A Conversation with Eddie Sheku

Q: What are plans after graduation?

A: During the summer, I plan on getting into music a little bit. And then come fall, I hope to start my adventures at NoVa. I have applied for a degree in social sciences, its it going to be my associates degree. Hopefully, I complete the requirements in the 2 year plan and hopefully if I pick up on the grades, I can get guaranteed admissions into JMU. That’s my dream school.

Q: What music are you going to be doing?

A: Me and my friend, Sam Sikora, we have been working together as of late on different projects here and there. We not on a Jay Z level or Iggy level yet. But he has a vision, and I messed with the vision. I am digging his vision. The kids in this area, they are rocking with us. They mess with the vision too. And the kids love it. I think that’s something I can take with me anywhere I go. The kids reciprocate to a positive message. That’s what we are doing; we are putting positivity in music.

Q: What do you mean by ‘vision’?

A: Like the new sound that we are trying to put out into the waves. That kid, Sam Sikora, he’s well-renowned. He made that one movie Ram Pride and I really respect him as a filmmaker and a producer. His vision, what he wants to do with music and the arts, it’s so big. It’s awesome that he’s letting me be apart of it. It’s wild!

Q: Is the vision in the world of rap?

A: Yes, and hip hop. But we are not just hip hop, but just like good music. I am a rapper. That’s my ‘je ne sais quoi’. My rap style is more of empowering. Empowering human beings to do good. Hip hop does come from a place of struggle. There are negative aspects to hip hop, but what a lot rappers do is they try to make a positive spin on their struggle. Or they try to take that struggle and build up it up so that when you listen to it, you feel connected to that struggle. You feel that since that person has been through what you have been through, you are not alone and that you can make it. So with my rap,  I try to empower people by taking different experiences and putting them on a song. Because everybody has a story to tell. I’m just trying to tell mine. And if you messing with it, if you’re vibing with it, then you’re gonna feel good listening to the music. You’re gonna feel like you can do anything.

Q: Is that why you like rap?

A: Yes, because it’s so freeing. The space of creativity is endless. There is so much you can do just from music. And if you add a video to it, if you add a visual, like with Sam, like with our first music video. I didn’t think it was going to blow up like it blew up. I’m not saying we are on a Kanye level yet, but we are still racking up views. And that all adds up somewhere at the end of the day.

Q: Considering you are graduating soon, what do you want Robinson to remember you by?

A: I want Robinson to remember as somebody who is by on your side, regardless of what people said, heard, or thought. I want to be remembered as somebody who stressed education above all other things, because that is something people can’t take away from you in this life. People can hate on you, call you this that and the third, but if you are book smart, you are going to be needed somewhere. A lot of kids don’t think that’s cool. But that’s the realest rap you ever heard… I also want people to remember me as a guy who had Ram Pride. That’s what made me. I wouldn’t be who I am without Ram Pride.

Then, the Valor Dictus asked Eddie Sheku to freestyle rap for us.

Editor’s Note: This conversation was condensed for the purposes of this story.