- 4,369
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- Mar 9, 2008
frank didn't look shook at all...
*OFFICIAL* OFWGKTA
- Thread in 'Music' Thread starter Started by superpusha,
- Start date
- 4,369
- 23
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- Mar 9, 2008
frank didn't look shook at all...
- 8,259
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- Dec 18, 2008
God damn hop off, sounding like a major stan right nowOriginally Posted by maldonado
whats funny is frank never runs! lol he never dips.. he pulls up, they pull up next to him.
He STOPS...
and then waves his hands like, "come get some then"
and then homie goes ape %$!+, actin like he's getting out the whip...
and then the camera stops.
LOL
why would the camera stop?
dudes had him..
frank shook?
pleeeeease.
rewatch it.
QFT. This dude Tyler is such a lame.
- 8,259
- 573
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2008
God damn hop off, sounding like a major stan right nowOriginally Posted by maldonado
whats funny is frank never runs! lol he never dips.. he pulls up, they pull up next to him.
He STOPS...
and then waves his hands like, "come get some then"
and then homie goes ape %$!+, actin like he's getting out the whip...
and then the camera stops.
LOL
why would the camera stop?
dudes had him..
frank shook?
pleeeeease.
rewatch it.
QFT. This dude Tyler is such a lame.
- 39,189
- 54,374
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
That's why you don't talk $#^@ to people. Don't open your mouth if you aren't prepared for the repercussions.
You sound like a stan.Originally Posted by maldonado
whats funny is frank never runs! lol he never dips.. he pulls up, they pull up next to him.
He STOPS...
and then waves his hands like, "come get some then"
and then homie goes ape %$!+, actin like he's getting out the whip...
and then the camera stops.
LOL
why would the camera stop?
dudes had him..
frank shook?
pleeeeease.
rewatch it.
either way, they squashed it.
goodforthem.
- 39,189
- 54,374
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
That's why you don't talk $#^@ to people. Don't open your mouth if you aren't prepared for the repercussions.
You sound like a stan.Originally Posted by maldonado
whats funny is frank never runs! lol he never dips.. he pulls up, they pull up next to him.
He STOPS...
and then waves his hands like, "come get some then"
and then homie goes ape %$!+, actin like he's getting out the whip...
and then the camera stops.
LOL
why would the camera stop?
dudes had him..
frank shook?
pleeeeease.
rewatch it.
either way, they squashed it.
goodforthem.
- 6,485
- 6,192
- Joined
- May 15, 2008
LOL ya'll kids and your labels...
I just outlined what I saw in the video.
ya'll were saying he ran.
I didnt see it.
Imastanbutyoustilltrynadumpthesamelamesnapbackinventoryyoubeenpushinfor15monthsb!!!!
I just outlined what I saw in the video.
ya'll were saying he ran.
I didnt see it.
Imastanbutyoustilltrynadumpthesamelamesnapbackinventoryyoubeenpushinfor15monthsb!!!!
- 6,485
- 6,192
- Joined
- May 15, 2008
LOL ya'll kids and your labels...
I just outlined what I saw in the video.
ya'll were saying he ran.
I didnt see it.
Imastanbutyoustilltrynadumpthesamelamesnapbackinventoryyoubeenpushinfor15monthsb!!!!
I just outlined what I saw in the video.
ya'll were saying he ran.
I didnt see it.
Imastanbutyoustilltrynadumpthesamelamesnapbackinventoryyoubeenpushinfor15monthsb!!!!
- 39,189
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- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
Huh??
What does that even mean?
My snapback sales>>>your life.
At the end of the day, you sound way to excited to be defending some disrespectful dudes you don't know.
Hop off.
- 39,189
- 54,374
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
Huh??
What does that even mean?
My snapback sales>>>your life.
At the end of the day, you sound way to excited to be defending some disrespectful dudes you don't know.
Hop off.
- 1,281
- 149
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2011
Someone is gonna %#+* one of them OF dudes up ...
And I don't believe Chris "sent" goons ..
I think Chris homies just happened to see him and approached him ..
.
And I don't believe Chris "sent" goons ..
I think Chris homies just happened to see him and approached him ..
.
- 1,281
- 149
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2011
Someone is gonna %#+* one of them OF dudes up ...
And I don't believe Chris "sent" goons ..
I think Chris homies just happened to see him and approached him ..
.
And I don't believe Chris "sent" goons ..
I think Chris homies just happened to see him and approached him ..
.
- 39,189
- 54,374
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
This.
- 39,189
- 54,374
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
This.
- 9,865
- 1,704
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2004
I really think its Tyler that will
Hopefully not but I bet Tyler say something to the wrong person at the wrong time.
