Sir E.U inspects the microphone at Studio Ga Ga. Photographs by Maxwell Young
"Avionadramida - Looks Are Deceiving, You can be the reason that you don't even get to see the world" by Sir E.U pays homage to Avionadramida, the late, great member of the Kool Klux Klan--a trio of DMV hip-hop emcees and producers (Avionadramida, Sir. E.U & rMell) who made a name for themselves traversing a fluctuating underground community in the early 2010s. Both the Kool Klux Klan and Avionadramida are enigmatic figures when thinking about the context of music culture in the DIstrict. Sir E.U has served as the historical link to the members, especially for those, like myself, who would have a later introduction to the city's creative scene. Yet it is evident through the lasting visuals and local lore how much talent the group had and how fond music heads were of Avionadramida.
"A.V and E.U were like Goku and Vegeta, the Red and Blue Dragons, fucking Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, man, back-to-back," said Nate G, another DMV legend in his own right during his Uptown Interview last November. "When you talk about two phenoms who really fed off one another and really pushed each other creatively and in competition--formed a brotherhood--they were fucking lit."
You may have already heard the DMV native's latest track. He's played it live a number of times, in particular at his 25-hour rap marathon--a world record by the way--and he's adapted the partial lyrics, "I'm in U-P-T with a new PT, we cruise, we don't fucking play around" into a catchy hook for house sets at Studio Ga Ga and Backbar.
If music is Sir E.U's product then wordsmithing is his manufacturing process. It's interesting how he delivers his good, it's about control. Instead of using social media to gauge the reception of a song snippet by likes and retweets, Sir E.U goes through a phase of beta tests trying out lyrics with different rhythms or performing a track live to see how the crowd engages with it before it's consumed by the internet.
"You just go crazy if motherfuckers hear the shit and try to tell you what to do and make that shit better, like shit ain't intentional," he said on an episode of Late Bloom Radio. "And that's what everybody goes through as a person, you know. 'Cut your hair. Ain't nothing wrong with you just shape your shit up.' I want to control who's telling me to get a shape up."
This is one of the reasons why the DMV rapper released his latest album, Some Friend You Are via compact discs. Sir E.U's music went from a public good available on SoundCloud for free, limitless streaming to a private good, which not only created a real market demand for his product but it also deterred the casual listeners who felt like they had a valuable critique on his craft.
The three-minute track is produced by Tony Kill who also created the visuals for the DVD version of Some Friend You Are. Listen above and get to know more about the DMV's hip-hop scene here.