Andrew Veeder on April 9th, 2015

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“Good grief, I been reaping what I sowed,” Earl Sweatshirt rapped to the packed floor of the House of Blues last night, performing his new track “Grief,” over a dark and crunchy metallic beat of his own making, which rattled hard as dozens of audience hands shot up, and dozens more rapped along, “N*gga, I ain’t been outside in a minute / I been living what I wrote.”

This stop at HoB, which Earl headlined as part of the ongoing Not Redy 2 Leave tour with Vince Staples and Remy Banks, is nearly four years after the Odd Future collective played the same venue on their ascent to fame without him, as the then 17-year-old Earl was in exile at a boarding school in Samoa at the behest of his mother. He returned stateside in 2012, released his major-label debut “Doris” in 2013, and is now on the road in support of his latest effort, the tight 10-track album “I Don’t Like Sh*t, I Don’t Go Outside.” It’s a dark and dense introspective collection of near hook-less tracks that show him trying to achieve more with less, using fewer words and stripped-down production almost entirely created himself.

In the material, he grapples with his demons, his relationship with his mother and the uncomfortable fame thrust upon him after his return, some of which sounds like he’s rapping from the fetal position in a dark hole. In a live setting, however, the new material was invigorated and transformed by his energy, clutching the mic tight with his right hand, and pumping his left fist as he moved around the stage, spitting every line with confidence and poise that has grown by leaps and bounds since his loosey-goosey performance at November’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival.

Preceding Earl on the bill was Long Beach rapper Vince Staples, wearing a R.I.P. A$AP YAMS T-shirt. He began with “Back Sellin’ Crack” from 2013’s “Stolen Youth” mixtape, and blew through the bulk of last year’s major-label EP “Hell Can Wait,” including “Blue Suede,” “Feelin’ The Love,” “Fire,” “Hands Up” and “65 Hunnid,” killing the beat and rapping the last verse a capella. He also performed a new song, he said, “nobody’s ever heard,” and whose video will be coming out in a few weeks, jumping into the crowd mid-flow, with half the people trying to touch him, and the other half trying to take his picture on their phone. “I’m a little m*therfucker,” he said afterward, before giving big ups to security for lifting him up, out and back on stage.

After 12 songs, Earl joined Staples onstage for their collaboration “Wool,” the last track on “I Don’t Like Sh*t,” and stayed as they tag-teamed other joint tracks from “Doris.” They performed “Centurion” and “Hive” in unison, proving again how dynamic they are as a duo before Staples ceded the stage, and Odd Future affiliate Jasper Dolphin dove into the crowd, surfing aggressively through the crowd from the VIP seating to the stage, and delighting Earl in the effort. The floor started swirling more and more as Tropical Storm Mosh formed, though never quite reaching hurricane proportions, while sporadic patrons began riding the waves as Earl launched into more “Doris” material, with tracks “Pre,” “Burgundy,” “Molasses” and “Sunday” blaring as Odd Future affiliates and entourage continued growing on the sides and upstage, including Tyler, the Creator and Trash Talk’s Lee Spielman.

Earl then performed the entirety of the new album “I Don’t Like Sh*t” front to back, rapping the confessional lyrics with conviction, and owning every one of them, calling the penultimate track “DNA” the “most heartfelt song I ever made.” Despite the weight of his raps, you could tell how much fun he was having, leaving stage at least twice to hug people in the wings, and splitting the crowd in half for a call-and-response during “Grown Ups,” playfully remarking, “There’s always a n*gga that wanna yell off beat.” By the time Tyler joined him for the track “Whoa,” the crowd had reached their peak of frenzy, and Odd Future members dove out at them en masse, then turned the stage into a big party. It was the appropriate conclusion to his hometown stop on the tour.

Queens rapper Remy Banks opened the show, performing tracks from his forthcoming album “higher,” due out next month. He noted this was his first time in L.A. performing as a solo artist, and the crowd vibed out to his big personality, great flows and solid beats. Young fans were already flagrantly blazing weed and exhaling upward during Banks’ set, and he joined in with a blunt on stage, before stepping down, passing it into the crowd and then handing it off to his DJ as the stoic security team watched it all unfold.

You can always tell the which shows are all-ages by how dead the bars are on the perimeters of House of Blues — at this one in particular, they were nearly vacant.