Eddy Baker, Born Again

When Raider Klan dissolved in the mid-2010s, former members Eddy Baker, Chris Travis, and Xavier Wulf [fka Ethul Wulf] teamed up with Bones to form SESHOLLOWATERBOYZ (TeamSESH + Hollow Squad + Water Boyz + Healthy Boyz). Healthy Boyz was always a glaringly ironic name for Eddy Baker’s sub-sect, given their leader’s heavyset frame and destructive lifestyle. Now that he’s been reborn, Eddy wants to make Healthy Boyz healthy for real.

office spoke with Eddy to get a better understanding of his newfound spirituality and what it means for his rap career.

Tell me about the moment you found God.

It started with a bad acid trip. While I was on it, I realized there were a lot of questions that I'd never asked myself. Like why am I here? What is my purpose? It’s always been "get money,” but I never really thought about these things existentially. So, I got deep into all this science shit trying to find out where we come from, and from a scientific standpoint, there is no reason why we're here. Yeah, we're here from a big bang, but if there's no afterlife, there’s no reason for life in general, and that’s be a sad fucking existence. So this made me depressed, and I’d never been depressed in my life.

When was this?

This was while I was on tour with Xavier Wulf. Every day we’re selling out shows, making thousands of dollars, I’m popping, I got a girlfriend with big tits and a fat ass, I got everything I want, but I'm fucking sad right now. I couldn’t even find any solace in my favorite gangster movies. Weed was fucking me up. I didn't even want to listen to music. So I wondered, is it because of the acid? Why am I not happy anymore? By the last two or three days of tour, I was still depressed, and saying to my friend every day, “What is this shit for? It's all worthless, pointless.” I wondered what my mother and grandmother would tell me to do. They’d probably tell me to pray.

So I prayed, and it made me feel a little better. It was like I was talking to somebody. Then I started looking up different pastors and preachers, and I was like damn these motherfuckers are good! One day T.D. Jakes was all like “I'm speaking the words of God through me.” Then I realized that everything he was saying was from the Bible, so I started studying it like crazy.

Which story from the Bible impacted you the most?

Jesus’ resurrection. It’s the only story we have where somebody dies and returns from the grave. So, it's the only hope that we have that after you die, there’s something after this. If you put your faith in that, life becomes a little easier. [Death] doesn't have to be in the back of your mind any more. Because if you lose somebody, and they have faith in Christ, you'll see them after. Then I realized that's why my grandmother had peace, my mama too.

Do you see yourself in anyone from the Bible?

Paul, the apostle, used to be one of Jesus' main prosecutors. He was killing his disciples, just the worst motherfucker ever. So Jesus blinds Paul, and then has a disciple un-blind him later on. Then Paul is like, “oh fuck, I believe,” and becomes one of Jesus’ biggest disciples.

So maybe my purpose is to get to this point, build this cult fan base with this evil-ass music, and get all the fucking bad, depressed, hopeless kids together in one place, and then hit ‘em with a new message. Like if we’re all going to die anyway and none of this shit matters, why not just take a listen to God and see what he's about? It'll change your life. 

How’s converting people going so far? 

I've saved so many kids, at least 20 by now. They were depressed, fucked up. We have fucked up fans, but I love all of them. And now they text me Bible verses. 

What was your relationship with religion like as a kid?

I was raised Christian, so I've always had God in my life, but I never really studied Christianity. I know that’s true for a lot of people. You just do whatever your parents tell you to do, then when you get to a certain age, and you’re not forced into it any more, you just kind of rush off. But once I realized what being spiritual is, what believing God and Jesus is, it just made my head clear up. I had to go through that little fucking dark place to get me to find God. 

What have your friends said about your rebirth? 

The other day I was trying to minister to my friend and he said he’ll get into God when he’s older and closer to death. And I'm like motherfucker you don't know when you're gon’ fucking die! None of us know! But most of my friends have been receiving it. I haven't been shoving it down everybody's mouth, but I've definitely been very vocal about my paradigm shift. They're open to it, too. 