- 9,865
- 1,704
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2004
I really think its Tyler that will
Hopefully not but I bet Tyler say something to the wrong person at the wrong time.
- 4,053
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- Joined
- Jan 9, 2010
That video looks like it will be extremely wack
- 4,053
- 643
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2010
That video looks like it will be extremely wack
- 44,195
- 2,529
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2006
Let this be a well learned lesson.
- 44,195
- 2,529
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2006
Let this be a well learned lesson.
- 6,485
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- Joined
- May 15, 2008
- 6,485
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- Joined
- May 15, 2008
- 11,810
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- Joined
- Jan 10, 2010
terview: Tyler Craven Talks Earl Sweatshirt & Samoa Experience
BY ERNEST BAKER, | JUN 23, 2011
Earlier this week, we introduced you to Tyler Craven, the 17-year-old Virginia native who attended Coral Reef Academy in Samoa with Earl Sweatshirt. The previous post consisted of Facebook screenshots and other digital detective tactics similar to those Complex employed when we originally found Earl.
We got on the phone with Tyler Craven and he had a lot to say about the nine months he spent in the program, many of them with the missing Odd Future star he calls by his government name, Thebe Kgositsile. From being there with Earl as OFWGKTA was blowing up to day-to-day life at the academy, we have all the details that we need to close this chapter on the Earl Sweatshirt saga until he returns home.
Interview by Ernest Baker (@newbornrodeo).
Complex: Why were you sent to Coral Reef Academy?
Tyler Craven: It basically all added up to me not doing school and starting to get into other things, such as drugs. Smoking weed.
Complex: Was that the only drug that you did?
Tyler Craven: I’ve done some pills here and there. Some hallucinogens here and there. But mostly just herb.
Complex: Did your parents freak out?
Tyler Craven: Yeah, I went to a mental hospital, military school, and wilderness program. Thebe also went to a wilderness program before he went to Coral Reef. Pretty much every single student who went to Coral Reef went through a wilderness program before getting there.
Complex: What are wilderness programs?
Tyler Craven: Your parents send you there and you are basically sent out in the middle of the southern Utah desert. There’s one in Colorado, Oregon, Arizona. Just Midwest high desert regions. There’s also one where you hike down the Appalachian Trail. The one that Thebe went to was Second Nature. I went to one called Red Cliff Ascent. You go there and they give you a tarp, metal pot, food bag, a string, a trash bag, and a sleeping bag. Then you go out with a group of six students and two staff. You're typically there anywhere from 40 days to 100 days and you don’t shower at all during this time period. You wash your hands and feet twice a day and that’s it. Oh, and once a week you do full body, fill a warm bucket of water and you wash yourself. I was there in the middle of winter.
Complex: Their goal is to discipline you?
Tyler Craven: I guess. And to teach self control.
Complex: How long were you at Coral Reef?
Tyler Craven: I went to Coral Reef March 10th. Then I left December 9th.
Complex: What was the process behind sending you to Samoa?
Tyler Craven: It all started when I got kicked out of military school for smoking weed. Then after that I got sent straight to wilderness. From wilderness I went straight to Samoa.
Complex: Do these programs work together or is that just the way your parents set it up?
Tyler Craven: No, there's a really large network of programs working together and the therapists contact the other programs or the owners of other programs. Some of them might even know each other. They all work with each other. Everyone that gets kicked out of the military school that I went to for smoking weed, or getting caught with drugs, they all go to wilderness. Then kids from wilderness always go to another program afterwards, whether it be a halfway house, or a fu*king program in Samoa, Utah, or wherever.
Complex: Is this stuff expensive?
Tyler Craven: Samoa costs $7,000 a month, and that is one of the cheapest programs that you can send your kid to. I believe wilderness is around $14,000 a month. Wilderness was probably the best-run place that I went to. Like, best structured. As odd as that sounds.
Complex: Why did you get sent to military school?
Tyler Craven: I set off a smoke bomb in the bathroom in middle school when I was in 8th grade. That started it. Military school was about a year and a half after that. The year after the smoke bomb, I was on probation, and while on probation I caught some more charges for grand larceny. I robbed a house. Back then I was 14 or 15. Then I was in jail for a total of six months. I went there multiple times for months at a time. After that I was under house arrest for a while. I went to a youth shelter, which was also part of the court system. After I was done with the government sh*t I was still getting in arguments with my mom and smoking weed. I went to the first quarter of my freshman year in public school, but I wasn’t doing any of my schoolwork. Most of my problems revolved around school. If I had good grades and did a little bit of drugs on the side, my parents wouldn’t care. But I just wasn’t doing anything at all in school. Straight Fs. Then I went to an alternative school because I was getting such bad grades. Right after that, I got sent to military school over the summer. Straight from summer military school I went into the school year and I got kicked out about halfway through.
