Earl Sweatshirt's birth name is Thebe Neruda Kgositsile, born in 1994 in Chicago, Illinois. His mother is named Cheryl Harris, a law professor, and his father is named Keorapetse Kgositsile, a well-renowned South African poet and activist. Thebe attended the UCLA Lab School in LA and then the New Roads Middle and High School in Santa Monica, California, due to his parent's separation.

Thebe showed a keen interest in rap when he was just in 7th grade, already producing his own songs and working on a mixtape. In 2007, he posted some tracks of his mixtape under the pseudonym Sly Tendencies on MySpace. Upon seeing the positive reaction that his mixtape received, Thebe decided to form a rap trio with two of his closest friends, JW Mijo and Loofy, and they named themselves The Backpackerz.

In 2009, Tyler the Creator discovered Thebe's talent on MySpace and gave him positive reviews of his work. This was when Thebe changed his pseudonym name from Sly Tendencies to Earl Sweatshirt and decided to join Tyler, the Creator's rap group called Odd Future.

In 2010, Earl Sweatshirt released his first mixtape called Earl for free downloads on the Odd Future official website. Most of the tracks on this mixtape were produced by Tyler the Creator, and it earned a spot as the 24th best album of 2010.

Even though things were looking good for Earl Sweatshirt in Odd Future, numerous reports stated that he stopped making music with the rap group after releasing Earl. This was when he was sent off to boarding school, where he was left unable to make music for the next few years. This resulted from his mother putting her foot down at the obscene content and difficult-to-watch videos released by Odd Future.

Finally, in 2013, he was able to release his debut studio album, ' Doris' under his label, 'Tan Cressida,' and it received quite a bit of critical acclaim. He also appeared on a song called 'Oldie' in Odd Future's debut album. This debut album was featured in top magazines, including The Guardian and LA Times. It debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and quickly became number 1 on the US Top Rap Albums chart.

Earl Sweatshirt was then featured on a Frank Ocean track called 'Super Rich Kids' and the first official single released by Domo Genesis and The Alchemist, called 'Elimination Chamber.'

He released his second album in 2015 called 'I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside,’ and it was very well-received by critics and fans alike. He has been featured in numerous music-based magazines, including Billboard, Spin, and The Fader. In 2016, he released numerous singles, including 'Wind in My Sails,' and 'Death Whistles.' His fourth studio album was called 'Sick!' and was released in 2022.