Everlast

Everlast - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Everlast

Erik Francis Schrody (born August 18, 1969), known by his stage names Everlast and Whitey Ford, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter who was the frontman for hip hop group House of Pain. His breakthrough as a solo artist came in 1998 with his album Whitey Ford Sings the Blues, which blended rock and hip-hop and garnered him his first Grammy Award nomination for the song "What It's Like". The album peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200 album chart, while the single peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. As of 2023, they remain his highest mainstream chart positions for an album and single respectively.

This profile of Everlast covers Formative years, Early Career and Breakthrough, 1998–2001: Solo breakthrough, Feud with Eminem and 2002–present: Subsequent success.

In 2000, Everlast received a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal with Latin rock band Santana for "Put Your Lights On". From 2006 to 2012, he was also part of the hip hop supergroup La Coka Nostra, which consisted of members of House of Pain and other rappers. In 2008, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for the main title theme of the TV series Saving Grace. He has released eight albums in his solo career, each featuring a blend of hip-hop, rock, blues, folk, and Americana. His most recent release is Whitey Ford's House of Pain, which came out in 2018.

Formative years of Everlast

Everlast, who is of German and Irish heritage, went to Taft High School in Los Angeles at the same time Ice Cube and N.W.A and the Posse member Krazy Dee were attending. Everlast stated about N.W.A in an interview with LA Weekly:

Early Career and Breakthrough of Everlast

Emerging as a member of Ice-T's group Rhyme Syndicate, Everlast's 1990 debut album Forever Everlasting was a commercial disappointment. Following the album's failure, Everlast teamed up with fellow Taft High alumni DJ Lethal and Danny Boy to form the hip-hop trio House of Pain. The group was signed to Tommy Boy Records, and their 1992 self-titled debut album went multi-platinum, spawning the successful DJ Muggs-produced single "Jump Around".

Fashioning themselves as rowdy Irish-American hooligans (DJ Lethal is actually Latvian-born), they toured with various rap and alternative rock bands such as the Ramones, Beastie Boys and Rage Against the Machine after their breakthrough. They participated together with Helmet, along with several other rap acts, on the influential 1993 rock-rap collaborative Judgment Night movie soundtrack (Everlast also played a villain in the film). The group disbanded in 1996, and Everlast once again pursued a solo career.

1998–2001: Solo breakthrough

Everlast's 1998 album Whitey Ford Sings the Blues was both a commercial and critical success (selling more than three million copies). Whitey Ford Sings the Blues was hailed for its blend of rap with acoustic and electric guitars, developed by Everlast together with producers Dante Ross and John Gamble. The album's lead single "What It's Like" proved to be his most popular and successful song, although the follow-up single, "Ends", also reached the U.S. Rock top 10.

Everlast followed up this success by collaborating with Santana on the track "Put Your Lights On" on Santana's 1999 album Supernatural. It charted at No. 118 on the pop chart, but did considerably better with rock radio airplay, peaking at No. 8 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "Put Your Lights On" won Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the 2000 Grammy Awards.

Despite the success of Whitey Ford Sings the Blues and his success with Santana, Everlast's follow-up album, Eat at Whitey's (2000), stumbled commercially at first in the United States. But it was certified gold on December 18, 2000. The album was also embraced critically, especially by Rolling Stone, whose review placed the album between "good" and "great", with it being focused as that month's most important release.

Feud with Eminem

That year, a feud erupted between Everlast and Eminem. Eminem and Everlast crossed paths before a concert in early 1999. Eminem says he did not greet Everlast because he did not recognize him right away, and said Everlast did not acknowledge him. Everlast's version is that he tried to congratulate Eminem on his success, and Eminem blew him off.

Everlast's verse from the Dilated Peoples all star track "Ear Drums Pop (Remix)" contained a thinly veiled reference to Eminem ("Cock my hammer, spit a comet like Haley/I buck a.380 on ones that act shady"), and went on to warn "You might catch a beatdown out where I come from" in his recounting of the incident. Eminem, in turn, blasted Everlast several times in public and with the song "I Remember (Dedication to Whitey Ford)" released as the B-side to his group D12's 12" vinyl single "Shit on You".

Everlast responded with the track "Whitey's Revenge", released only on his official website. While the song contained references to Eminem's strained relationships with his wife and mother, it was "Better run and check your kid for your DNA", again referring to Eminem's daughter, Hailie Jade Mathers, that set Eminem off. The track ends with the spoken words, "I ain't wasting no more time with you man. Fuck that shit, That's it".

Eminem and D12 responded with "Quitter", the second half of which is a take off on "Hit 'Em Up" by 2Pac and the Outlawz (a diss song mainly aimed at The Notorious B.I.G.). The track ends with the spoken words, "Fuck him, that's it, I'm done, I promise, I'm done, that's it." It was reported that long-time friends of Eminem, group Limp Bizkit, were meant to be featured on "Quitter", but Fred Durst canceled at the last moment. Everlast echoed similar sentiment on the status of this feud, stating in various interviews that he felt everything had been said and he would now refrain from further responses. But following Eminem's disses towards them on "Quitter", Evidence of Dilated Peoples responded with the track "Search 4 Bobby Fisher".

During a Total Request Live interview, DJ Lethal, who had since joined Limp Bizkit, made a statement that if Mathers and Schrody were to fight in real life, Everlast would win. This irked Eminem, and an insulting track aimed at both Everlast and Limp Bizkit appeared on D12's mainstream debut, Devil's Night, as a hidden track called "Girls". B-Real of Cypress Hill claimed that Everlast recorded another diss towards Eminem following the release of "Quitter", but it went unreleased due to him deciding to instead quash the feud. According to Eminem, their fight has settled since then and there is a mutual respect between Mathers and Schrody. Further indicating an end to lyrical hostilities between the two, Eminem seemingly gave a shout out to Everlast on The Marshall Mathers LP 2 song entitled "Baby".

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everlast), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.