Complex: What was it like arriving to Samoa?
Tyler Craven: Being on the plane and going over there, I was honestly kind of happy. I was happy to be traveling to a beautiful tropical island. I was excited to be visiting a new place, but I had no idea what was coming next.
Complex: When did the reality of what was coming next hit you?
Tyler Craven: I got tired of that place four months after being there. I was being good because I decided when I got there that I was going to be fake and that I was going to get out as fast as possible. There’s two ways to get out of that place. You’re either fake or you’re wild as sh*t. There’s no in-between. You can’t just be dull and keep your mouth shut, which is my main game when I go to a program.
Complex: They want to see you improve.
Tyler Craven: You know how your mom is? The therapists are basically like two female moms there trying to teach you sh*t. You almost have to be a gay dude. Like an emotional guy who understands things and you have to talk to them and understand where they’re coming from. In groups you have to agree with them. But then all your people who used to be your friends don’t like you anymore because you’re fake. You just look stupid to the other students, but you look good to the therapists. You can’t really have the therapists and the students like you. That’s the way it is.
Complex: Do guys who stick to their guns and still don’t give a fu*k tend to get the most respect from other students? Or do people recognize that you have to be fake and it’s acceptable?
Tyler Craven: People there completely recognize that. These are all kids who have been through programs so they understand that. But there are the ones who are fake and they’re also somehow putting down the other students. That’s when you’re hated. That’s also what the therapists really love and starting coming everywhere and going crazy over you.
Complex: Is it comfortable, at least? What's the housing and food like?
Tyler Craven: Housing is reasonable. They make you clean your own house and sh*t, of course. Samoa is like the most obese country in the world so you have to imagine just having carbs on top of carbs. That’s really all they give you. The food's horrible. The therapists are morbidly obese. At least 400 or 450 pounds each.
Complex: Are they two guys?
Tyler Craven: No, it's two American females. These women would bring back their groceries and they would be stacked full of junk food. We would see them and about 90% of kids are there for addiction. Whether it be gambling, sex, drugs, whatever. These women were addicted to food. It’s hypocrisy.
Complex: If you got there in March, when did Thebe show up?
Tyler Craven: I honestly don’t remember. He was there for much more than half the time that I was there. I’m thinking like a month or two over half the time that I was there. He probably got there around June or July.
Complex: How did any friendship or relationship with him start?
Tyler Craven: Me and Thebe got close because we were able to share jokes very differently than he could share jokes with the rest of the students. I understood his sense of humor very well, and he understood mine. We just had the same sense of humor. We actually talked about making some videos, like some Mad TV-type sh*t, on YouTube together when we got back. I don’t know if he’ll have time for that when he gets back now. [Laughs.]
Complex: When did you figure out that he’s a famous rapper?
Tyler Craven: He didn’t refer to himself as famous. None of the students know how big he actually is right now. At the same time, we all knew that Tyler got in XXL magazine and Complex and all that.
Complex: How did you guys know that? Did you have Internet?
Tyler Craven: Yeah, we do online school while there.
Complex: Your browsing isn’t monitored?
Tyler Craven: Bypassing the firewall in a third world country is very simple. No one on the island knows computers better than any average American teenager. They just don’t have access to computers like we do.
Complex: How does the timeline of your friendship with Thebe go? From meeting him and you guys sharing a similar sense of humor to him revealing what he was doing back home, as well as you guys looking online and seeing his name.
Tyler Craven: We all knew that he was a musician. The message of how popular he was became clearer and clearer during school. The staff would leave every now and then and if you were sitting next to Thebe he would pull something up and tell you to look at it. He’d have a picture of Tyler or something on the computer in some kind of magazine or an article. He’d pull up a picture of his album cover, Mellowhype or something, and we’d be like, “Oh, damn. That album cover is fu*king tight.
BY ERNEST BAKER, | JUN 23, 2011
Earlier this week, we introduced you to Tyler Craven, the 17-year-old Virginia native who attended Coral Reef Academy in Samoa with Earl Sweatshirt. The previous post consisted of Facebook screenshots and other digital detective tactics similar to those Complex employed when we originally found Earl.
We got on the phone with Tyler Craven and he had a lot to say about the nine months he spent in the program, many of them with the missing Odd Future star he calls by his government name, Thebe Kgositsile. From being there with Earl as OFWGKTA was blowing up to day-to-day life at the academy, we have all the details that we need to close this chapter on the Earl Sweatshirt saga until he returns home.
