Seattle’s Eddy P is a hip hop artist with more than a message. With a prolific song catalog already, his five-song EP. With plans to release a full album in Fall 2020 independently, Eddy P has the makings of being the voice of a generation. A master storyteller and wordsmith, Eddy P spins wild beats with impressive piano and percussion arrangements.
Eddy P makes an immediate impact with the first track “I Luv My Block”. My favorite lines come early in the track: a little treasure for your pleasure, they can’t teach you in school, if you don’t have a Watson, how you supposed to follow the clues. Just below the mix is a spattering of drums, bluesy electric guitar riffs and bright piano keys.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Musician-Band/Eddy-P-390787944355751/
The second track, “Letters” is quite the gripping story and walk down memory lane. He utilizes a piano bed again, with a thunder of drums in the foreground that sounds like a million marching band drumlines. While the chorus, I’m going through these letters the backing track sounds like a carousel of beats and synth.
“Natty Gurl” is the third track and surpassed any preconceived notions. I have to be honest, this isn’t my favorite song on the EP, but it really surprised me. Eddy P is searching for a woman, who is not into plastic surgery. He raps looking for real ones, you know they hard to find, give me a regular chick working nine-to-five. I had to laugh, though, when he referred to these non-real women as “Franken-breast”.
Track four, “Snowglobe” had textures and depth in the words that could be interpreted a few different ways. He opens the song with a church organ – sounding angelic and of a higher power. My take on it is that when he raps reality woke me up and said come with me Eddy P, you in the snowglobe, and the context of prison and law enforcement, he’s saying that you always have to be ready to be shook, like a snowglobe, and that don’t expect to be seen from the inside, people will always treat you like an outsider. They are always on the outside looking in instead of seeing it from your perspective.
BANDCAMP: https://eddyp.bandcamp.com/
In the final track, “They Need Me” a piano yet again stands out. As does the repeated they need me. In an almost frantic list of everyone that needs him – from kinfolk, to producers, to the hip hop community to his fans, Eddy P reveals that he lost his cousin in Oakland. As the song continues, and after hearing the EP in its entirety, as a listener I felt I really finally understood Eddy P as an artist and as a man. He has pressures on him (like anyone else) to succeed, but he’s also made promises to himself to get back up after falling and keep trying. He’s driven, and going to show everyone that he won’t give up on himself and they shouldn’t give up on him. Powerful stuff. I was definitely in Eddy P’s corner from the first track until the last.
Troy Johnston