20 Questions With E. Farrell

E. Farrell was all over battle rap in 2015. The Connecticut emcee was a standout in his home league of iBattle with performances against DOT and Daylyt, and made noise with battles in King Of The Dot and Don't Flop. The kid is all over Facebook debate groups too, and good luck trying to get more likes than him on a comment.

We figured we'd help you get to know E. Farrell a bit better now since you're going to be hearing a lot more about him this year anyways.

Who are you?
My name's Eric Farrell but I deleted three letters from my first name to seem more like a rapper and that's how "E. Farrell" became a thing.

Where are you from?
Santa. My birthday is Sept. 26, which is almost exactly nine months after Christmas (Add an extra day because you can't rush perfection). It takes nine months to make a baby so long story short my presence is a present, which is why I have a gift rapping. That's wordplay.

I was born and raised in Manchester, Connecticut though.

What’s it like there?
I've never lived anywhere else but It's my favorite place on earth to live. I'm two hours from both New York City and Boston, can get frostbite and heatstroke both in the same year, and still got all the greatest of constitutional rights this country has to offer. We have so many good spots for food that most nights I can't even decide what to eat and just starve. There's also great public utilities and some of the best human beings ever.

How old are you?
As of the moment I started responding to these questions I'm roughly 736,960,995 seconds old. That's a little over 23 years for those who suck at mental math.

How long have you been battling/rapping?
I never really officially performed any type of rap material before my iBattle tryout in October 2012. I was, however, rapping and writing shit here and there for a good three or four years before that just for fun. I had made attempts to get in a battle circuit in these years prior, but it never worked out due to a various circumstances. So I guess "E. Farrell" has technically existed for like 3.5 years.

What made you start?
As a rap fan I always found it fun to fuck around and freestyle, whether it was throwing on beats with some friends or roasting random people a cappella at school and house parties.

I'd write little verses and it came pretty naturally, just as someone who always had a way with words. The more I became a fan of the battle side of rap, the more I would think "I can do this shit, and maybe even better than these guys." I made a couple attempts to get a tryout and eventually wound up at iBattle, the rest is history.

How would you describe your style in three words?
"Dat boi good."

What makes you different from other battle rappers?
Everything. "Different" is my middle name, I love to create shit that people have never heard before. Originality trumps all, and I take pride in being able to deliver that in any way possible through my craft.

Oh, except sometimes I PG step and I really can't help it because you just get in that zone and it happens.

What’s your best battle?
Personally, the material and performances I had for DOT, Daylyt and Sicarii were my favorites. Me and JeFFrey had some heat in the 2-vs.-2 against DNA and K-Shine last weekend as well.

It's tough because I like everything I've ever wrote for different reasons. Thing is, before last year I was critiqued a lot for my delivery and performance. Once I stepped outta my shell a bit (you'll notice this turning point significantly at the DOT battle) I really became comfortable with my presence and began to deliver commanding performances every time.

What was your worst?
Definitely my tryout against Fastlane Fas. I was extremely drunk and had no idea how to perform for that type of crowd on camera. I looked like such a spaz although I definitely had heat nonetheless.

Go look that up and laugh at me.

What did you learn from them?
At first all I thought mattered was bars. I'd study how to make my writing stronger with each bout, and adapt to bulk up on the material and approaches that I noticed really impressed people both live and on camera.

Eventually, I began to realize that delivery, projection and overall performance was equally, if not, more important and made that my focus. That's shit you can learn through experience and comfort though, being blessed with the mind to write such fire was just given at birth.

What’s surprised you the most since you started battling?
It's always surreal as fuck to get recognition from, and to just have become peers with the people I've been following for years.

If you had told Eric Farrell six years ago that these guys he was watching on YouTube would be both his competition and friends one day ... Yeah that's wild.

I guess we all start as a fan, but to see where I was and where things are now, not to mention where they're headed ... Crazy.

What’s your favorite battle of all time?
Too many to pick, I could never think of one answer for this. There's just so many different phases and eras of battling I've followed that I wouldn't know where to start.

Who’s in your current Top 5?
A lot more than five people.

Some of my favorites to watch right now though would have to be the likes of Fresco, QP, The Saurus, Erik Foreman, Head ICE, Real Deal, The Deadman, Goodz, Tony D, Lu Cipher, Bangz, Math Hoffa, Troy Brown, Madflex, Bigg K, JeFFrey, Gjonaj ... Fuck there's just so much talent out there.

I'll stop there though and apologize to anyone who knows I fuck with them heavy cuz a few had to have slipped my mind.

Which battle rapper annoys you?
Lu Cipher, Erik Foreman and  Fresco are Top 3 annoying as of late. They annoy me because the amount of times I find myself saying "I fucking wish I wrote that" while watching their battles.

Anyone who has a new battle drop and tags me in a Facebook post with 98 others can also rot in hell if you want a more serious answer.

Who would you battle if you could choose anyone?
Right now, QP, Lu Cipher, Chef Trez, Troy Brown, The Saurus, Madflex or Gjonaj. The homie Quill from England as well. I feel like these are all potential classics for 2016 with battlers my style would compliment well to match up with.

What’s the biggest problem in battle rap?
Not enough Erik Foreman battles.

How would you fix it?
Rebuild the stock market so we can boost the economy and have more money to get him booked.

What do you do when you’re not battling?
Drink Busch, go to rock shows, smoke beer, drink weed, hang out with friends, sleep. I like to eat lots of good food and listen to more good music too.

It's the life of most kids my age, sometimes I'm just talking under my breath a lot and spacing out cuz I have man poems formulating in my head.

How do you want to be remembered?
As the kid from Connecticut who drank Busch beer a lot and rapped really fucking well.