7 Things We Learned From Earl Sweatshirt’s Interview With Mike Tyson

The pairing of Mike Tyson and Earl Sweatshirt may come off as bizarre to folks. But, believe it or not, these two are very analogous in nature. They both achieved success at a very young age in their realms of entertainment. In addition to their success, they both were tackled by a multitude of distractions. Still, their "We don't give a f***" attitudes have caused them to become polarizing figures among their peers. Citizens of Humanity decided to do the unthinkable and link these two together. Earl had the honor of interviewing Iron Mike, and quite honestly, he did a hell of a job. Here are some things that we learned from reading their interview.

1. Managers are a waste of time.

Mike: What do you need management for? When you think about it, what’s the purpose of management? In boxing, in my opinion. For boxers! I think they, I don’t know, they’re glamorized babysitters.

Earl: Yes, 100%.

Mike: So they say, “Hey, come here. We gotta go here. We gotta go there. We gotta go here. We gotta go there.” You have to give 10 or 15% of your money, whatever it is…

2. Andre 3000 is really really dope because he does so little.

Earl: I don’t know if you know one of my favorite artists, André 3000, like he has dropped probably 10 or 15 songs that fans of his know every single word to, as opposed to like 1,000 songs, some is good, some is bad. A testament to the exclusivity.

Mike: Yeah, he is a big-time guy.

Earl: Because he does so little.

Mike: Sometimes, people have reasons for being that way, something that you’re hiding, sometimes just like – some people don’t want people to know them, because they’re vulnerable. They have no more power, they feel.

3. We'll never know who we really are until we reach our 40's.

Mike: We don’t know at 20 years old the man we want to be. I just recently found out the man I wanted to be in life. I said, “This is the guy I want to be.” And I realized everything I did in the past prevented me from being the person that I wanted to be, so I don’t do what I did in the past anymore. But it took me to be what, 45, 47, 48 to really get it, so it’s not like I’m some genius. I learned from experience, no one told me to follow anybody else’s example, I had to feel the stove to realize it was hot. Some people say I’m an idiot because it took me this long to get it and some people can get it right away, some people take a long time. But I got it, At least I got it, some people never get it. I grasped it. I realized I’m not in the streets, I’m not in the clubs no more, you know, I’m not sleeping with strippers or anybody like that.

4. Sleeping around with different people doesn't help build character.

Mike: I never really knew what dignity was until recently. And I realized that more so not because of myself but the response I get from people, you know, a woman won’t have to worry about talking to me and worrying about me hitting on them anymore or anything like that.

Earl: And that’s gotta be the best feeling.

Mike: Yeah, it makes me feel good, because when you sleep with so many people, all my life I thought that was adding to who I was, but it takes so much away from you.

5. Fighting is spiritual.

Mike: I think war is led by faith. I never think of physical fighting. It’s always spiritual. Fighting is spiritual.

Earl: Absolutely. Yeah. I got familiar with that concept early, just because my mom, she was always working, so she dropped me off at this martial arts dojo. And the dude instilled – we had to meditate for an hour every time, before we did anything. We would meditate. Just to connect to the spiritual side of it. And like, going inside of yourself and realizing the immense power that lies within you, just as a person.

Mike: You know young man; it’s all about spiritual awakenings. I could never stop drugs, I could never stop drinking, doing stuff, until I received my spiritual awakening. Now it’s not a problem anymore. But I’ve been doing this since the ’90s, late ’90s and I never could stop but I never understood the spiritual awakening. And once that comes into play, it’s really eye opening.

6. Friendship trumps money.

Mike: I think war is led by faith. I never think of physical fighting. It’s always spiritual. Fighting is spiritual.

7. The best teacher in the world is life.

Mike: You have to experience life. This world, That’s one big school out there. Outside is one big school. You know?

Earl: It gives you a Ph.D. in common sense.

Mike: Common sense is so very simple but very difficult to grasp.

Earl: Psh! Tell me about it. It’s crazy how many people are absent of common sense.

Mike: It’s all about the basics. If you can’t remember the small things, how are you going to remember the big things? Man- you know The mind is a real dangerous neighborhood to travel by ourselves. You think the hood is bad? Try hanging out here by yourself.

You can read the entire interview by Earl on Mike Tyson here.

[Citizens of Humanity]

Filed Under: Earl Sweatshirt, Mike Tyson

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