Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE and Surf Gang Are Dropping a Collab Project

The moment we’ve all been manifesting is here at last; in a long-overdue collaborative venture, Day 1 creative partners, tourmates, and, above all, actual friends Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE are finally dropping a project together.

It’s not just any old project, and it’s surely not a scrapping together of leftover studio sessions or album outtakes, but rather, it’s a fully fleshed out, 33-track, double-disc venture dubbed POMPEII/ULTILITY, that comes dialed-in even further with full production from NYC’s producer supercollective SURF GANG.

Harrison, one of SURF GANG’s founding producers alongside evilgiane and Eera, served as a key catalyst in bringing the long-time-coming collab release to fruition, handling the majority of production on the two-part LP, which features various songs and snippets that have been years in the making.

POMPEII, the first disc, clocks in at 15 songs, featuring additional support from rebuke, Jadasea, Anysia Kym, Niontay, and Na-Kel Smith. Whereas the second part, UTILITY, comes equipped with a total of 18 tracks, and cameos coming from Cahuilla and Lerado Khalil.

Today, the duo dropped off the double-lead single along with its visual component to kickstart the POMPEII/UTILITY rollout, melding disc one’s “Minty” with disc two’s “Earth” for an audiovisual “Minty // Earth” two-parter. The music video comes directed by Ian Lopez and Richard Phillip Smith, who strategically structured the 3:25-long endeavor as, similar to the album at large, a two-part experience; MIKE handles the first half with “Minty,” before Earl steps in for the second with “Earth.”

POMPEII
1. The Fall
2. MY WORST (rebuke)
3. Da Bid (feat. Jadasea)
4. NOT 4TW (feat. Anysia Kym)
5. THE POPE
6. AFRO
7. Minty
8. F.E.A.R. (feat. Niontay)
9. Tampering
10. Shutter Island
11. Back LA (feat. Na-Kel Smith)
12. Back Home
13. Kirkland (feat. Earl Sweatshirt)
14. #FREE #MIKE
15. Man of the Month

UTILITY
1. this2shallpass
2. 🙁 again 🙂
3. Home on the Range
4, React
5. Hot Water (Cahuilla)
6. rectangle lens
7. Leadbelly (feat. MIKE)
8. quikk
9. Ew!
10. Earth
11. Chali 2na
12. Sisyphus
13. Locusts (feat. Lerado Khalil)
14. Tour de France
15. Chicago
16. Book of Eli
17. AOK
18. Don’t Worry!

Per the project’s press release, POMPEII/UTILITY finds the two rappers at “their most comfortable,” and conceptually, prioritizes the shared ethos of all three contributors: collaboration as community-building.

“Where two rappers going head-to-head might otherwise incite rivalry or comparison, this project offers something rooted and communal — a shared understanding of care, joy, grief, process, and responsibility to something larger than yourself,” the press release elaborates. “The album’s title and conceptual framework draw from the eruption of Pompeii, with themes of building and destruction reflected in both the artwork and ethos. During one particularly baked studio session, the energy in the room slipped into a haze where they describe feeling ‘frozen in time,’ sparking the image of Pompeii.”

The press release further emphasizes the sharp storytelling component of the project, calling the chemistry between Earl and MIKE on the album, “unique,” and signalling a thematic shift in subject matter for the pair.

“It 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.” Even down to the album art, POMPEII/UTILITY is a family affair, with Earl’s close friend, sculptor Sharif Farrag creating all of the project’s original artwork.

In tandem with the album announcement, MIKE and Earl also lifted the veil on a lengthy slate of headlining Home on the Range tour dates.

Kicking off in June in Riverside California, the pair will embark upon a run of 26 North American shows, making stops in major cities like Denver, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Charlotte, and Brooklyn before closing out on July 18 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Home on the Range then heads over to Europe for a dozen shows across the UK, France and the Netherlands, with a penultimate performance in Tilburg on September 8.

Home on the Range Tour Dates
6/9 – Riverside, CA @ Riverside Municipal Auditorium $
6/10 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium $
6/12 – Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre $
6/13 – Albuquerque, NM @ Historic El Rey Theatre $
6/15 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex $
6/16 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom $
6/18 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman $
6/19 – Omaha, NE @ The Admiral Theatre $
6/20 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee $
6/22 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave $
6/23 – St. Louis, MO @ The Hawthorn $
6/24 – Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room @ ONC $
6/26 – Cleveland, OH @ Rock & Rock Hall of Fame $
6/27 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! $
6/28 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogarts $
6/30 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre $
7/1 – Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom $
7/2 – South Deerfield, MA @ Summerstage at Tree House Brewing $
7/7 – Providence, RI @ The Strand Ballroom $
7/8 – New York, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount $
7/9 – Baltimore, MD @ Nevermore Hall $
7/13 – Richmond, VA @ The National $
7/14 – Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa $
7/15 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore CLT $
7/17 – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz $
7/18 – Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues Myrtle Beach $

8/7 – Katowice, Poland @ OFF Festival €
8/22 – Salisbury, UK @ We Out Here £
8/25 – Glasgow, UK @ o2 Academy Glasgow $
8/26 – Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street $
8/27 – Paris, France @ Bourse De Commerce £
8/28 – Nottingham, UK @ Rock City $
8/29 – London, UK @ All Points East £
8/31 – London, UK @ o2 Forum Kentish Town $
9/2 – Bristol, UK @ Prospect Building $
9/3 – Brighton, UK @ Brighton Dome $
9/6 – Paris, France @ Elysee Montmartre $
9/8 – Tilburg, Netherlands @ 013 Poppodium $

$ – with Harrison [SURF GANG]
€ – Earl Sweatshirt only
£ – MIKE only with the Band of the Century

Artist presale tickets go live on Wednesday, March 11 at 10 a.m. local time (password: UTILITY), and Spotify presale tickets go on sale Thursday, March 12 at 10 a.m. local time (password THEHARP). General on-sale is slated to kick off on Friday, March 13 at 10 a.m. local time.