— Following the release of their celebrated double album POMPEII//UTILITY earlier this month, Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, and SURF GANG release a new music video for “Chicago” from Earl’s UTILITY side of the project.
Like much of the preceding music videos from the project, “Chicago” is directed and shot by Ian Lopez and Richard Phillip Smith, framing all three parties as they globetrot from alleyways to the pyramids. POMPEII // UTILITY is out everywhere via 10k Global/Tan Cressida/SURF GANG Records.
Leading up to the album’s release MIKE, Earl, and SURF GANG trekked a three-city release show tour through Los Angeles, New York City, and London; each show accompanied by Q&As held within Stone Island storefronts in each city, offering exclusive merch and vinyls in the process. Along the way, they sat down for conversations with Rolling Stone to discuss how the album’s name was conceived, teaming up with SURF GANG with Spotify, having longevity with The Kid Mero on HOT 97, style inspirations with GQ, and their hottest takes with Pitchfork.
To celebrate the album, Earl, MIKE, and SURF GANG are heading out on the Home on the Range tour, which will include 26 US stops beginning June 9th in Riverside, 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. Tickets are on sale, and you can find the full run of tour dates, with support on select dates from Niontay, Cletus Strap, Anysia Kym, Na-Kel Smith, Lerado Khalil, Lisha G., C.FRIM, and Chef Chung.
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, in addition to tapping Ian Lopez & Richard Phillip Smith to direct and film three out of the four POMPEII//UTILITY music videos to preserve the album’s visual identity across its tracks.
Watch the new music video, listen to the entire POMPEII//UTILITY album, and check out tour dates right here.