Interview by Ernest Baker (@newbornrodeo).
Complex: Why were you sent to Coral Reef Academy?
Tyler Craven: It basically all added up to me not doing school and starting to get into other things, such as drugs. Smoking weed.
Complex: Was that the only drug that you did?
Tyler Craven: I’ve done some pills here and there. Some hallucinogens here and there. But mostly just herb.
Complex: Did your parents freak out?
Tyler Craven: Yeah, I went to a mental hospital, military school, and wilderness program. Thebe also went to a wilderness program before he went to Coral Reef. Pretty much every single student who went to Coral Reef went through a wilderness program before getting there.
Complex: What are wilderness programs?
Tyler Craven: Your parents send you there and you are basically sent out in the middle of the southern Utah desert. There’s one in Colorado, Oregon, Arizona. Just Midwest high desert regions. There’s also one where you hike down the Appalachian Trail. The one that Thebe went to was Second Nature. I went to one called Red Cliff Ascent. You go there and they give you a tarp, metal pot, food bag, a string, a trash bag, and a sleeping bag. Then you go out with a group of six students and two staff. You're typically there anywhere from 40 days to 100 days and you don’t shower at all during this time period. You wash your hands and feet twice a day and that’s it. Oh, and once a week you do full body, fill a warm bucket of water and you wash yourself. I was there in the middle of winter.
Complex: Their goal is to discipline you?
Tyler Craven: I guess. And to teach self control.
Complex: How long were you at Coral Reef?
Tyler Craven: I went to Coral Reef March 10th. Then I left December 9th.
Complex: What was the process behind sending you to Samoa?
Tyler Craven: It all started when I got kicked out of military school for smoking weed. Then after that I got sent straight to wilderness. From wilderness I went straight to Samoa.
Complex: Do these programs work together or is that just the way your parents set it up?
Tyler Craven: No, there's a really large network of programs working together and the therapists contact the other programs or the owners of other programs. Some of them might even know each other. They all work with each other. Everyone that gets kicked out of the military school that I went to for smoking weed, or getting caught with drugs, they all go to wilderness. Then kids from wilderness always go to another program afterwards, whether it be a halfway house, or a fu*king program in Samoa, Utah, or wherever.
Complex: Is this stuff expensive?
Tyler Craven: Samoa costs $7,000 a month, and that is one of the cheapest programs that you can send your kid to. I believe wilderness is around $14,000 a month. Wilderness was probably the best-run place that I went to. Like, best structured. As odd as that sounds.
Complex: Why did you get sent to military school?
Tyler Craven: I set off a smoke bomb in the bathroom in middle school when I was in 8th grade. That started it. Military school was about a year and a half after that. The year after the smoke bomb, I was on probation, and while on probation I caught some more charges for grand larceny. I robbed a house. Back then I was 14 or 15. Then I was in jail for a total of six months. I went there multiple times for months at a time. After that I was under house arrest for a while. I went to a youth shelter, which was also part of the court system. After I was done with the government sh*t I was still getting in arguments with my mom and smoking weed. I went to the first quarter of my freshman year in public school, but I wasn’t doing any of my schoolwork. Most of my problems revolved around school. If I had good grades and did a little bit of drugs on the side, my parents wouldn’t care. But I just wasn’t doing anything at all in school. Straight Fs. Then I went to an alternative school because I was getting such bad grades. Right after that, I got sent to military school over the summer. Straight from summer military school I went into the school year and I got kicked out about halfway through.
Complex: What was it like arriving to Samoa?
Tyler Craven: Being on the plane and going over there, I was honestly kind of happy. I was happy to be traveling to a beautiful tropical island. I was excited to be visiting a new place, but I had no idea what was coming next.
Complex: When did the reality of what was coming next hit you?
Tyler Craven: I got tired of that place four months after being there. I was being good because I decided when I got there that I was going to be fake and that I was going to get out as fast as possible. There’s two ways to get out of that place. You’re either fake or you’re wild as sh*t. There’s no in-between. You can’t just be dull and keep your mouth shut, which is my main game when I go to a program.
Complex: They want to see you improve.
Tyler Craven: You know how your mom is? The therapists are basically like two female moms there trying to teach you sh*t. You almost have to be a gay dude. Like an emotional guy who understands things and you have to talk to them and understand where they’re coming from. In groups you have to agree with them. But then all your people who used to be your friends don’t like you anymore because you’re fake. You just look stupid to the other students, but you look good to the therapists. You can’t really have the therapists and the students like you. That’s the way it is.
Complex: Do guys who stick to their guns and still don’t give a fu*k tend to get the most respect from other students? Or do people recognize that you have to be fake and it’s acceptable?
