Earl Sweatshirt Returns “Home,” Releases New Song

After months of questions, speculation, and anticipation, it seems that Odd Future's Earl Sweatshirt may be back "home"—what exactly that means, though, is still up in the air.

Earl, whose real name is Thebe Kgositsile, is the buzzed about OF rapper who has been living in YouTube lore thanks to his video "Earl," which now has 10 million views. The man himself, though, was nowhere to be found during his crew's meteoric ascent to rap and mainstream stardom over the last year. Rumors about his absence —which the group's leader, Tyler, The Creator, as well as other members, often blamed on his alleged stay at a boarding school in Samoa— were never substantiated.

Earlier today (February 8), Tyler tweeted, "Oh. Thebe Has....I Mean Earl Has A Twitter. @earlxsweat." The tweet came nearly a day after the rapper had last posted about his close friend, when he wrote, "Thats The Cover. And Sweatshirt Will Not Be On The Tape. Not Trolling Either," in relation to the upcoming Odd Future Tape Vol. 2 project, due out February 20.

Earl has posted a number of tweets on his alleged @earlxsweat account. First, late this afternoon, he wrote, "home." He followed that up three hours later with, "nigga need followers. give me 50,000 and i'll release this shit for everybody." Shortly after that, he posted a link to the video [Watch below].

Once he hit the 50k mark, he posted the song, which you can listen to here.

On February 3, the website for youth group Alternative Intervention Models stirred up some talk about the young rhymeslinger when it reported that Earl would soon be returning home. "Yes indeed, the allegedly lost and arguably most gifted young lyrical prodigy (known for over 10 million YouTube views before age 18), is on his way back home to Los Angeles where he will finish high school before launching the next phase of his widely anticipated rap career—under the wizened guidance of Leila Steinberg, artistic mentor who famously first guided music and screen icon, Tupac Shakur," the post read. "Contrary to rumor, Earl hasn't been 'missing'.

"Remotely for the past year, Earl has been busy sharpening and collaborating in virtually the same way as other AIM rappers, singers, poets, actors, athletes and dancers who have benefited from Leila's over 25 year legacy of weekly writing workshops held at California spots like PFYC in Santa Monica, LBCC in Long Beach and House of Armour in South Central LA." the post continued. "It was only natural that Earl invited Leila to bring other heART Education artists to have a series of free live AIM workshops in Samoa too."

Stay tuned to XXLMag.com as the story develops. —Adam Fleischer