E-Dubble

E-Dubble
Background information
Birth name	Evan Sewell Wallace
Born	(1982-11-01)November 1, 1982 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died	February 13, 2017(2017-02-13) (aged 34)
Genres	Hip hop
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter, rapper
Years active	1998–2017
Website	blackpaisleyrecords.com

Evan Sewell Wallace, best known by his stage name E-Dubble (often stylized e-dubble, or shortened to e-dub) (November 1, 1982 – February 13, 2017) was an American rapper from Philadelphia. He was best known for his Freestyle Friday series in which he released a new song each Friday throughout 2010, with one final unofficial release in 2012. He was the founder of Black Paisley Records.^[1] He died at the age of 34 on February 13, 2017 due to an infection that spread throughout his entire body, most likely sepsis.^[2]

Over the course of his career, E-Dubble released five studio albums; Straight Outta St. Mary's (2005), Hip Hop Is Good (2009), Reset EP (2012), Surrounded By Giants EP (2014) and Two Tone Rebel (2016).

Early life

Wallace grew up outside of Philadelphia, the youngest child of a principal and a schoolteacher. His mother was a schoolteacher, and taught music. In the 1990s, Wallace and his friends fell under the spell of hip-hop cast by Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre; his music would later be known for its common celebrations of this love of hip-hop. He played center on the Wissahickon High basketball team, but dreamed of being a rapper. In an interview with the Baltimore magazine, Wallace cited Eminem's breakout success in the late 90s as a major inspiration to him, saying "Eminem showed that a white rapper could have a career. It was about skills, whether or not you could do it."^[3]

Background

After graduating from St. Mary's College of Maryland with a degree in political science, E-dubble moved to Baltimore to live with his friends and collaborators. Together they formed the hip-hop band Young English, and played their first show in July 2008. The group went on to purchase a renovated warehouse, dubbed "The Hampden Mansion," where E-dubble would later go on to write, record, and produce his debut album Hip-Hop is Good. He went on to produce his Freestyle Friday series, a weekly series of free songs.^[4]

Career

In 2009, E-dubble released his debut album, "Hip Hop is Good". The next year, in August 2010, E-dubble created his YouTube channel.^[5] He quickly began releasing songs on every Friday creating the series "Freestyle Fridays", in which he sampled other songs (such as Tighten Up and MMMBop) and rapped over the instrumentals. Despite the name, these songs were not actual freestyles. He also occasionally collaborated with his band, Young English, to make the tracks. The series ran throughout 2010 and the beginning of 2011 spanning 53 entries, and a final track (The 54th) was released in 2012 titled "Last Man Standing". The series was noted for its effective use of samples, lyrics and E-dubble's spoken word outros, in which he communicated with fans.^[6] He followed this up in 2012 with his next album, "Reset EP". He released his final album in 2016 with "Two Tone Rebel". Some of his most popular songs include "Be a King", "Let Me Oh" and "What it Do".

Death

Wallace died of an infection which started in his hand and spread throughout his body on February 13, 2017.^[7]The name of the infection is not yet known, but as he directly quotes, caused him to 'throw up half of his body's blood' and for 'his hands to swell up.' He also said that he had to have '10 blood transfusions.'^[8]

Black Paisley Records has released Two Tone Rebel 2, a posthumous compilation of finished tracks that Wallace was not able to release.^[1]

References