Earl Sweatshirt and Friends
Toad’s Place, New Haven, CT
December 4th, 2025
By Romy Beckman
Earl Sweatshirt is the greatest rapper alive. But more importantly, he genuinely appears to be happy.
Once home to global superstars like the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Kendrick Lamar (and many more), it’s not often a concert at Toad’s lives up to the caliber of historic musicians whose faces and signatures plaster the walls. But after his performance on December 4th, Earl Sweatshirt has cemented his place amongst those legendary artists.
By the time Earl took the stage, his five openers had already delivered a hell of a concert—and his performance was set to be the cherry on top. Instead, he delivered an entire second cake.
The concert opened with a set from New York rapper AKAI SOLO. During his performance, Earl and the other four opening acts were all on stage—listening, smoking, dancing, and supporting their fellow artist. Earl remained on stage for the entirety of the concert and soaked in every second of the music. Following AKAI SOLO came Cletus Strap, an underground rapper whose musical style complemented Earl’s perfectly—something emphasized later in the show when the two performed an unreleased song together (which has been stuck in my head ever since, if you are reading this, please drop that song, Mr. Strap!). Next up was Niontay, a true rising star in hip-hop. Throughout the show, it became clear just how much love all six of the musicians have for one another. As they all stood on stage dancing to Niontay’s music, they informed us that they had just come from eating hotpot together before the show and were in the process of trying to finish the copious amount of weed they had before traveling to Canada the next day—a venture which Earl and Niontay contributed to impressively.
At this point, the concert was in full flow, and Toad’s Place was packed and bumping. To capitalize on this momentum, Zelooperz came out and raised the energy level in the building to its maximum. His set included an impromptu dance contest, a call and response of “when I say fuck you say cigarettes, FUCK! Cigarettes!”, and the first and only mosh pit of the night for his song ‘Push me Around ft. Zach Fox.’ Then the tone shifted as Liv.e stunned the audience with her beautiful voice, enchanting stage presence, and undeniable charisma. Her singing so entranced me that I temporarily forgot there was more to come, only to be filled with joy when I caught a glimpse of Earl’s face through the smoke. By the time Earl took the stage, his five openers had already delivered a hell of a concert—and his performance was set to be the cherry on top. Instead, he offered an entire second cake.
…it’s amazing to see how Earl has grown, all while providing us with brilliant sonic testimony to his evolution.
Unlike most rappers in 2025, Earl performs without a backing vocal track and yet manages to hit every word of his immensely dense, complex lyrics, never missing a bar. If this wasn’t impressive enough, in over an hour of performing, he rarely took breaks between songs—a quick sip of water and right back to the raps. In addition to performing most of the songs from Live Laugh Love, his most recent release, he also played several fan favorites, including Molasses, E. Coli, Vin Skully, Azucar, and many more.
Earl’s lyrical talent has never been questioned. As soon as he broke onto the scene in 2010, fans, critics, and musicians alike all recognized his unparalleled penmanship. The raw creativity, alliteration, and wordplay on his debut mixtape, EARL, took the world by storm. In the following years, he released two deeply personal and introspective albums, Doris and I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside. Watching his transformation from this early era of raps fueled by anger, frustration, and depression, through to the more stoic and avant-garde, Some Rap Songs, and now to his most optimistic and uplifting project to date, Live Laugh Love, it’s incredible to see how Earl has grown, all while providing us with brilliant sonic testimony to his evolution. The joy, maturity, and reverence Earl expresses through Live Laugh Love is palpable and powerful.
Despite his nonchalant and understated demeanor, his joy radiates through the entire audience. He has a smile that can light up a dark concert venue, and watching him smoke, joke, and dance with his friends on stage soothed my soul. For someone who has openly gone through so much hardship, it is incredible to see him living, laughing, and loving.
While he has long been regarded as one of the most technically gifted lyricists of all time, the versatility he has demonstrated across his last few projects and the drastic shift toward a completely new, unique sound have catapulted him into the conversation with the all-time greats of hip-hop. About 10 minutes into his set at Toad’s, I found myself muttering the phrase “greatest rapper alive” under my breath, a sentiment which I have since had time to consider, and I now wholeheartedly believe to be true. Earl Sweatshirt is the greatest rapper alive. But more importantly, he genuinely appears to be happy.
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