It's 9pm on Good Friday, and there's a queue stretching down the street in central London, just opposite the theatre which houses Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. No, it's not a pilgrimage to see what's happening at Hogwarts, it's the launch party for 'POMPEII // UTILITY', the new project from New York rapper MIKE, one-time Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt and production/musician collective SURF GANG.
Inside, the atmosphere is electric, with half of SURF GANG crammed behind the decks while MIKE and Earl show just why they inspire such devotion from their fans. Despite landing in London at 9am that morning, the duo are on top form, skipping gleefully through cuts from the new album like kids at Christmas. "We went and had a full English at the pub, we split the G on some Guinnesses – our album came out today!" shouts a jubilant MIKE in a pause between songs.
This is the third of three album launch shows, with the first in Earl's native Los Angeles and the second in New York, MIKE's home. The connection to London is more nebulous, but this is a city which has always shown love for Earl and MIKE's unique brand of alternative hip-hop. "This is like a second, third home kind of thing," says Earl the next day, nursing a weary head and a cup of herbal tea. "We've always been super appreciated here, so it was a no-brainer."
Despite only being in his early 30s, Earl has had a lifetime to work out which countries most appreciate what he does. Bursting into the public consciousness as rap collective Odd Future's 16-year-old wunderkind, his story has become legendary. Sent to a boarding school in Samoa by his concerned mother, he finally returned to release his debut album 'Doris' in 2013, going on to carve out an idiosyncratic path which shunned the commercial mainstream while cementing him as one of hip-hop's most talented and influential figures. Now 32, he cuts an introspective and deeply thoughtful figure – a far cry from his initial public persona as a purveyor of close-to-the-bone horrorcore.
'POMPEII // UTILITY' is structured as a double album, with Earl covering off the 'UTILITY' disc while 'POMPEII' is MIKE's domain. The yin to Earl's yang, MIKE is as prone to laughter as his album-mate is to contemplative silence. Hailed as one of hip-hop's most talented new figures back when he was in his late teens, MIKE quickly gained the attention of his one-time hero Earl and the two have been close friends and collaborators ever since. With the groundwork laid, it's obvious why fans of both rappers have been clamouring for a full-length collaboration from the pair for years. While 'POMPEII // UTILITY' sees their wish fulfilled, the split disc nature of the project means the separation between the two is maintained. In fact, just two tracks across the album's 33 songs feature both Earl and MIKE: 'POMPEII'’s 'Kirkland' and 'UTILITY''s 'Leadbelly'. As you'd expect from two rappers with a reputation for intentionality, this was an entirely conscious decision.
"We're together, but there's space for both of us," says Earl. "I feel like it's the most honest depiction of our thing. We've always been connected, inextricably. But we're still separate for our health. Our relationship is like when trees grow and form a forest canopy. The leaves of each tree don't touch. It's magical, because they're so close that they create the same forest, the same canopy, but they don't quite reach each other – and that's super important for the health of the forest, just like it is for us."
The two-halves nature of the project also reflects the way it came together, with SURF GANG's production acting as a conduit for both MIKE and Earl's work, with each rapper working independently before realising the parallel tracks they were on.
"My side of things came together over two, three years," explains MIKE. "I linked up with Gianni and Harrison [Evilgiane and Harrison, producers and SURF GANG co-founders] in 2023, and we made 'Minty' and 'Back Home', then we kept linking up and making music as we went along. It was a bit later that I found out that Thebe [Earl] was doing the same thing, so we started playing each other all the SURF GANG tracks we'd been making. Thebe was the one who had the idea of putting these tapes out together in the form it finally took."
