After being announced as the support act for The xx's 'I See You Tour' this summer, Californian rapper Earl Sweatshirt now confirmed he will be playing a one-off headline show in Melbourne this January. The show marks Sweatshirt's return after appearing at Splendour In The Grass and doing a handful of club shows in 2015.
Starting out in 2009 as one of the youngest members of hip hop collective Odd Future, he toured and wrote with the likes of Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator before gaining solo attention just a year later with debut mixtape 'Earl'.
The musician’s first record 'Doris', released in 2013, sparked international recognition with its deeply personal lyrics and highly technical elements. Peaking at number 1 on the Australian iTunes chart, the album is laden with gems featuring members from his former group. "Sunday" with Frank Ocean packs an emotionally raw punch, while "Whoa" featuring Tyler, the Creator balances bass heaviness with delicate keyboard.
Sweatshirt continued to push boundaries, following up this initial success with self-produced second release 'I Don’t Like Sh*t, I Don’t Go Outside', which made it to the number eight spot on Rolling Stone’s best rap album of 2015. Lo-fi instrumentals paired with the musician’s biting stream of thought come together on lead single ‘Grief’, which entered at number four on the Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks chart.
"It feels like the realisation of a voice that, in some sense, he's had an APB out on since his first record: one that is both fluid and all angles…" - Pitchfork
"Earl Sweatshirt keeps deepening his game—spooling out dense, mordant rhymes over zombifically blunted tracks as he somehow sucks you into his sunless reality." - Rolling Stone
The rapper’s studio skills is backed up by an energetic live presence, cultivated from both supporting names such as Eminem and Solange Knowles as well as his own headline tours.
"Describing each of these performances individually seems redundant considering Sweatshirt rapped each with the tenacity of a performer far beyond his 21 years." - The Music
"Smiling, laughing and loving the audience, Earl Sweatshirt has well and truly emerged from the Odd Future shadow, and is paving his way to the status of living legend." - Consequence of Sound
Hard at work on his third album, Sweatshirt has been giving fans a taste of the upcoming release out on the road. The musician launched latest single "Hat Trick" at Detroit’s Movement Festival in May, where the track’s simple rhythms let his brutally honest rapping take centre stage.
Grab your tickets and don’t miss Earl Sweatshirt performing live this 2018!
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