We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elijah “e-kaine” Eubanks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Elijah “E-Kaine” thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Currently I’m working on my first album! The whole theme of the album is mental health issues and the darkness of life. I came up with this concept because I struggle with a lot of different aspects of mental health, I suffer from depression, anxiety, and I was diagnosed with bipolar depression. Alongside that I also suffered from addiction. For about eight years, I was addicted to heroin. In 2022 I found out I was going to be a father and made the decision right then and there that I was going to be sober. Getting sober was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I went through a lot of downs and I’ve hit a lot of low points in my life but, that first year after I quit doing drugs, I hit the lowest point I’ve been in. After a long while, I learned how to cope with life. My therapist that I was seeing helped me through a lot of that and taught me a lot. He taught me that there’s more to life than getting high. You just have to get out there and live it. When I started making music after I came out with a few singles and an EP, I had the idea of putting my struggles with mental health and addiction Into lyrics. Encapsulating those feelings and immortalizing them. Nothing is being held back in this album. It is going to be the realist collection that I’ve put out so far in my career. I know there’s a lot of people in the world that suffer from mental health issues and addiction as well aside from me and my hope is that this album will be able to touch those people and speak to them in such a way to let them know that they are not alone. My goal is for this album to help people, maybe even push some people that are in active addiction to go and get sober themselves! To me, that would be the greatest accomplishment for my career that I could hope for. Going through those kinds of struggles alone is not easy, with my album, people will be able to listen to it whenever they’re feeling down or hopeless and know that I’m right there with them. I also have a single off the album coming out November 8th! It’s called “Fake Smile”, it’s available to pre-save now! https://ffm.to/4zg8djr.OPR
Elijah “E-Kaine”, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I started writing lyrics when I was about 10 years old. I’ve always been a huge music lover. When my brother showed me Tech N9ne, that is when things really started to make sense to me, and I knew that was the route I wanted to take in my life. I started listening to Tech N9ne nonstop, I learned all the lyrics to his songs and the songs where he is rapping extremely fast, I listened to those impact and practiced until I was right there with him right along to his songs. At the age of 12 I started to really start writing lyrics and putting actual songs together. My mom bought me my first laptop and microphone at the age of 15, from there I spent hours and hours learning how to use GarageBand and eventually I was recording and putting songs out onto SoundCloud. They didn’t sound the greatest but it was a start! At the age of 17 I started Heading down the wrong path and I quit writing and I quit recording for a long time. I found out in 2022 that I was going to be a father which kicked me into gear, I got sober and I enrolled in the Los Angeles film schools program for music production. They sent me all of the equipment that I needed to start recording my music again. That same year, I put out a few songs on the SoundCloud and started distributing them across all of the streaming platforms. At first, I didn’t see any kind of results. One EP and a few other singles later, I started gaining more and more attention from people regarding my music. That was the most gratifying feeling ever! Currently, my music is available for streaming on all streaming platforms, It’s available for purchase on iTunes, I also have merch available for people that want to represent my Music, Right now it’s available on my website! (www.e-kaine.org). Working with some pretty big artists is by far my most favorite Accomplishment that I have attained so far! The thing that sets me apart from other artists and people in the music and entertainment industry is that when I create my music, I don’t just go pick a beat right lyrics and start recording. My process is much more in-depth, I will listen to nonstop until I hear one that really resonates with my soul and then I will take my lyrics and form them to the structure of the song the beat in my lyrics go hand-in-hand so if I have something and when I’m recording or practicing over the beat if I hear a lyric that doesn’t hit a kick or a snare the way that I want to I will rework my lyrics until it does. The dedication is what sets me apart, Others before me as Tech N9ne and Eminem are both the same way from what I gather. I make sure that my music is seamless in both lyrics and instrumental quality when you listen to my music if you really listen in depth, you will hear that. It’s like both the lyrics and beat were all made together at the same time with how perfect they come together. Currently, I am working on my first album that is going to be about the darkness of life, It’s going to include aspects of addiction, Mental health, And Issues that most people face or have faced in their lifetime. I’m super excited for this to be done and to get the reaction from people when they hear it for the first time! To people who don’t know who I am, When you go and listen to my music, keep in mind I write about things that are happening in my life or have happened in my life. You have to really listen to the lyrics of my songs to get the depth of what I’m speaking about. I am a dark person overall, and it shows in most of my music. I don’t have a whole lot of up-tempo songs out there at the moment. They’re all kind of melancholy and have that dark tone to it. The best way to get to know me and to see what I represent is to listen, I put %100 of me into my music.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
When I first started making music my only goal and mission was to get famous and make a lot of money! I saw all these rappers with nice cars, big houses and jewelry; They were able to afford whatever they wanted whenever they wanted! Now, Since I became a father of two and gained full custody of both of my kids in October 2023, My mission and goal is to be financially stable to give my kids the life that they deserve. Would it still be nice to have all the money in the world and get whatever I want? Absolutely! I think everybody wants to be financially stable. Truthfully though, My only goal now is to give my kids the life that I never had.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When I first started creating music again, it was me and the mother of my kids. She was super supportive, Even helped me push my music out to her friends to get them to listen. Then, when things in our relationship went south, she completely flipped the script. All at once I started to get nothing but hate from everyone! Not just about my music but as myself as a person. On my TikTok at the time I had almost 15 thousand followers and people who genuinely were loving my music and content I was putting out. My baby momma deleted that account causing me to have to start over from scratch! That wasn’t the only social media account that she sabotaged either! I really had to start everything over from the beginning! Through all of that, I didn’t let it discourage me. I looked at it as an opportunity to do what I was doing better than before! While I may not have as many followers as before; the content and quality of what I put out there is more authentic than it was. Everything that happens in life is either a good story or theres a lesson to be learned. This particular story was both. It’s a story about perseverance and being able to overcome obstacles and make the most out of a bad situation. The lesson I learned was that no matter what happens in your life, live it to the fullest and pursue your dreams. Don’t ever let anyone bring you down and tell you that you can’t do something! Don’t let other’s opinions get to you in a negative light. Stay strong and focus on the goals you set for yourself and success will find you in time!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.e-kaine.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/e_kaine36/profilecard/?igsh=MW05NHFqN28xZjk3dA==
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092486183757&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Twitter: https://x.com/ekaine36?s=21
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@e-kaine?si=Cs6Tkjm5LaCo3jKb
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/J7UGaqpfFj4mf9md7
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4JFKDXd7I6QIQJxtffqMoB?si=7wbZthUVQiqF0Th_K9Ut0A
Image Credits
Abstract Eclipse Photography