Sometimes I come across a recording artist and songwriter who seems to be running in parallel to a previous life I lived. When these rare moments happen, its safe to say the music resonates 99.9% of the time. That’s definitely the case with Eddie Canyon and his vinyl-only release, Id10t.

I have a copy of the vinyl…and fortunately for us, my daughter received a record player for Christmas. She also received a stack of vinyls from the 1980s, but that’s for another article.

First off, mad kudos and respect to Eddie Canyon for doing something different. Not only pushing a vinyl-only release in a digital world, but for all the hard work it takes herding cats in a local music scene to collaborate on a project…and actually finish it in a timely manner.

Eddie was dope enough to give us a streaming link for the album…but it’s only good for 3 days (from the publication date on this article), so hurry before it’s too late!

In this interview spotlight, I chat with Mr. Canyon about his vinyl project, dream collabs, earliest memories, and more.

Full Q&A along with links, music, and videos below.

Let’s give readers some context for our discussion today. Who is Eddie Canyon? And how does Northwest Arkansas shape your latest record?

Sometimes I feel like I ended up in the wrong iteration of the Multiverse. Sometimes that feels like it was divinely guided. I grew up in small town Arkansas – so many of the things in which I was interested were not things that one would find in small town Arkansas! Looking back, many of the things I was into – skateboarding, music, movies (especially ones that I found out later were along the Hero’s Journey archetype), etc. – with most of my interests, I was exposed to them via media. I wasn’t into rural stuff or typical southern kid stuff as much. I always wanted to live a city life. I would envy places that had a city they could rep on a New Era hat. All we had was the Razorbacks and man, they suck at football! I hope one day they get a title tho, just for all the poor guys that have kept up with them over the years. My dad’s a huge fan – I love my Dad.

Being from Arkansas, we’re like surrounded by all these places but we aren’t a place – we aren’t on the map, ya know? Musically, we have all these super influential neighboring hot spots: Memphis, St. Louis, Texas, Louisiana. As a Hip-Hop fan, who is from Arkansas? What music, other than Bluegrass and maybe some country or folk, has even come from here? So imagine playing Rhythm Roulette (9th Wonder) but all you could pull from was music that originated in Arkansas. Crazy! So of course, it’s going to be some folky type stuff but mixed with all the Southern influences – Three 6 Mafia, UGK,  Outkast, Nelly, Lil Wayne. That’s what I was going for sonically. Id10t is done in collaboration with a lot of dope people from this area, so my challenge was to weave trap and folk and boombap and make it worthy enough for the dope artists to want to hop on it. Dirty South Folk – that’s the genre I’m calling it now. 

I respect the collaborative aspect of this project. How would you describe the Arkansas, specifically Northwest Arkansas, sound? Were you able to include everyone you had hoped to on the album?

That’s kinda the funny thing – I don’t think the area has a distinct sound yet. You’ve got underground producers doing crazy stuff (flipping samples, insane loops, making 1000s of beats), people doing radio “Rap Caviar” type stuff, but not one cohesive “oh, that’s it!” the way you would with the coasts, or Atlanta, Houston, Memphis etc. That’s one of the inspirations behind id10t – like what if I could carve the area’s distinctive sound? I think you know you really onto something when other people try to emulate it. Or I heard something about branding one time: you know you got a solid brand if someone can easily make a caricature out of it. I’m trying to make something timeless, authentic, undeniable. I got a lot of dope people, but there’s definitely a handful that weren’t able to get on this one. Hoping to collab with them in the future tho!

What is your earliest music memory? Or a moment you reflect on often?

So I grew up in the Church of Christ. For those who don’t know, they as a Christian denomination don’t use any instruments in worship. So it’s all these four-part harmonies, very melodic type songs. Beautiful, really. I grew up and my Dad was always singing around the house. But he would also play some 8 tracks (ayo!) or cassettes of either random singing groups or Lobo or the Carpenters. Later in life I distinctly remember my mom going through this Enya phase. She also rocked with Manheim Steamroller’s Christmas stuff. 

What keeps you motivated and pushing forward, especially on days when you’re just not feeling it?

Man sometimes I don’t even feel like I’m always moving forward tbh. Sometimes it feels like it’s one step forward, fall down, forget what walking is, then come to and dry to dust myself off. I call it “blipping out.” Lately I’ve been trying to get on to-do lists. I’ve heard a lot of stuff about professional art being way more about discipline and process than about inspiration. It kinda sucks the life out of it sometimes, but then there’s these moments where you see all this progress and have so much to look back on, so much to show for the work – in those moments it’s all worth it.

If you could collaborate with anyone – dead or alive, famous or unknown – who would it be and why?

Dude I’d love to work with MBDTF-era Kanye, just to see his process – to see how he orchestrated all of that. It would also be cool to just be in the studio with him to see how he’d use me, no Diddy. Like as an instrument – I get the sense that he can tell what people are good at, and is really good at letting them shine at the thing they excel at. It would be dope to see what he’d want to do with my ideas, how he’d bring them to life. Also would love to work with Tyler, The Creator but I have a feeling he would think my chord progressions are too simple. Elliot Smith would be dope to write songs with. And King David from the Bible – his discography has stood the test of time!

I know it’s hard…but favorite song (or artist) of all time? Or Top 3 if you can’t choose one…?

Voodoo Chile by Jimi, Exhibit C by Jay Electronica, The Greatest Commands (especially when my family sings it together!)

Where’s the best place to connect with You?

In terms of head, heart, gut I think I’m a head guy, no Diddy. I suck at texting. I always get distracted on IG! I seem to respond super fast on Teams tho, which is kinda sad when you think about it.
But yeah probably IG: https://www.instagram.com/eddie.canyon

I appreciate Your time. Any last thoughts before signing off? 

I think A.I. is going to be a paradigm shift for humanity. I could talk about it for hours. I actually do a lot of coding / A.I. stuff at my day job. My main questions: is A.I. the Image of the Beast from Revelation? Or is it the Second Coming of Christ? I can give you a pretty robust theory on either one! We gotta break out of the Matrix, man! FYI I typed all of this on a WASD code keyboard with Cherry MX Clear switches – aka, I DID NOT TYPE THIS WITH CHATGPT!