ST. LOUIS — Edward Cage creates music without an instrument. He uses his entire body and his mouth to do what is known as “beatboxing.”
“My style was more 808,” he told 5 On Your Side.
He honed his skills on the street corners near the Grand Water Tower in north St. Louis, where he grew up.
“This neighborhood to me is the greatest neighborhood on the face of the earth,” he said.
Cage has made a name for himself outside of north city for his hip-hop skills. These days, he performs with his daughter Nicole Paris. He taught her how to do it when she was a little girl.
“This one liked the beatboxing. So, I would sit her on my lap, and I would beatbox to her. She would just bob her head. Never knowing it would turn into what you see now,” he explained.
Paris is a natural. She can produce a variety of sounds rapidly. A video of the two of them in action went viral on YouTube. It’s been viewed 9.4 million times. The duo has performed together on national television including the Steve Harvey Show, Jennifer Hudson show, and The Late Late Show with James Corden.
But they aren’t seeking fame.
“Beatboxing now is known for competing, and getting titles, and getting trophies, materialistic things. I’m not about that at all,” said Paris. “My beatboxing brings more awareness, messages.”
The messages are meant for the spirit.
“I do it for God, from God. I call it sounds from Heaven. Whatever God wants me to tell people, the world, or whoever – that’s what I’ll do,” she said.
They believe in the power of their beatboxing. The hip-hop style helped save Cage from a life of crime.
“Hip-hop had this style called conscientious style of hip-hop. When I started listening to those things it started to make me ashamed of some of the things I was doing,” he explained.
“I had to start figuring out what I was going to do to be a better man,” he said.
They want their faith to show through their music.
“We are a duo that’s not afraid to tell people about our faith. It is OK for us to love the Lord and it’s OK for us to love our families and it’s OK to show that,” Cage said.
And by showing their faith they hope to inspire people to turn their lives around for the better.
“You have to have the strength to say, ‘OK, I’m [going to] leave all of this. I’m going to change,” he said.