Earl Sweatshirt

Earl Sweatshirt rose to attention in the early 2010s as an Odd Future member whose verses ranged from introspective alt-rap to grim horrorcore, establishing himself as a singular voice among the crew’s rapper-producers. His 2010 mixtape Earl introduced him as a solo artist to widespread praise, after which his initial two LPs—Doris in 2013 and the bluntly titled I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside two years later—both reached high positions on the Billboard 200. By the arrival of his third album Some Rap Songs in 2018, he had already produced for or featured alongside numerous Odd Future associates such as Tyler, The Creator and Frank Ocean, plus kindred experimental figures including Danny Brown and Denmark Vessey. His fourth release, the concentrated Sick!, surfaced in 2022, followed in 2023 by the unexpected Voir Dire, recorded with producer the Alchemist.

Born Thebe Kgositsile in Chicago, Illinois, the artist performed under the name Sly Tendencies until 2009, when Los Angeles rapper-producer Tyler, The Creator recruited him into Odd Future. At sixteen he issued the well-received Earl mixtape in March 2010, after which his mother enrolled him in a Samoan boarding school; returning to Los Angeles in 2012, he rebuilt momentum through guest spots, notably on Odd Future’s The OF Tape, Vol. 2 and Frank Ocean’s Grammy-winning Channel Orange.

Earl secured a solo contract with Columbia that allowed releases via his Tan Cressida imprint, beginning with the November 2012 single “Chum.” The subsequent tracks “Whoa” and “Hive” preceded Doris, the latter cut becoming his first solo entry on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, where it peaked at number 46; Doris itself debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 in August 2013. The album, which incorporated contributions from several Odd Future members along with the Neptunes, Frank Ocean, and the RZA—though Earl produced a substantial portion himself—appeared on year-end lists compiled by outlets from Rolling Stone to The Wire.

Following scattered collaborations, he delivered the half-hour I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside in March 2015, an album whose inward focus earned strong regard; he produced every track except one, and it reached number twelve on the Billboard 200. In the intervals between his own projects he contributed to Danny Brown’s “Really Doe” and expanded his production credits through one-off work plus sustained partnerships with Mach-Hommy and Denmark Vessey. Some Rap Songs, his third Columbia LP, arrived in November 2018 shortly after the passing of his father, the South African poet and activist Keorapetse Kgositsile, known as Bra Willie. Late the following year he issued the seven-track Feet of Clay, featuring Mavi, Mach-Hommy, and Liv.E.

Two years afterward the reflective single “2010” introduced his fourth studio album Sick!, which arrived in January 2022. The ten-song project contained appearances from Armand Hammer and Zelooperz, with production supplied by Navy Blue, Black Noi$e, Alexander Spit, and additional beatmakers; running twenty-four minutes, it extended the futuristic, frequently turbulent sonic palette of the preceding two records. After guesting on Jean Dawson’s “BAD FRUIT*,” Earl released the Clams Casino- and Evilgiane-produced “Making the Band (Danity Kane)” in 2023. That August he surprise-dropped Voir Dire, a full-length collaboration with the Alchemist that tempered the stark abstraction of Some Rap Songs and the turbulent density of Sick! by foregrounding the producer’s signature sound; MIKE appeared on the single “Sentry.”