Evan Sewell Wallace, best known by his stage nameE-Dubble was an American rapper from Philadelphia. He was best known for his Freestyle Friday series in which he released a new song each Friday throughout 2010, with one final unofficial release in 2012. He was the founder of Black Paisley Records. He died at the age of 34 on February 13, 2017 due to an infection that spread throughout his entire body, most likely sepsis. Over the course of his career, E-Dubble released two studio albums, Hip Hop Is Good, and Two Tone Rebel ; One studio EP Reset EP ; one collaborative EP with the band 27 Lights, Surrounded By Giants ; and one mixtape Straight Outta St. Mary's.
Background
Wallace grew up outside of Philadelphia, the youngest child of a principal and a schoolteacher. His mother was a schoolteacher, and taught music. In the 1990s, Wallace and his friends fell under the spell of hip-hop cast by Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre; his music would later be known for its common celebrations of this love of hip-hop. He played center on the Wissahickon High School basketball team, but dreamed of being a rapper. In an interview with the Baltimore magazine, Wallace cited Eminem's breakout success in the late 90s as a major inspiration to him. Wallace graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland with a degree in political science. The Straight Outta St. Mary's mixtape was released on April 12, 2006 and was written by E-Dubble and Glaze who were both members of the online group Irishtoothache. E-dubble moved to Baltimore to live with his friends and collaborators. Together they formed the hip-hop band Young English, and played their first show in July 2008. The group went on to purchase a renovated warehouse, dubbed "The Hampden Mansion," where E-dubble would later go on to write, record, and produce his debut albumHip-Hop is Good, released on October 27, 2009.. The next year, in August 2010, E-dubble created his YouTube channel. He went on to produce his Freestyle Friday series, a weekly series of free songs. The first Freestyle Friday track—not true freestyle raps, but composed songs—was released on February 5, 2010 with a new song released every Friday until on January 28, 2011. He also occasionally collaborated with his band, Young English, to make the tracks. A final track, "Last Man Standing", was released in 2012. The series was noted for its effective use of samples, lyrics and E-dubble's spoken word outros, in which he communicated with listeners. The pressure writing and recording a new song every week took its toll. Reset EP was released on November 6, 2012, was well received by his fans and it focused on his recovery following the Freestyle Friday era He released his final album, "Two Tone Rebel", in 2016.
Death
Wallace died of an infection which started in his hand and spread throughout his body on February 13, 2017. Sepsis was reported as the cause of death, but this was not confirmed. Wallace claimed that his illness caused him to "throw up half of his body's blood" and for "his hands to swell up." He also said that he had to have "10 blood transfusions." He is buried in the AbingtonPresbyterian Church.
