Philly Plain Dealer

On Wednesday night underground rap icon Earl Sweatshirt came to Union Transfer with Liv.e, ZelooperZ, Niontay, and Cletus Strap for a chill, grungy evening of lyric heavy hip-hop. 

An Earl Sweatshirt show is a one-of-a-kind concert going experience because of the unique and respectful relationship between Earl and his audience. To be an Earl Sweatshirt fan requires an appreciation for lyricism, the art of rapping, and specific preferences towards hip-hop.

In a sold out Union Transfer it would be safe to say that less than 10% of the crowd knew every word to every song Earl performed, not from any lack of dedication, but rather because of the density of Earl’s catalog. To learn and understand every Earl song would require a college level course or some DIY version using YouTube, a thesaurus, and Genius. 

Openers performed without any pomp and circumstance, no fireworks, no light show, no backing vocals, and no outfit changes. As Cletus Strap and Niontay opened the show, Earl Sweatshirt was visible on stage alternating between smoking weed and cigarettes, occasionally supporting the artists by hopping on the turntables or performing with them. I’ve never seen a headliner hangout onstage for the entirety of any show, until Wednesday. 

Wednesday’s show was a weeknight stop on Earl’s “3L World Tour” which began in Morisson, Colorado on Halloween and ends in Lisbon, Portugal a week after Valentine’s Day. 

This is why fans respect Earl Sweatshirt. His catalog is proven, his music is dense, he performs with no backing vocals or assistance, and he’s bringing a handful of young artists across the country and globe showing them how hip-hop used to be and can be done. 

ZelooperZ, from Detroit has been a mainstay in the underground hip-hop scene. In July 2024, he headlined an underground show in Philly called “Chafatown” at The Fallser Club, which was a show that I hosted 2-3 times a year. ZelooperZ is the perfect jelly to Earl’s peanut butter, Earl’s songs sound serious, pensive, and sometimes even dour; ZeelooperZ is a hip-hop chameleon capable of alternating from trap beats to slow songs to full out dance tracks.

Chafatown was a relatively small, niche underground hip-hop and R&B concert series frequented by members of the creative and DIY scene. The vibe was community-focused, the crowds were kind and respectful, and it always felt like Chafatown was a one of a kind place in the post-modernity of concert-going. The Earl Sweatshirt show had that same feel and energy, scaled up to entertain thousands, rather than hundreds.

In typical Earl fashion, he avoided playing his biggest and most popular songs that feature his incredibly famous friends like Tyler, the Creator and Frank Ocean. Instead he focused on his newer music, collaborations with ZeelooperZ, and he just performed whatever he wanted. Earl fans know better than to expect him to compromise his art in any way, and that’s why we love Earl. In the TikTok world, Earl Sweatshirt is one of a handful of artists’ whose integrity is the point. I don’t have the time to explain the deep lore behind “Free Earl” and the timeline of the Odd Future days through to 2025, but I will say that Earl’s first mixtape released in March 2010, when both he and I were 15-16 years old. Earl has achieved the impossible by maintaining his underground label, despite being niche-famous for more than half of his life.

Earl Sweatshirt can sell out Philadelphia on a Wednesday night, offering reasonable ticket prices, and a one-of-a-kind concert going experience straight out of the early aughts. If you appreciate lyricism and underground hip-hop or just want to feel like you’re in a weed filled basement listening to the cool-weird music go to the 3L World Tour.