This is a story about how 10 years ago on February 8, 2012 - we put together a campaign to "Troll the Trollers" i.e. the Odd Future fanbase and website, with the first public appearance of Thebe Neruda Kgositsile aka "Earl Sweatshirt", after his return from Samoa. This NPR Mic Check article with his manager, Leila Steinberg, tells the story:
KELLEY: I remember the boards on February 8th, 2012.
STEINBERG: The OF --
KELLEY: Yeah. So what happened was he put a teaser video. And he said, I'll give you the whole song if I get to 50k followers and the Internet just loses their minds. First of all, whose idea was that because it was — it was just so adept.
STEINBERG: Well, there's a — I have such a large collective of young people that I mentor in my Mic Sessions. And I actually met a young man named Asher Underwood who runs Truth About Tupac, the website. And what I realize is when we lose people, we have to think about how to maintain their legacy and especially someone like Tupac. And so there are all these kids who are devoting their life to his legacy. And I like Asher because he was committed to the truth about Tupac. And he had a real great sense of technology in a way that I will never and don't care to. But he didn't try to appease me and he — in his seeking truth, it wasn't a one-dimensional truth. So out of everybody that I've seen that wants to grow the legacy — even in how he approached me, he asked me questions I didn't like, things that were uncomfortable. And so I began to reel him in and pull him in just because I think that we have to let — it's youth culture so we have to give them their voice and get out of the way.
So when I was going to get Earl, I would — I started talking to Asher just about, you know — it's scary when you've been away and you have to jump in and deal with technology. And I wanted to give Earl the opportunity to think about how he wanted to grow his career, but to let his fans and he have ownership. And so I asked Asher and he's the one that did that and came up with the plan for Earl to get everybody to follow him.
- NPR: Leila Steinberg: 'With Earl, It's A Journey' (you can listen to the full audio version below).
STEINBERG: Well, there's a — I have such a large collective of young people that I mentor in my Mic Sessions. And I actually met a young man named Asher Underwood who runs Truth About Tupac, the website. And what I realize is when we lose people, we have to think about how to maintain their legacy and especially someone like Tupac. And so there are all these kids who are devoting their life to his legacy. And I like Asher because he was committed to the truth about Tupac. And he had a real great sense of technology in a way that I will never and don't care to. But he didn't try to appease me and he — in his seeking truth, it wasn't a one-dimensional truth. So out of everybody that I've seen that wants to grow the legacy — even in how he approached me, he asked me questions I didn't like, things that were uncomfortable. And so I began to reel him in and pull him in just because I think that we have to let — it's youth culture so we have to give them their voice and get out of the way.
So when I was going to get Earl, I would — I started talking to Asher just about, you know — it's scary when you've been away and you have to jump in and deal with technology. And I wanted to give Earl the opportunity to think about how he wanted to grow his career, but to let his fans and he have ownership. And so I asked Asher and he's the one that did that and came up with the plan for Earl to get everybody to follow him.