Earl Sweatshirt, Mike, and Surf Gang Share 'Leadbelly' And Unveil Secret Shows
(Orienteer) Feeding the fan frenzy after announcing their long-rumored collaborative album earlier this month, Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, and SURF GANG share their new single "Leadbelly." The track is the latest offering from POMPEII // UTILITY, the double LP years in the making from two of the most critically celebrated rappers in the game and renowned producer collective SURF GANG, due out April 3rd via 10k/Tan Cressida/SURF GANG Records. Following the album's first glimpse with the one-two punch of "Minty // Earth," "Leadbelly" further crystallizes the synergy of MIKE and Earl's respective styles, as well as the kinship they've developed over years of mutual admiration for each other's craft.
MIKE and Earl sat down with The FACE to talk about the double album around its announcement, highlighting the sense of ownership and responsibility they've undertaken to the creative community they've built together over the past decade. "I feel obligated to put a lot into it because of the gift of getting to do this," Earl explained.
"[I'm] starting to see everything - no matter who it is or how we do it - as part of the same movement," MIKE added. "We all have ownership and responsibility in a sense. It's like there's a pot, and we're responsible for putting things back into that pot."
Structured as a double-sided album with MIKE on one side (POMPEII) and Earl on the other (UTILITY), SURF GANG's Harrison, evilgiane, Elipropperr, and Flea Diamonds lace an animated and frenetic framework through the project with their production, resulting in a full-circle collision of worlds that was inevitable. POMPEII // UTILITY translates those nuanced differences between MIKE, Earl & SURF GANG into a singular language of their own. The producer collective's distinctly online, manic song structures give MIKE & Earl a new opportunity to fold their shared propensity for coded, meditative verses into the larger community they've built through their friendship since MIKE first caught the world's, and Earl's, attention in 2016, ahead of his cult classic 2017 album MAY GOD BLESS YOUR HUSTLE.
In the years since, the pair have tallied notable collaborations like "allstar" on MIKE's 2020 album weight of the world, and "Sentry" on Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist's collab album VOIR DIRE. While MIKE and Earl have at times circled the idea of a full collaborative project over their decade-long friendship, the arrival of SURF GANG as a conduit made this album possible, connecting them around a shared ethos of collaboration and community-building rather than a transactional exercise. POMPEII // UTILITY evokes African and diasporic traditions where art and story are collective, iterative, relational - part of a larger whole. From top to bottom, there was a clear concerted effort to keep every angle of the project within the family. All of the art for this project, from single covers to the album cover, is pulled from work by sculptor and Earl Sweatshirt's childhood friend, Sharif Farrag.
Ahead of their Home on the Range tour which kicks off in June, Earl, MIKE and SURF GANG have also mysteriously unveiled three secret shows in LA, NYC and London via their website here. The official Home on the Range tour will include 26 US stops beginning June 9th in Riverside, with support from the majority of the album's guests, before taking it overseas to Europe. MIKE and Earl also announced a series of Australian and New Zealand tour dates in May, including a show at Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid LIVE Festival.
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