Tyler Craven: People there completely recognize that. These are all kids who have been through programs so they understand that. But there are the ones who are fake and they’re also somehow putting down the other students. That’s when you’re hated. That’s also what the therapists really love and starting coming everywhere and going crazy over you.
Complex: Is it comfortable, at least? What's the housing and food like?
Tyler Craven: Housing is reasonable. They make you clean your own house and sh*t, of course. Samoa is like the most obese country in the world so you have to imagine just having carbs on top of carbs. That’s really all they give you. The food's horrible. The therapists are morbidly obese. At least 400 or 450 pounds each.
Complex: Are they two guys?
Tyler Craven: No, it's two American females. These women would bring back their groceries and they would be stacked full of junk food. We would see them and about 90% of kids are there for addiction. Whether it be gambling, sex, drugs, whatever. These women were addicted to food. It’s hypocrisy.
Complex: If you got there in March, when did Thebe show up?
Tyler Craven: I honestly don’t remember. He was there for much more than half the time that I was there. I’m thinking like a month or two over half the time that I was there. He probably got there around June or July.
Complex: How did any friendship or relationship with him start?
Tyler Craven: Me and Thebe got close because we were able to share jokes very differently than he could share jokes with the rest of the students. I understood his sense of humor very well, and he understood mine. We just had the same sense of humor. We actually talked about making some videos, like some Mad TV-type sh*t, on YouTube together when we got back. I don’t know if he’ll have time for that when he gets back now. [Laughs.]
Complex: When did you figure out that he’s a famous rapper?
Tyler Craven: He didn’t refer to himself as famous. None of the students know how big he actually is right now. At the same time, we all knew that Tyler got in XXL magazine and Complex and all that.
Complex: How did you guys know that? Did you have Internet?
Tyler Craven: Yeah, we do online school while there.
Complex: Your browsing isn’t monitored?
Tyler Craven: Bypassing the firewall in a third world country is very simple. No one on the island knows computers better than any average American teenager. They just don’t have access to computers like we do.
Complex: How does the timeline of your friendship with Thebe go? From meeting him and you guys sharing a similar sense of humor to him revealing what he was doing back home, as well as you guys looking online and seeing his name.
Tyler Craven: We all knew that he was a musician. The message of how popular he was became clearer and clearer during school. The staff would leave every now and then and if you were sitting next to Thebe he would pull something up and tell you to look at it. He’d have a picture of Tyler or something on the computer in some kind of magazine or an article. He’d pull up a picture of his album cover, Mellowhype or something, and we’d be like, “Oh, damn. That album cover is fu*king tight.
- 11,810
- 645
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2010
terview: Tyler Craven Talks Earl Sweatshirt & Samoa Experience
BY ERNEST BAKER, | JUN 23, 2011
Earlier this week, we introduced you to Tyler Craven, the 17-year-old Virginia native who attended Coral Reef Academy in Samoa with Earl Sweatshirt. The previous post consisted of Facebook screenshots and other digital detective tactics similar to those Complex employed when we originally found Earl.
We got on the phone with Tyler Craven and he had a lot to say about the nine months he spent in the program, many of them with the missing Odd Future star he calls by his government name, Thebe Kgositsile. From being there with Earl as OFWGKTA was blowing up to day-to-day life at the academy, we have all the details that we need to close this chapter on the Earl Sweatshirt saga until he returns home.
Interview by Ernest Baker (@newbornrodeo).
Complex: Why were you sent to Coral Reef Academy?
Tyler Craven: It basically all added up to me not doing school and starting to get into other things, such as drugs. Smoking weed.
Complex: Was that the only drug that you did?
Tyler Craven: I’ve done some pills here and there. Some hallucinogens here and there. But mostly just herb.
Complex: Did your parents freak out?
Tyler Craven: Yeah, I went to a mental hospital, military school, and wilderness program. Thebe also went to a wilderness program before he went to Coral Reef. Pretty much every single student who went to Coral Reef went through a wilderness program before getting there.
Complex: What are wilderness programs?
Tyler Craven: Your parents send you there and you are basically sent out in the middle of the southern Utah desert. There’s one in Colorado, Oregon, Arizona. Just Midwest high desert regions. There’s also one where you hike down the Appalachian Trail. The one that Thebe went to was Second Nature. I went to one called Red Cliff Ascent. You go there and they give you a tarp, metal pot, food bag, a string, a trash bag, and a sleeping bag. Then you go out with a group of six students and two staff. You're typically there anywhere from 40 days to 100 days and you don’t shower at all during this time period. You wash your hands and feet twice a day and that’s it. Oh, and once a week you do full body, fill a warm bucket of water and you wash yourself. I was there in the middle of winter.
