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. He is signed to his own record label Tan Cressida and Columbia Records.
Earl Sweatshirt was born to Cheryl Harris, a law professor at University of California, Los Angeles, and Keorapetse Kgositsile, a South African poet and political activist who left the family when Earl was 6 years old. He grew up in the Los Angeles area and graduated from New Roads High School in Santa Monica.
In 2009, Tyler, The Creator discovered Earl Sweatshirt, then known as Sly Tendencies, via his MySpace account, where he recorded tracks for his Kitchen Cutlery mixtape.