“There’s a level of anonymity that comes with the visuals. I didn’t give it any thought at first,” he says. “I just went and used AI to create this figure. I wouldn’t have put my own face on the cover anyway. I never wanted to be the face of this.”

The character, a wide-eyed child Errol calls “Ego,” has since become central to his creative output—not only appearing on the album cover but in music videos as well. “I’m his alter ego,” Errol explains. “Errol Eats Everything is Ego’s alter ego. He’s my Flavor Flav, the street element.”

That “street element” resonates far and wide. “Young people, women, fathers—they’re all connecting with this,” he says. “A lot of people have told me it’s something they can enjoy with their kids. That means a lot.”

The music itself is sharp and self-assured, but never preachy. That balance comes from lessons instilled early on, thanks to a community mentor named Velma Nicholson. Every Saturday, she’d gather a group of young boys and teach them about Black history, self-awareness, and cultural pride—sometimes at the gym, sometimes at a museum.

“I learned about Leontyne Price, Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes—I memorized ‘Hold Fast to Dreams,’” he recalls. “We learned about slave history, different regions of Africa—the tall Asante, all types of stuff.”

RANGE contributor Adriel Smiley (right) in conversation with Errol Eats Everything. (Photo by Famzy Marvelous)

Errol was about 10 years old at the time and, in his words, “kind of resented it.” While his friends played basketball, he was sitting through hours of lectures and activities. “It felt like I was missing out,” he admits. “But in hindsight, it was almost like she prepped me for this. She poured into me, and now I’m pouring into the record.”

Before stepping into music, Errol worked in corporate America, chasing success on someone else’s terms. “I would get praise for my work, but I didn’t get the compensation that paralleled it,” he says. “I didn’t get the upward mobility that mediocrity around me got.”

After being passed over for a promotion by someone less qualified, he knew it was time for a change. “The goal for the majority of my life was to be my own man. I knew part of that equation was failure, but I wanted that freedom.”

In 2020, just days before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, Errol launched his own company. It thrived—and with that stability came a creative epiphany. “As an artist, typically you have a job and you’re trying to make your art come to life,” he says. “I was finally in a position where I didn’t have to worry about upward mobility. I was my own man. And I thought, ‘This is where I always wanted to be.’”

That realization sparked a creative flow. Over just six weeks, working closely with producer Furious Evans, Errol recorded his debut album. The title track, “Errol Eats Everything,” was the first song he wrote, and he didn’t realize at the time that it would become the start of a larger project.

The song, with its cheeky, womanizing lyrics—“I kept my options open for a better thing / And when wifey called, wasn’t nice at all / I see the name on the phone and I would let it ring…”—has raised eyebrows. But Errol is quick to clarify: “The song is not true,” he laughs. “I’m married. My wife was right there when I recorded it. I have kids too—if you listen closely, you can even hear them in the background sometimes.”

Much like MF DOOM or Gorillaz—artists who hid behind personas and visuals—Errol uses distance from his personal identity as a way to stay focused on the message. “It’s not about hiding,” he says. “It’s about creating something bigger than yourself. Letting the art be the face.”

The approach has earned him comparisons to those very same artists. And while he appreciates the praise, he’s more focused on what’s next. “I’m already working on another album,” he says. “I don’t have a release date, but I record quickly. I can tell you this: it’s already better than the first one.”

That’s a bold claim, especially for someone whose debut is still picking up steam—but Errol’s confidence is grounded in years of preparation, even if he didn’t realize it at the time.

“At the end of the day, I just try to stay true to myself,” he says. “Let things unfold. Trust the process. When you align with the truth—your truth—the universe conspires in your favour.”