Earl Sweatshirt

     

Thebe Neruda Kgositsile (born: February 24, 1994 (1994-02-24)), better known online as Earl Sweatshirt, is an American rapper and record producer.

History

Thebe Neruda Kgositsile was born on February 24, 1994, in Chicago, Illinois, to Cheryl Harris and Keorapetse Kgositsile. Harris and Kgositsile separated when Thebe was six years old. Keorapetse was presented as a person that was often absent in Kgositsile's life, due to him living in South Africa while Kgositsile lived in Los Angeles, California. Kgositsile attended the UCLA Lab School in Los Angeles and New Roads Middle School & High School in Santa Monica, California.

Kgositsile first started rapping in the seventh grade. In 2007, under the name Sly Tendencies, he posted tracks from his mixtape, Kitchen Cutlery. He and two of his friends, Loofy and JW Mijo, formed a rap trio called The Backpackerz. They intended to release a mixtape titled World Playground, but disbanded sometime in 2009.

In 2009, Tyler, the Creator discovered Kgositsile MySpace account after he reached out to Tyler to tell him he was a fan of his work. Kgositsile later changed his name to Earl Sweatshirt and joined Tyler's rap group, Odd Future. His debut mixtape, Earl, was self-released on March 31, 2010, for free digital download on the Odd Future website.

Despite positive reactions from both critics and fans, various sources indicated that Kgositsile had stopped making music with Odd Future. Posts from Tyler, the Creator's Twitter and Formspring accounts seemed to indicate that Kgositsile's mother would not grant permission to release any of her son's music. Kgositsile later expressed in an interview that his mother sent him to Samoa due to getting into trouble with friends. Kgositsile attended Coral Reef Academy located outside of the Samoan capital of Apia. Kgositsile worked to earn back privileges and the opportunity to return home. While there, he read Manning Marable's biography on Malcolm X and Richard Fariña's counterculture fiction. He wrote rhymes, including most of his verse on "Oldie", his only contribution to Odd Future's studio album The OF Tape Vol. 2. Kgositsile was brought back from Samoa by Leila Steinberg.

His hiatus led to a movement known as "Free Earl", which stemmed from a post on Odd Future's Tumblr. Chants of the phrase would ensue at the group's shows, and would appear throughout several songs by both the collective and its individual members.

On February 8, 2012, rumors spread around the internet that Kgositsile had returned to the U.S. when a video of him surfaced on YouTube with a preview of a new song saying if viewers wanted the full song, they would have to give him 50,000 followers on Twitter.

By early 2015, speculation was growing that Kgositsile had left Odd Future, a rumour which he confirmed on Twitter on May 28, 2015, by tweeting "No sympathy for male virgins who're in their feelings about Tyler pointing out and solidifying the obvious." This was in response to a Tyler, the Creator tweet that was thought by many to be an announcement of Odd Future's disbandment, although Tyler denied it. Earl did not appear at Camp Flog Gnaw in 2015, which many speculated to be due to a conflict between himself and Tyler. However, Tyler tweeted the day after the festival "Thebe and I are fine by the way."

Discography

Albums

• Doris (2013)
• I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside (2015)
• Some Rap Songs (2018)
• Sick! (2022)
• Voir Dire (2023)

Extended Plays

• Solace (2015)
• Feet of Clay (2019)

Mixtapes

• Kitchen Cutlery (2008)
• Earl (2010)

Singles

• 45 (2014)
• Quest/Power (2015)
• Wind In My Sails (2016)
• Farm (2019)
• Making the Band (Danity Kane) (2023)

References

Attribution

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