Errol Eats Everything on Public Enemy, Entrepreneurship and Art Without Compromise

June 4, 2025

This is sponsored content, brought to you by Errol Eats Everything.

Errol Eats Everything is focused on his message, his music and his integrity. The Canadian emcee is relishing his creative freedom and using it to craft a musical voice unlike any other. His blistering self-titled debut is forged in the ethos of KRS-One, dead prez and Public Enemy. With lyrics steeped in the ideologies of golden age hip-hop, Errol is focused on fighting the power. His background is an amalgamation of Toronto, NYC and Jamaica – and his vision refuses constraints. He’s doing this his way — and that’s in a way that speaks to the concerns of 2025 without giving way to the industry’s contemporary indulgence.

Errol Eats Everything: Why kick off Errol Eats Everything with an intro called “Inauguration?”

Okayplayer: I felt as though it was an important message. The sentiment of the record is really me standing on the shoulders of master teachers. I am echoing a sentiment that has been there, in my way. I felt like “Inauguration” was a good setup for the information that was coming. It really sets up the substance — and makes you tune in. That was more so Furious Evans doing than mine. He kinda did the [DJ Premier] thing, where he listened to the whole project and said ‘this is what it needs.’ We know that Paul Mooney was controversial in regards to his pro-Black approach and we felt like it was exactly what was needed to open it up.

A chubby baby with a gold grill and chain holds a fork.

Album cover for ‘Errol Eats Everything.’

Why was it important to put sociopolitical themes front and center?

I call it the …Nation of Millions… for 2025. I feel like it’s [what’s] missing. Everybody is too busy selling themselves. Something pops and everybody emulates what pops. It always bothered me. If you go back historically in hip-hop, typically a label just emulates what’s successful. And then carbon copies of those particular things that are successful just keep on coming out.

If you look at P.E., for instance, or X-Clan, nothing came out after that. [The industry] kind of abandoned that because I feel like the message is not what they wanted to perpetuate. [It] didn’t sell like ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll.’ I just felt like that was what was needed. That’s what was in my soul. When I went down the path of knowledge of self and whatnot, you have a responsibility to adhere to what you’ve learned. And I felt like it was my responsibility to perpetuate what they need. People don’t know what they need; you have to give them what they need and when they discover it they’re like ‘oh!’

It was important to me on a personal level. It was personal to me on a hip-hop level. And it was important to me on an originality level.

And the sound is really stripped and soulful.

The sound is really orchestrated by Furious Evans. He did the whole soundscape for everything. We talk about it all the time: it’s kind of following the James Brown mantra of ‘the groove, baby.’ Because I feel like songs are overproduced and everybody wants to show how great their breakdowns are. We’re really groove-oriented. I think that there is a futuristic, throwback element to it. So if you’re a real head, you’ll catch various aspects of what you came up on. And there’s also an element where it will be nostalgic for an old head, somewhat, but an element that catches the new generation. Just [being] well-rounded; I didn’t put much thought into the sound, I just poured my soul into it and that’s what came out.

It was more about the message for me. I make music that appeals to me – what I wanted to hear. Everybody says, ‘What’s your solution?’ That was my solution. I said ‘OK, fine, I’m gonna make what I wanna hear.’ That was my approach.

Errol Eats Everything wears a Northface hoodie and holds a hand up to hide his face.

Photo by Sean Getti.

What brought about your creative freedom?

I’m in a space where, in the truest sense of the word, I’m an entrepreneur. I have a few successful businesses. When I was just an artist, I felt like my livelihood took away from my art. And I think a lot of artists go through that.

One day, I just realized that I was in the position I’d always wanted to be in; [where] I don’t have things holding me back in the middle of the day. I can just pour my love into my art. And so I feel like I’m not compromised in any way. There is no agenda to my music beyond what you’re hearing. I don’t have to say ‘I’m trying to get on with a label.’ I’m in a position where I don’t have to compromise myself. And therefore, I’m putting out exactly what I wanted to hear and it echoes the sentiment of the master teachers. I think that my success as an entrepreneur led to me being brave and following my gut and my heart without compromise.

So is that the spirit driving the project – one that says don’t compromise?

In the past, I have compromised. I was associated with labels and artists where they were more street and I was kind of emulating that. But that’s not me. So I felt like I compromised myself and my art early on — but I don’t feel like I’m compromising right now. I feel like this is what I’m supposed to do. At this point, I don’t feel like I’ve had to compromise in any capacity. I feel as free as I have ever felt as an artist.

_____

Follow Errol Eats Everything here.

From Your Site Articles