Complex: Their goal is to discipline you?
Tyler Craven: I guess. And to teach self control.
Complex: How long were you at Coral Reef?
Tyler Craven: I went to Coral Reef March 10th. Then I left December 9th.
Complex: What was the process behind sending you to Samoa?
Tyler Craven: It all started when I got kicked out of military school for smoking weed. Then after that I got sent straight to wilderness. From wilderness I went straight to Samoa.
Complex: Do these programs work together or is that just the way your parents set it up?
Tyler Craven: No, there's a really large network of programs working together and the therapists contact the other programs or the owners of other programs. Some of them might even know each other. They all work with each other. Everyone that gets kicked out of the military school that I went to for smoking weed, or getting caught with drugs, they all go to wilderness. Then kids from wilderness always go to another program afterwards, whether it be a halfway house, or a fu*king program in Samoa, Utah, or wherever.
Complex: Is this stuff expensive?
Tyler Craven: Samoa costs $7,000 a month, and that is one of the cheapest programs that you can send your kid to. I believe wilderness is around $14,000 a month. Wilderness was probably the best-run place that I went to. Like, best structured. As odd as that sounds.
Complex: Why did you get sent to military school?
Tyler Craven: I set off a smoke bomb in the bathroom in middle school when I was in 8th grade. That started it. Military school was about a year and a half after that. The year after the smoke bomb, I was on probation, and while on probation I caught some more charges for grand larceny. I robbed a house. Back then I was 14 or 15. Then I was in jail for a total of six months. I went there multiple times for months at a time. After that I was under house arrest for a while. I went to a youth shelter, which was also part of the court system. After I was done with the government sh*t I was still getting in arguments with my mom and smoking weed. I went to the first quarter of my freshman year in public school, but I wasn’t doing any of my schoolwork. Most of my problems revolved around school. If I had good grades and did a little bit of drugs on the side, my parents wouldn’t care. But I just wasn’t doing anything at all in school. Straight Fs. Then I went to an alternative school because I was getting such bad grades. Right after that, I got sent to military school over the summer. Straight from summer military school I went into the school year and I got kicked out about halfway through.
Complex: What was it like arriving to Samoa?
Tyler Craven: Being on the plane and going over there, I was honestly kind of happy. I was happy to be traveling to a beautiful tropical island. I was excited to be visiting a new place, but I had no idea what was coming next.
Complex: When did the reality of what was coming next hit you?
Tyler Craven: I got tired of that place four months after being there. I was being good because I decided when I got there that I was going to be fake and that I was going to get out as fast as possible. There’s two ways to get out of that place. You’re either fake or you’re wild as sh*t. There’s no in-between. You can’t just be dull and keep your mouth shut, which is my main game when I go to a program.
Complex: They want to see you improve.
Tyler Craven: You know how your mom is? The therapists are basically like two female moms there trying to teach you sh*t. You almost have to be a gay dude. Like an emotional guy who understands things and you have to talk to them and understand where they’re coming from. In groups you have to agree with them. But then all your people who used to be your friends don’t like you anymore because you’re fake. You just look stupid to the other students, but you look good to the therapists. You can’t really have the therapists and the students like you. That’s the way it is.
Complex: Do guys who stick to their guns and still don’t give a fu*k tend to get the most respect from other students? Or do people recognize that you have to be fake and it’s acceptable?
Tyler Craven: People there completely recognize that. These are all kids who have been through programs so they understand that. But there are the ones who are fake and they’re also somehow putting down the other students. That’s when you’re hated. That’s also what the therapists really love and starting coming everywhere and going crazy over you.
Complex: Is it comfortable, at least? What's the housing and food like?
Tyler Craven: Housing is reasonable. They make you clean your own house and sh*t, of course. Samoa is like the most obese country in the world so you have to imagine just having carbs on top of carbs. That’s really all they give you. The food's horrible. The therapists are morbidly obese. At least 400 or 450 pounds each.
Complex: Are they two guys?
Tyler Craven: No, it's two American females. These women would bring back their groceries and they would be stacked full of junk food. We would see them and about 90% of kids are there for addiction. Whether it be gambling, sex, drugs, whatever. These women were addicted to food. It’s hypocrisy.
Complex: If you got there in March, when did Thebe show up?
Tyler Craven: I honestly don’t remember. He was there for much more than half the time that I was there. I’m thinking like a month or two over half the time that I was there. He probably got there around June or July.
Complex: How did any friendship or relationship with him start?
Tyler Craven: Me and Thebe got close because we were able to share jokes very differently than he could share jokes with the rest of the students. I understood his sense of humor very well, and he understood mine. We just had the same sense of humor. We actually talked about making some videos, like some Mad TV-type sh*t, on YouTube together when we got back. I don’t know if he’ll have time for that when he gets back now. [Laughs.]
Complex: When did you figure out that he’s a famous rapper?
Tyler Craven: He didn’t refer to himself as famous. None of the students know how big he actually is right now. At the same time, we all knew that Tyler got in XXL magazine and Complex and all that.
Complex: How did you guys know that? Did you have Internet?
Tyler Craven: Yeah, we do online school while there.
Complex: Your browsing isn’t monitored?
Tyler Craven: Bypassing the firewall in a third world country is very simple. No one on the island knows computers better than any average American teenager. They just don’t have access to computers like we do.
Complex: How does the timeline of your friendship with Thebe go? From meeting him and you guys sharing a similar sense of humor to him revealing what he was doing back home, as well as you guys looking online and seeing his name.
Tyler Craven: We all knew that he was a musician. The message of how popular he was became clearer and clearer during school. The staff would leave every now and then and if you were sitting next to Thebe he would pull something up and tell you to look at it. He’d have a picture of Tyler or something on the computer in some kind of magazine or an article. He’d pull up a picture of his album cover, Mellowhype or something, and we’d be like, “Oh, damn. That album cover is fu*king tight.
BY ERNEST BAKER, | JUN 23, 2011
Earlier this week, we introduced you to Tyler Craven, the 17-year-old Virginia native who attended Coral Reef Academy in Samoa with Earl Sweatshirt. The previous post consisted of Facebook screenshots and other digital detective tactics similar to those Complex employed when we originally found Earl.
We got on the phone with Tyler Craven and he had a lot to say about the nine months he spent in the program, many of them with the missing Odd Future star he calls by his government name, Thebe Kgositsile. From being there with Earl as OFWGKTA was blowing up to day-to-day life at the academy, we have all the details that we need to close this chapter on the Earl Sweatshirt saga until he returns home.
Interview by Ernest Baker (@newbornrodeo).
Complex: Why were you sent to Coral Reef Academy?
Tyler Craven: It basically all added up to me not doing school and starting to get into other things, such as drugs. Smoking weed.
Complex: Was that the only drug that you did?
Tyler Craven: I’ve done some pills here and there. Some hallucinogens here and there. But mostly just herb.
Complex: Did your parents freak out?
Tyler Craven: Yeah, I went to a mental hospital, military school, and wilderness program. Thebe also went to a wilderness program before he went to Coral Reef. Pretty much every single student who went to Coral Reef went through a wilderness program before getting there.
Complex: What are wilderness programs?
Tyler Craven: Your parents send you there and you are basically sent out in the middle of the southern Utah desert. There’s one in Colorado, Oregon, Arizona. Just Midwest high desert regions. There’s also one where you hike down the Appalachian Trail. The one that Thebe went to was Second Nature. I went to one called Red Cliff Ascent. You go there and they give you a tarp, metal pot, food bag, a string, a trash bag, and a sleeping bag. Then you go out with a group of six students and two staff. You're typically there anywhere from 40 days to 100 days and you don’t shower at all during this time period. You wash your hands and feet twice a day and that’s it. Oh, and once a week you do full body, fill a warm bucket of water and you wash yourself. I was there in the middle of winter.
Complex: Their goal is to discipline you?
Tyler Craven: I guess. And to teach self control.
Complex: How long were you at Coral Reef?
Tyler Craven: I went to Coral Reef March 10th. Then I left December 9th.
Complex: What was the process behind sending you to Samoa?
Tyler Craven: It all started when I got kicked out of military school for smoking weed. Then after that I got sent straight to wilderness. From wilderness I went straight to Samoa.
Complex: Do these programs work together or is that just the way your parents set it up?
Tyler Craven: No, there's a really large network of programs working together and the therapists contact the other programs or the owners of other programs. Some of them might even know each other. They all work with each other. Everyone that gets kicked out of the military school that I went to for smoking weed, or getting caught with drugs, they all go to wilderness. Then kids from wilderness always go to another program afterwards, whether it be a halfway house, or a fu*king program in Samoa, Utah, or wherever.
Complex: Is this stuff expensive?
Tyler Craven: Samoa costs $7,000 a month, and that is one of the cheapest programs that you can send your kid to. I believe wilderness is around $14,000 a month. Wilderness was probably the best-run place that I went to. Like, best structured. As odd as that sounds.
Complex: Why did you get sent to military school?
