Thebe Neruda Kgositsile[a] (born February 24, 1994), also known by his stage name Earl Sweatshirt, is a South African-American rapper and record producer.

Kgositsile was originally known by the moniker Sly Tendencies when he began rapping in 2008, but changed his name when Tyler, the Creator invited him to join his alternative hip hop collective Odd Future in late 2009.

Kgositsile stated that "Me and my dad had a relationship that's not uncommon for people to have with their fathers, which is a non-perfect one, talking to him is symbolic and non-symbolic, but it's literally closure for my childhood.

[9][10][11] 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 attended Coral Reef Academy, a therapeutic retreat school for at-risk boys, located outside of the Samoan capital of Apia.

He wrote rhymes, including most of his verse on "Oldie", his only contribution to Odd Future's studio album The OF Tape Vol.

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 – leading to media coverage of the movement itself.

[17][18] 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 thing", they would have to give him 50,000 followers on Twitter.

[12] Earl Sweatshirt was featured on the track "Super Rich Kids" from Frank Ocean's debut album, channel ORANGE, which released digitally July 10, 2012.

On July 16, Domo Genesis & The Alchemist released the first official single, "Elimination Chamber", from their collaboration album No Idols, which featured Earl, Vince Staples, and Action Bronson.

[23] Doris was reported early on to feature vocals and/or production from Tyler, the Creator, Frank Ocean, Ommas Keith, Thundercat, Domo Genesis, Mac Miller, the Neptunes, Christian Rich, Vince Staples, BadBadNotGood, Pharrell Williams, Samiyam, The Alchemist, Casey Veggies, The Internet and RZA.

Doris featured guest appearances from Odd Future members Domo Genesis, Frank Ocean, Tyler, the Creator, along with Vince Staples, RZA, Casey Veggies and Mac Miller.

Additional production was provided by Matt Martians, the Neptunes, RZA, Samiyam, BadBadNotGood, Frank Ocean, and Tyler, the Creator.

On January 5, 2015, Kgositsile released a song titled silenceDArapgame with professional skateboarder Na-Kel Smith under the moniker Hog Slaughta Boyz.

On April 28, 2015, a ten-minute track named "Solace" was released on YouTube via an account called dar Qness;[45] the video garnered significant attention, gaining more than 100,000 views in 24 hours.

[citation needed] Earl stated to NPR that he was making an album called "Solace" inspired by his mother, however the project has also been categorized as an EP.

By early 2015, speculation was growing that Kgositsile had left Odd Future, a rumour which he confirmed via 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."

On September 4, a new track called "Death Whistles" was released on Earl's and Knxwledge's livestream show, Red Bull Music Academy, produced by King Krule.

[52] On November 2, 2018, frequent collaborator Vince Staples released his album, FM!, featuring the track "New earlsweatshirt – Interlude" containing a 20-second verse from Earl.

[53] On November 7, 2018, Kgositsile teased the release of new music on social media in a video clip captioned, "NOWHERE2GO TOMORROW MORNING TAP IN."

[62] On December 9, 2021, Kgositsile released a music video for another single titled "Tabula Rasa", featuring rap group Armand Hammer.

The album features ZelooperZ, and rap group Armand Hammer, with production from Kgositsile himself, The Alchemist, Black Noi$e, Samiyam and more.

[64] In August 2023, a hyperlink titled "hahaha" was added to Kgositsile's website that led to the Gala Music site that would update with new puzzles everyday, teasing a new project.

[65] On August 22, both the website and The Alchemist's Instagram page was updated with a track list and album name, VOIR DIRE.

[66] The website updated once again on August 24, with a music video for the track "Sentry" featuring New York City-based rapper, MIKE.

[68] Kgositsile has been called a "hip-hop prodigy" and in 2011, was branded by The New Yorker as "the most exciting rapper to emerge in years, a virtuoso who was just starting to figure out what he could do with words.

[75] Kgositsile attributes his drug abuse to time with his collective Odd Future and leaving a long-term relationship, saying he was often smoking marijuana and drinking lean before quitting as he reached adulthood.