Earl Sweatshirt
Earl Sweatshirt | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Thebe Neruda Kgositsile |
| Also known as | Sly Tendencies, Early Man |
| Born | February 24, 1994 |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Alternative hip hop |
| Occupation | Rapper |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Labels | Columbia, Tan Cressida, Odd Future Records |
Thebe Neruda Kgositsile (born February 24, 1994), better known by his stage name Earl Sweatshirt, is an American rapper and member of the Los Angeles based hip hop collective Odd Future.
Biography
Kgositsile was born to Cheryl Harris, a law professor at University of California, Los Angeles, and Keorapetse Kgositsile, a South African poet and political activist.[1] He grew up in the Los Angeles area and has graduated from New Roads High School in Santa Monica.[2]
Life and career
Early career
Earl and his group have been featured in mainstream magazines such as Spin, Billboard and The Fader. His debut studio album, Earl, was self-released March 31, 2010 as a free digital download on the Odd Future website.[3] Most of the album was produced by Tyler, The Creator. Earl was named the 24th best album of 2010 by Complex. Sweatshirt's rapping style is notable for its dark lyrical content, multi-syllabic rhyme schemes, heavy wordplay and double entendres.
Despite overwhelmingly positive reviews, various sources[4][5][6] indicated that Sweatshirt had stopped making music with Odd Future. Posts from Tyler, The Creator's Twitter and Formspring accounts seemed to indicate that Sweatshirt's mother would not grant permission to release any of Sweatshirt's music, although Earl later expressed in an interview that his mother sent him to Samoa not because of his music or lyrical content but because of his getting into trouble. Earl attended Coral Reef Academy, a therapeutic retreat school for at-risk boys, located outside of the Samoan capital of Apia.[7][2]
On December 1, 2011, three formerly unreleased songs by Sweatshirt were released through the OddFutureTalk "Odd Future Unreleased" mixtape. In December 2011, Sweatshirt was announced as a candidate for XXL's 2012 Freshmen List.[8]
Return from Samoa
On February 8, 2012, rumors spread around the internet that Sweatshirt had returned to the U.S. when a video of him surfaced on YouTube of him with a preview of a new song saying if viewers wanted "the full thing" they would have to give him 50,000 followers on Twitter.[9] He also later confirmed on his new Twitter account[10] that he had returned to his home in Los Angeles.[11] Three hours passed and Sweatshirt reached 50,000 followers and did release a new song on his website, entitled "Home", in which he ends the song with "...and I'm back. Bye." Sweatshirt later confirmed via Twitter that all the tracks released prior to Oldie was old stuff that he recorded before going abroad. On the same day Earl launched his website Terttlefer.com, which was later changed to Earlxsweat.com (after his twitter username), and finally Earlsweatshirt.
On March 15, 2012, it was confirmed that Earl appeared on the song "Oldie" from The OF Tape Vol. 2. This is Earl's return to official Odd Future releases and his first appearance on an Odd Future Records release. On March 20, a video released on the official Odd Future YouTube page featured Earl in a cypher-style video rapping along to his verse from "Oldie" along with the other members of the crew. This was his first appearance with Odd Future since his return.
After a lengthy absence from Odd Future, Earl performed with the group at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on March 20, 2012.[12]
On April 9, 2012, rapper Casey Veggies released a mixtape titled Customized Greatly 3 that includes a song featuring Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler the Creator, Domo Genesis, and Hodgy Beats titled "PNCINTLOFWGKTA." During that month Earl Sweatshirt signed papers to create his own imprint called Tan Cressida which will be distributed through Columbia Records. He turned down several other larger offers due to his priority of remaining close to Odd Future. His new records will still feature the Odd Future logo, and he anticipates working on projects with Tyler the Creator and Matt Martians.[2]
Earl Sweatshirt features on the track "Super Rich Kids" from the debut album Channel Orange by Frank Ocean, released digitally July 10, 2012.
On July 16, 2012, Domo Genesis released a track titled "Elimination Chamber" from his upcoming album No Idols, which featured Earl, Vince Staples, and Action Bronson, and produced by The Alchemist.
Discography
- 2009: Kitchen Cutlery (as Sly Tendencies, unreleased)
- 2010: Earl
- with Odd Future
- 2010: Radical
- 2012: The OF Tape Vol. 2
Guest appearances
| Title | Year | Album | Artist(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| "AssMilk" | 2009 | Bastard | Tyler, The Creator |
| "CopKiller" | 2010 | YelloWhite | MellowHype |
| "Stick Up" | Ali | Mike G | |
| "Chordoroy" (also featuring Tyler, The Creator) | BlackenedWhite | MellowHype | |
| "Oldie" (also featuring Tyler, The Creator, Hodgy Beats, Left Brain, Mike G, Domo Genesis, Frank Ocean & Jasper Dolphin) | 2012 | The OF Tape Vol. 2 | Odd Future |
| "PNCINTLOFWGKTA" (also featuring Tyler, The Creator, Domo Genesis & Hodgy Beats) | Customized Greatly Vol. 3 | Casey Veggies | |
| "Super Rich Kids" | channel ORANGE | Frank Ocean | |
| "Elimination Chamber" (also featuring Vince Staples & Action Bronson) | No Idols | Domo Genesis | |
| "Between Friends" (also featuring Captain Murphy) | Adult Swim's Singles Series | Flying Lotus |
Music videos
| Song | Year | Artist | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Earl" | 2010 | Earl Sweatshirt | A.G. Rojas |
| "Oldie" | 2012 | Odd Future | A.G. Rojas |
References
- ^ Thompson, Nicholas. (2009-01-07) News Desk: Looking for Earl Sweatshirt. The New Yorker. Retrieved on 2011-08-16.
- ^ a b c After Exile, Career Reset. Earl Sweatshirt Is Back From the Wilderness. New York Times. May 2, 2012
- ^ "OFWGKTA: Earl Sweatshirt – EARL". Oddfuture.tumblr.com. 2010-03-31. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
- ^ Caroline Ryder (2010-10-14). "The Future Is Odd – Page 2 – Music – Los Angeles". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
- ^ "OFWGKTA: FUCK! Watching This Video Kills Us Inside. We Miss". Oddfuture.tumblr.com. 2010-12-27. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
- ^ "The Live Insanity that Is Odd Future Wolf Gang..." SPIN.com. 2010-11-09. Retrieved 2011-05-09.
- ^ Kgositsile, Thebe. "Interview with Peter Rosenberg". YouTube.
- ^ 2012 Freshman Class. Xxlmag.Com. Retrieved on 2012-05-06.
- ^ Home. YouTube (2012-02-08). Retrieved on 2012-05-06.
- ^ https://twitter.com/#!/earlxsweat
- ^ https://twitter.com/#!/earlxsweat/status/167358768294793217
- ^ Earl Sweatshirt Performs With Odd Future In NYC « ILLROOTS. Illroots.com (2012-03-21). Retrieved on 2012-05-06.