Earl Sweatshirt interviews Mike Tyson for Humanity magazine, a biannual catalog for the Citizens of Humanity denim brand’s cover article. We know Mike’s been promoting his new animated series pretty heavy but what happened when the two came together??? Well to start, it was interesting immediately because Tyson had no idea who the Odd Future rapper is! The results were pretty special…
Humanity scored the Mike Tyson interview with the intention of wanting to show a different side of “Iron Mike” from all the “different” sides we’ve seen in countless interviews so far. We’ve seen a lot of the legendary boxer since Mike’s been promoting his new Scooby Doo-meets-Black Dynamite animated series “Mike Tyson Mysteries.” A major part of the beginning of the interview was spent on Mike trying to figure out who the hell was interviewing him,
Mike Tyson: What’s the name of your music?
Earl Sweatshirt: The group that I was in was called Odd Future . . . mid-2011, I got sent away. And we blew up. Like at that moment, it was like hand in hand. I got sent away, and—
Tyson: Tell me what you mean by “blow up”. . . . You got signed? They played your music?
…it was still a pretty dope meeting of the minds. Both stayed honest and as things opened up they found common ground, discussing what its like for a young man at 20, managers as “glamorized babysitters” and breaking the law. Mike really vibed with him, harping on what success means to him now and breaking down science on personal things like “I don’t want my daughter to date someone like me.” And even though he threw some hard jabs (fitting) he also ended up schooling young Earl on a few things too. The result of the Earl Sweatshirt interviews Mike Tyson situation include some new brilliantly awkward and insightful reveals, not to mention Mike’s obsession with of all things, “The Notebook”???
Tyson: It’s going to be over soon. Somebody’s going to die, or somebody’s going to get sick, someone might leave. It’s not going to last forever . . . This is the reality of life. I watched that movie The Notebook. You ever watched that?
Sweatshirt: I haven’t watched it.
Tyson: Ah, young man, I don’t even know if you understand that stage of life yet. Very interesting thing about that movie, very interesting, it’s one of the movies that makes me really vulnerable, because you work so hard for something and you don’t want to let it go.
When you read the full on interview you can immediately sense the tension of the difference in age and experience. For someone like Tyson being a notorious though now beloved character and someone like Earl coming out of the infamous Odd Future camp, it seemed like it could have been a force for the explosive pair of unfamiliar energies. But it actually turned out to be a beautiful thing. And as for depth, it showed another layer to the experience of struggle and success for black men, young and mature. Rated priceless mos def.
