“Physics on Paper” by Eons D: Refreshing Confessions in Hip Hop, Free for CAPC Members

Eons D is an accomplished producer/engineer, having worked with the likes of KB, Eshon Burgundy, Deraj, Christon Gray, and more while dabbling in smaller solo releases and downplaying his interest in becoming a full-fledged front man.  “Physics on Paper”, his debut EP as a solo emcee, reveals the calculations that went into Eons D’s choice to push ahead with solo work. The result validates his decision, and you can hear for yourself since he has graciously made “Physics on Paper” freely available to members of Christ and Pop Culture.

Eons D is certainly capable of mimicking current beat fads or pitching a throwback style, but he reaches for a more timeless approach in his production choices. The EP rewards listeners with an ear for detail and an appetite for nuanced production. Much of its sound builds upon a soulful, acoustic band framework (set, horns, sax, guitar, piano) that pivots with samples and more digital flares for different songs. Solid hooks abound, and his flow is fine-tuned to the nooks and crannies of each beat.

To ignore Eons D’s lyricism would be ignorance, as he calls out in “Nothing Is Something.” He packs each track with extended metaphors and ultra-nice wordplay without ever dropping the through line for the album: to justify pursuing a rap career, Eons D believes he must strive for excellence while maintaining humility. “Somebody Like Me” takes us back to the youth of Eons D, a time when he was stuck imitating others rather than embracing the qualities that made him unique. “Is It the Shoes” is a worthy addition to the basketball-cum-Cinderella genre, functioning as a meditation on both imposer-syndrome and the letdown following momentary fame.

While the heart of the EP might come from an introverted place, the lyrics point outward as well. It’s easy for Christian rappers to score points by poking at lame attitudes and frankly, stereotypes, in mainstream hip hop; it’s a feat to be clever and thought-provoking while not simply preaching to the choir. In “Nothing Is Something”, a steady stream of inversions moves beyond the standard chiding of misogyny in rap to challenge both the genre and its conservative tsk-tskers.

These men in drag, they be try’na speak for women

Effeminate, but won’t let a feminist give a speech

Every rapper with two chains be like, “I’m different.”

But if there was change then we would see the difference

There’s too much to unpack here, but it’s a brilliant stanza. Eons D marks as hollow the trend toward more sexually ambiguous and emotionally vulnerable content coming from the likes of Young Thug and Drake. He subverts common beef between rappers questioning each other’s manhood, flipping it into a critique of the would-be girly rapper who doesn’t actually give any more shine to women than their proudly meatheaded counterparts. Feminism isn’t the only topic outside the safe zone of the Christian market Eons D touches. “I ain’t got all the answers ready,” he raps in “I Got It”, “Like when a man loves another man enough to make plans to marry in my sanctuary.”

The rapper’s source of unlikely confidence is revealed throughout: Christ. His delivery lurches like a preacher over a backing organ, rhythm section, and chorus singing “You are all I need!” in “On Paper”, and he credits Jesus for both his salvation and his creativity in “I Got It”. Maybe that’s not a surprise for those coming to this music, but hip hop is a medium that allows room for more refreshing confessions along these lines that you just don’t hear in a lot of Christian music. Praise songs frequently make clear that the singer is bad or weak and that God is good and strong, but artists like Eons D offer a fuller picture: human characters are also complicated, flawed, and fallen in deep, non-binary ways. In ways that aren’t always their fault, even.

Thank God that He has plenty of redemption for those squirrely sort of sinners, too, and good music for their needy ears.