Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, known as Earl Sweatshirt, was born on February 24, 1994, in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Los Angeles. He began rapping in seventh grade, releasing his first mixtape Kitchen Cutlery in 2007 under the name Sly Tendencies. In 2009, he joined the alternative hip-hop collective Odd Future after connecting with Tyler, the Creator via MySpace, and released the mixtape Earl in 2010 at age 16, gaining critical recognition for its dark lyrics and wordplay. Sent by his mother to a boarding school in Samoa for at-risk youth, he returned in 2012 and signed with Columbia Records. His debut studio album Doris (2013) peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, featuring Odd Future members and guests like Frank Ocean and Vince Staples. Subsequent releases include I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside (2015), Some Rap Songs (2018), the EP Feet of Clay (2019), Sick! (2022), and Voir Dire (2023) with The Alchemist, noted for introspective lyrics, abstract production, and lo-fi influences. Earl Sweatshirt rejoined Odd Future onstage upon his return, including at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom.