“We’ve held it down, got our ass beat a lot—thrown out of places—just to make it this far and I’m very grateful,” announced Sir E.U, condensing the plight of a young Black male into the consequential conundrum of feeling unwelcome yet uncompromisingly perseverant, fighting for one’s voice. The latter being the very reason why Sir E.U became the first-ever performer to take the stage of Boiler Room’s inaugural UK Festival in the fall of 2019.
The name Sir E.U rings louder than many folk heroes amid the District of Columbia’s creative community because, A) the vocalist is a tenured veteran, nearly a decade into his craft, and B) because he knows no bounds, evolving from street cyphers and membership in hip hop dectet Kool Klux Klan to punk rager and simultaneous house-electronic maestro. A rapper, yes, musician qualifies, too, but his work and persona extend beyond the limits of a stanza or the run-time of a track. Quite frankly, his ravenous thought manifests in a multitude of media, whether that’s his prolific and satirical tweets, this professorial op-ed he published with InTheRough last year, or even one of my all-time favorite illustrations: a permeable PAC-MAN unable to gobble an overwhelming number of ghosts, seemingly a metaphor for an artist wrangling with trauma and the advancement of his career.
Drawing by Sir E.U, Untitled, 2018
“I need somebody to syce me 4 getting to some semblance of being on the path I want to be on, without kissing ass or coattail riding. I want my mommy, too!”
Boiler Room is arguably the pinnacle outlet hosting live events for underground DJs and performance artists worldwide, and over the last calendar year, the London-based platform featured additional artists from the DMV (D.C., Maryland and Virginia), including the ear-piercing JPEGMAFIA’s album release of All My Heroes Are Cornballs and FUBU aficionado WIFIGAWD’s New York City function. Both shows were undoubted highlights for the music scene just beneath the Mason-Dixon line, but if I’m keeping it 100, Sir E.U’s appearance coalesced the experimentation and DIY energy that has been prevalent within the region for generations and more specifically throughout the 2010s.
It was as if Sir E.U hopped on a plane from Reagan National Airport to cross the pond directly after performing at the legendary Velvet Lounge, landing with just enough time to catch his international set. That’s how he looked through the YouTube stream of the Festival, with his trademark blue plaid shirt-jacket drooping from his shoulders. Only those who have loyally engaged with the Hippodramidan can visualize this uniform, but it was grounding, where he was abroad in another cultural Mecca he remained familiar, representing a cohort of creatives still vastly overlooked.
Bringing along an eclectic trio of comrades and D.C.-based artists comprised of lyricist NAPPYNAPPA, bassist Rick Irby and percussionist Rob Stokes, Sir E.U informed the crowd of Union Jacks about the genre-bending concoctions that are abundant in America’s capital city. Performance one of night one—opening the jazz billing of Boiler Room’s program—the 27-year old buttressed records that listeners in D.C. have heard live time-and-time-again with backup vocals, two-piece band accompaniment, and sound collage. This was no longer ‘Do-It-Yourself Sir E.U,’ rather ‘I’ve Got a Budget Sir E.U.’
To include frequent collaborators in a career-advancing experience demonstrated Sir E.U’s awareness of the moment as well as his reciprocity. Also performing with Irby in the Stokes-led band October ‘71, Sir E.U’s sharing of intercontinental exposure offered another perspective on his music output. What’s more, over two years ago in Atlanta, Ga., NAPPYNAPPA played the headlining role as a featured guest on Adult Swim’s live stream talk show BLOODFEAST. He, too, passed the torch, traveling to the low country with Sir E.U and an envoy of friends. Boiler Room Festival was more than just returning the favor between these two brothers. During the performance, it was evident how they feed off each other artistically, with NAPPYNAPPA ripping a freestyle to Sir E.U’s song “Technical Kill” from the Tony Kill produced African American Psycho project. Just a few months prior, NAPPA released LP AUTONOMOUS in which “NU Crown NU Wangs” sampled E.U’s renowned “Nikeboy.”
The whole 40-minute affair was truly one for the history books as it bridged a sonic gap in more ways than one, connecting internationally distant yet similarly edgy music communities, while also unifying the conversation regarding the collective sounds of D.C., Maryland, and Virginia that have for too long garnered isolated recognition. It also laid the foundation for Sir E.U’s latest album Midnight Train to Velvet, a 2020 release that embodies the meandering course of his sonic journey. Listen to that project here.