Sir E.U’s Friday videos

D.C. rapper Sir E.U is very prolific in issuing recordings. Under that moniker, which he has used since 2009, he has 15 releases of artsy, unconventional hip-hop available on Bandcamp—including his recent 2020 album, Midnight Train to Velvet (which is also available on other platforms). Sir E.U, whose stage name references the way his actual last name Ehui is sounded out, is now also putting out a new video every Friday during the pandemic. His April 10 video is for a 2018 song collaboration between Sir E.U and producer Tony Kill called “even th0” from their 2018 physical-only effort Some Friends You Are. They began working together in 2015, brought together by their “mutual love of terrorizing white-centric spaces,” Sir E.U says. The song starts with a funky, repetitive beat, accompanied by Sir E.U’s busy, word-filled flow. The video is a digital collage created by Sir E.U, who went to the now-closed Art Institute of Washington, and Tony Kill that resembles images found on Sir E.U’s social media. It includes the logo of the Washington football team, the Basquiat-like artwork of his We Back album, images from Dragon Ball Z, artist Tahrook, musician and artist Sloane Amelia, a photo of an ex-girlfriend of Kill, and a photo of Sir E.U with his prior rap group Kool Klux Klan in the Howard University Hilltop. Sir E.U, who also put out a 2018 album with Kill called African-American Psycho, says the two have a lot more material from that time—and they plan on making it available soon. New videos are released each Friday on Sir E.U’s YouTube channel. Free. —Steve Kiviat

Presidential Pastime

Nats Park may be dark for now, but the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum offers an extensive online exhibit, Presidential Pastime, about presidents and baseball, dating back to William Howard Taft, who in 1910 became the first sitting president to throw out the first pitch on Opening Day. The exhibit—punctuated by photographs, audio and video clips, and artifacts—offers a meandering path through 17 presidents who followed in Taft’s footsteps, much of it taking place in D.C. (The exhibit was assembled prior to Donald Trump’s 2019 World Series appearance.) Amid the Great Depression and prohibition, Herbert Hoover was razzed with chants of “We want beer!” Franklin D. Roosevelt threw out a record eight Opening Day pitches, although his 1940 effort accidentally knocked into a Washington Post camera. Roosevelt’s successor, Harry Truman, set a record of attending 16 baseball games during a presidential tenure. In 1962, John F. Kennedy helped inaugurate the stadium that would later be named for his slain brother. But Gerald Ford deserves special props; the onetime football player managed to toss out a pitch with each hand at the 1976 All-Star Game. The exhibition is available at artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/presidential-pastime. Free. —Louis Jacobson

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