“Maybe when your sister’s on drugs
or when she might abort
heard your nephew was cutting himself
like he was fighting swords
I thank the lord
that our family’s still together
I’m just hoping that he gives us
the spirit to do better”
— “Church” by Edo Langston (produced by Jimmy Dukes, 2024)
Buffalo rapper and producer Edo Langston, aka Ephraim Bostic, has come to a point in life where he’s eager to give back to his native city and its music and arts scene.
Starting out as a drummer in church but moving to hip-hop and freestyle, the versatile artist and engineer recently staged the Ekanami Producers ProjectZ session at Allen Street Hardware. The purpose of that event, he said, was to highlight the work of Cee Gee, who’s been a staple of the local hip-hop scene for several years as a producer and DJ, and who’s collaborated with such rap luminaries as Westside Gunn, Conway the Machine and Benny the Butcher.
“Cee Gee is amazing. He’s an old-time legend in Buffalo. I’ve listened to plenty of tracks with his beats, his production,” Langston said. “He’s a legendary artist. You definitely want to pay attention.”
While Cee Gee is the first of many Buffalo producers whose work Langston aims to highlight through Ekanami Producers ProjectZ, he said he has an even broader goal which is to re-appropriate the lives, words and backgrounds of working musicians in the local scene by celebrating identity in the creative process.
The project’s roots come from Langston’s own experience while living in Rhode Island as well as being a student in Rochester. In both places, he emersed himself in the music scenes, checking out jazz shows some nights and neo-soul concerts on others.
There was a sense of opportunity in those places, he said, which he hasn’t seen in Buffalo.
“Why’s Buffalo different from Rhode Island? Rhode Island had all those communities integrated. Producers worked with musicians or worked with artists, engineers. There were 14-year-olds who had professional mixes. My thing about Buffalo is that we’re too segregated,” Langston said.
“It’s not by happenstance. It’s not by surprise. Because the history of Buffalo is all about segregation,” he added. “Buffalo’s one of the most (segregated cities) in America. And that’s what translates into other pockets in our artist community. We want to take back our communities. We want to transform and alchemize, and we don’t need the separation.”
In fact, in his grant application to Artists Services Inc. which provided funding for Ekanami ProjectZ — (spelled out as the vernacular of ‘Economic Projects’) — Langston said:
“We seek to develop communal connections by providing a network for artists to exchange resources amongst each other, with an aim to evolve into a creative collective.”
Langston’s own evolution was not an easy one. His sister’s death from a recurring drug problem was placed center stage by his mother, who was unable to filter the information from him as a child. He also suffered as a child the loss of his father who died of colon cancer.
“I whole heartedly feel that in the past I have been defensive, because I grew up in the space of relative chaos,” Langston said. “I grew up in a lot of chaos, fear and anxiety and it made me a defensive person.”
Langston noted that before his father passed, he created a legacy of music and consciousness for his young son to build upon.
“My father was a great man. He would bring people together. He was influential. He was encouraging. He would always help people.”
Now, Langston hopes to carry on his father’s legacy of helping others by fostering community through art and awareness via his Ekanami ProjectZ.
Meanwhile, a new round of Creative Impact grant funding is available through the Art Services Initiative and Langston said he encourages other artists to apply. The deadline to do so is March 26.
“If you’re an artist and need resources, you should know about this grant, because you’re doing amazing things in the community and we just need resources sometimes,” Langston said. “With more resources we can expand and be more fruitful and abundant.”
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