Tyler Craven: I set off a smoke bomb in the bathroom in middle school when I was in 8th grade. That started it. Military school was about a year and a half after that. The year after the smoke bomb, I was on probation, and while on probation I caught some more charges for grand larceny. I robbed a house. Back then I was 14 or 15. Then I was in jail for a total of six months. I went there multiple times for months at a time. After that I was under house arrest for a while. I went to a youth shelter, which was also part of the court system. After I was done with the government sh*t I was still getting in arguments with my mom and smoking weed. I went to the first quarter of my freshman year in public school, but I wasn’t doing any of my schoolwork. Most of my problems revolved around school. If I had good grades and did a little bit of drugs on the side, my parents wouldn’t care. But I just wasn’t doing anything at all in school. Straight Fs. Then I went to an alternative school because I was getting such bad grades. Right after that, I got sent to military school over the summer. Straight from summer military school I went into the school year and I got kicked out about halfway through.
Complex: What was it like arriving to Samoa?
Tyler Craven: Being on the plane and going over there, I was honestly kind of happy. I was happy to be traveling to a beautiful tropical island. I was excited to be visiting a new place, but I had no idea what was coming next.
Complex: When did the reality of what was coming next hit you?
Tyler Craven: I got tired of that place four months after being there. I was being good because I decided when I got there that I was going to be fake and that I was going to get out as fast as possible. There’s two ways to get out of that place. You’re either fake or you’re wild as sh*t. There’s no in-between. You can’t just be dull and keep your mouth shut, which is my main game when I go to a program.
Complex: They want to see you improve.
Tyler Craven: You know how your mom is? The therapists are basically like two female moms there trying to teach you sh*t. You almost have to be a gay dude. Like an emotional guy who understands things and you have to talk to them and understand where they’re coming from. In groups you have to agree with them. But then all your people who used to be your friends don’t like you anymore because you’re fake. You just look stupid to the other students, but you look good to the therapists. You can’t really have the therapists and the students like you. That’s the way it is.
Complex: Do guys who stick to their guns and still don’t give a fu*k tend to get the most respect from other students? Or do people recognize that you have to be fake and it’s acceptable?
Tyler Craven: People there completely recognize that. These are all kids who have been through programs so they understand that. But there are the ones who are fake and they’re also somehow putting down the other students. That’s when you’re hated. That’s also what the therapists really love and starting coming everywhere and going crazy over you.
Complex: Is it comfortable, at least? What's the housing and food like?
Tyler Craven: Housing is reasonable. They make you clean your own house and sh*t, of course. Samoa is like the most obese country in the world so you have to imagine just having carbs on top of carbs. That’s really all they give you. The food's horrible. The therapists are morbidly obese. At least 400 or 450 pounds each.
Complex: Are they two guys?
Tyler Craven: No, it's two American females. These women would bring back their groceries and they would be stacked full of junk food. We would see them and about 90% of kids are there for addiction. Whether it be gambling, sex, drugs, whatever. These women were addicted to food. It’s hypocrisy.
Complex: If you got there in March, when did Thebe show up?
Tyler Craven: I honestly don’t remember. He was there for much more than half the time that I was there. I’m thinking like a month or two over half the time that I was there. He probably got there around June or July.
Complex: How did any friendship or relationship with him start?
Tyler Craven: Me and Thebe got close because we were able to share jokes very differently than he could share jokes with the rest of the students. I understood his sense of humor very well, and he understood mine. We just had the same sense of humor. We actually talked about making some videos, like some Mad TV-type sh*t, on YouTube together when we got back. I don’t know if he’ll have time for that when he gets back now. [Laughs.]
Complex: When did you figure out that he’s a famous rapper?
Tyler Craven: He didn’t refer to himself as famous. None of the students know how big he actually is right now. At the same time, we all knew that Tyler got in XXL magazine and Complex and all that.
Complex: How did you guys know that? Did you have Internet?
Tyler Craven: Yeah, we do online school while there.
Complex: Your browsing isn’t monitored?
Tyler Craven: Bypassing the firewall in a third world country is very simple. No one on the island knows computers better than any average American teenager. They just don’t have access to computers like we do.
Complex: How does the timeline of your friendship with Thebe go? From meeting him and you guys sharing a similar sense of humor to him revealing what he was doing back home, as well as you guys looking online and seeing his name.
Tyler Craven: We all knew that he was a musician. The message of how popular he was became clearer and clearer during school. The staff would leave every now and then and if you were sitting next to Thebe he would pull something up and tell you to look at it. He’d have a picture of Tyler or something on the computer in some kind of magazine or an article. He’d pull up a picture of his album cover, Mellowhype or something, and we’d be like, “Oh, damn. That album cover is fu*king tight.
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