Earl Sweatshirt & MIKE Finally Drop a Joint Album Together

Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE have been circling the same orbit for years. Now they're making it official. The two rappers just dropped 'Leadbelly,' the first single from their joint album 'Pompeii // Utility,' due out April 3 via 10k/Tan Cressida/Surf Gang Records.

The project is structured as a double record — 'Pompeii' houses MIKE's tracks while 'Utility' is Sweatshirt's side. It's a smart framework that preserves each artist's identity while letting the collaboration breathe across a shared release. Production comes from Harrison, evilgiane, Elipropperr, and Flea Diamonds, all affiliated with Surf Gang, the New York-based collective that's been steadily gaining traction in the experimental hip-hop world.

The creative bond between these two runs deep. They've been working together consistently since touring as a pair back in 2019, and the synergy has shown up in scattered features and loose collaborations ever since. Both make music that rewards patience — layered, textured, and unapologetically interior — so a full-length team-up feels less like a surprise and more like an inevitability.

“That's the foundation that made it easy for the project to come together," Sweatshirt told Rolling Stone.”

"I relate to MIKE like my actual sibling. That's the foundation that made it easy for the project to come together," Sweatshirt told Rolling Stone. MIKE echoed the sentiment: "We've been working toward the same thing for a long time. It was already there," he said in the same interview.

To support the album, the pair will hit the road in June on their 'Home on the Range' tour. But before that kicks off, they've got three secret shows lined up with Surf Gang in Los Angeles, New York City, and London — the kind of intimate, high-demand events that tend to sell out the moment details leak.

For fans of underground rap who've watched Earl and MIKE push each other's craft from a distance, 'Pompeii // Utility' is the record that's been simmering in the background for half a decade. 'Leadbelly' is streaming now, and April 3 is the date to mark. Keep an eye out for those secret show announcements — they won't stay secret for long.