes the rapper's image, who says that he wants his critics and interns to call him nothing less than a synonym of menace. Its music video was directed by Hiro Murai. Production and release "Hive" was written, recorded, produced, and engineered in the living room of Syd tha Kyd and Matt Martians' old home in Marina del Rey, California; the music was programmed in Reason. The beat, according to Martians, "got kinda tight, then we started rapping. Next thing we know, Casey comes over with his crew, and there’s like 12 people in our living room, all rapping around Thebe. The mic is in the middle of the room, and Thebe is rapping in front of everybody." The song took a total of three hours to record, with Sweatshirt's verse recorded in only one take before Casey Veggies and Vince Staples did theirs. Martians said that Sweatshirt "works quickly in general: he gets his initial ideas out quickly, then goes back and makes adjustments. That’s a mature thing about his music-making. He knows what he wants to do and what kinds of feelings he wants to convey." The track was later mixed by Jaycen Joshua at Larrabee Sound Studios in North Hollywood, California, and mastered by Dave Kutch at the Mastering Palace in New York City.