There ain't nothing bad about God. Look at Ned Flanders, he's the happiest motherfucker ever. His wife dies and he still finds a way to be happy. And we relate more to Homer Simpson and all them, but why wouldn’t we want to be Ned? I've been from the lowlife perspective, the gangster, drug-dealer perspective, and it’s a lot of misery. We try to be hard through the hard times, we just kind of thug it out, but with God, he'd take a bad situation and turn into a lesson. 

Are your parents hyped on your newfound spirituality? 

Hell yeah. They were like, “[We]’ve been praying for this for hella long,” Because I've been a heathen most of my life, even from Raider Klan. That’s why I liked them, it was dark. I've always liked the darkness. But you don't realize that you lose your moral code. Like when I first found out who God was, I was scared. I was like damn, I'm a bad motherfucker, I done did some bad shit. But then I realized what God's grace is. He gon' judge you, but he loves you. 

In your opinion, what role does religion play in modern underground rap? 

There’s so much satanic shit. But if you believe in Satan, you have to believe in God, because even Satan believes in God! The SoundCloud wave is just all about depression. That’s when I started realizing I've been on the wrong wave this whole time.

Will you be dropping Christian music from now on? 

I've tried to do a Christian song, and I don't like it per se, because it's not as catchy as my regular music, but it's got the message. I've been praying about that too. Like whatever God wants me to do, I feel he'll put in me. It might not always come out in a Christian song, like I could give reverence on a trap song, you know? Some people will like it, some people will hate it, but I know what I'm living for now. 

When Mase found God, Cam'ron said it was a front. When Kanye found God, his fans called bullshit. It seems like every time a rapper is reborn, people suspect ulterior motives. What do you make of that phenomenon? 

It makes no sense! I'm just trying to save some souls! And I'm not saying I'm not into a lot of bad shit. I'm still on Instagram, I see the bad bitches on there. You commit adultery every time you look at a woman with lust, but I look at Instagram every day. It's a struggle, but a necessary struggle.

In your new Blunt Talk podcast with Chilly Sosa, you dropped a Christian-rap gem. You say, "you can't sip lean without drinking water." What did you mean by that? 

Everything must have balance. If you do too much bad, bad shit's going to happen. Everything in life is like that. You need balance or you're going to die. 

Why did you decide to start a podcast? 

I felt like I had to get something out. When I was first coming back from the acid trip, coming back into myself, then coming down depression, I knew God wanted me to do something. Like Drake says, it's God's plan. 

Speaking of Drake, do you think his "Life Is Good" video copied your "LooseScrew" video?

Heck yeah, he copied me. Shoutout to Drake for copying me, and shoutout to The Weeknd too, for copying my song “Nightrider.” Everybody's copying the whole 80s wave, that's really me and [Yung] Cortex. 

You and Bones also made one of the pioneering country-rap songs, “KeepItInTheFamily.” How did you get the idea for it? 

Bones and I were listening to some corny pop-country shit, and we were like let's make a song like this, but make it about fucking your sister. When me and Bones go into the studio, we bump a lot of old-ass music, only shit from the 60s to the 80s. Our song “CemeteryWaltz,” that's inspired by some Type O Negative shit Bones put me onto.

There are so many different sides of yourself that you've shown the public. There's gangster Eddy Baker, goofball Eddy Baker, country Eddy Baker, 80s Eddy Baker, and now born-again Christian Eddy Baker. Are you worried that people won’t take your rebirth seriously? 

If they think I'm trolling, let 'em think I'm trolling. I don't give a fuck. That's one thing that I'm keeping through all this – I still don't give a fuck. Just because I'm saved it don't mean I won't smack the fuck out of a n*gga. It don't mean you can't get smoked. And I still might have those days where I make a song and I'm turnt the fuck up. I'm human. I'm not saying I'm holier than thou, or that I'm about to turn into a pope, or that I won’t fuck a bitch again, I’m just giving reverence to something higher than me. Like now, I try to be good, and when I do sin, it's like fuck.