Photography by Nyara Williams
Eddie Cox
Between the election and the pandemic, 2020 was a difficult year for most Americans. But for rapper Eddie Cox, better known as Sir Eddie C, it was a time of career breakthroughs—including the release of a new EP, Soap, an innovative live performance and a mental health awareness campaign that came close to breaking St. Louis Twitter. More importantly, he achieved this success with a concept everyone needs more of right now: togetherness.
Now Cox is pairing up with The Village, a local organization that offers mental health support to Black men, to launch an online service that matches Black St. Louisans in need of counseling with qualified professionals. The Village's Program to Access Healing and Therapy, or PATH, makes its official debut this month. To celebrate, the group is hosting a virtual event, “The Diaspora Speaks,” at 7 p.m. on December 3. Hosted by poet Bobby Williams, the event features readings from local writers, an online auction and a live performance from Cox.
After graduating college with a degree in political science, Cox—a Belleville native—moved to St. Louis. The rare rapper who got his start as a champion high school debater, he wanted to build a team of collaborators from the city’s growing hip-hop scene. “People like groups,” he says. “They like being part of something more than the individual.” So he convinced some of his favorite local artists—including fellow rapper Zado and singer Teacup Dragun—to form the music collective, noWhere.
While the group’s 2019 EP yelloW earned them a sizable following, Cox didn’t become a household name in St. Louis until earlier this year. In March, he dropped a powerful, urgent single, “Lil Black Boy,” that critiques the idea of Black History Month while referencing celebrated icons like James Brown and James Baldwin. Throughout the spring, the track became a kind of anthem for the diverse, politically engaged art community on Cherokee Street.
Cox, a fan of Late Registration–era Kanye West, believes that the rollout of a single is almost as important as the track itself. To that end, he usually designs limited-edition merchandise to accompany his releases. But with the coronavirus reaching St. Louis just as “Lil Black Boy” dropped, he thought, I’ll feel pretty nasty selling T-shirts in the middle of a pandemic. So he and his close confidant, Cami Thomas, decided to create a socially conscious promotional campaign—one that spoke to the moment.
Given the themes of the track, they knew that they wanted to mark the end of Black History Month. And with Mental Health Awareness Month a few weeks away, they developed a plan to raise funds through social media for Black St. Louisans to access therapy. The pair set a modest goal of $1,000—enough to provide five sessions to five residents. Then they reached out to Darren Jackson, cofounder of All Black Creatives and an expert on community outreach, to help execute the idea.
Jackson connected the pair with Jermar Perry of The Village. Perry was enthusiastic about the concept and set up a Go Fund Me page for what became known as “The Lil Black Boy” Campaign. The team launched the initiative in May, and less than 24 hours after going live, it exceeded its goal. “I thought Go Fund Me was breaking,” Cox laughs.
Then on May 25, George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. Over the next month, the “Lil Black Boy” Campaign went viral on Twitter, eventually raising close to $16,000. According to Cox, the therapists he spoke with told him, “This is something that can be sustainable for a long time.” But after garnering so much money, the team needed to build an entire infrastructure to administer the program.
While Perry worked on that initiative, Cox started looking for an equally compelling way to roll out his latest EP, Soap, a collection of blissed-out, pop-savvy tracks released in September. A longtime sneaker collector, he found the perfect inspiration when streetwear brand Profield Reserve opened its store on Cherokee Street this summer. “When I walked in the first time,” he jokes, “I literally knew that I was going to do what would become the Profield Sessions.”
Cox and the store’s owners—Chris Loss, Rachel Polly, and Ramon Gibbs—spent months building a multimedia, pandemic-friendly live show, complete with a limited-edition clothing line designed by the rapper. Then on October 30, they held the first Profield Session for a small crowd of influential St. Louis artists and musicians. During the brief, intimate set, Cox performed all of Soap, as well as “God Body,” the debut track from his upcoming album with jazz musician Mad Keys.
But the live show was just one part of a larger, more unique experience. The performance was recorded by Thomas, the filmmaker behind the documentary series Smoke City, and released on social media the next day for fans to watch. And that afternoon, Cox appeared at Profield Reserve to meet supporters and to sign pieces from his clothing line—an assortment of concert-inspired hats, T-shirts and hoodies featuring the rapper’s signature yellow on rich creams.
An aspiring politician at heart, Cox insists that his collaborations benefit the other parties as much as himself. He made a few more in-store appearances, and in less than a month, the entire collection was sold out. “It’s definitely a thing now where people in the city see me, and they know that I make music because they are Profield shoppers,” he laughs.
And now Cox is ending the year with the campaign that began it. “Anything is possible,” he says. “As long as you have the right ideas and are trying to help people out, the universe will reward you.”
