Malcolm Greenidge
Hailing from the Bronx, NYC, Malcolm Greenidge professionally known as E.D.I Mean or Edidon, was born during the same time a cultural movement was created in the same streets that he would call home. Hip-Hop became E.D.I's first love and by the time he reached his teenage years. He was already writing and producing his own demos. One of these demo's made it in to the hand of a childhood friend who was on his way to super stardom. Tupac Shakur and E.D.I grew up together, along with Yafeu 'Kadafi' Fula and Katari 'Kastro' Cox. Their parents were all close friends since the early 70's. When Tupac heard E.D.I's demo, he decided to help get his career of the ground. E.D.I, Kastro and Kadafi began traveling the world and recording with Tupac Shakur. E.D.I's dynamic rap style made its debut on a record called "FLEX" which featured Treach of Naughty By Nature and was the b-side to Tupac's "Holla if u Hear Me" single. After that, he performed on Tupac's breakthrough album "Me Against The World". E.D.I's vocals can be heard on the title track and the very last song "Outlaw". Around this same time, Tupac became friends with another Hip-Hop legend The Notorious B.I.G. These two greats unfortunately, only recorded two songs together. One of them was called "Runnin from the Police" and it features E.D.I as well. Tupac's third LP was finished, but still needed to be mixed and sequenced. Knowing that his protege' was always paying attention, he entrusted E.D.I to "oversee" the mixing process in L.A. He even allowed E.D.I to pick the sequence of the songs. This album eventually went platinum and is widely thought to be Shakur's best.
While Shakur was incarcerated, he decided to re-form the group, which at the time was called "Dramacydal". They would now be known as "The Outlawz" and Tupac gave E.D.I the moniker of E.D.I Mean. In Feb of 1995, the seminal double album "All Eyes On Me" was released and went on to sell over 10 million copies. E.D.I can be heard rapping on 4 songs. That same year Tupac dropped his "Killuminati" album under the alias "Makaveli". E.D.I is featured on 3 of the 12 tracks that would be the last Mr. Shakur recorded before his demise. In 1996, The Outlawz, experienced the devastating and untimely loss of both, Tupac and group member Kadafi. Shakur left over 200 tracks behind and E.D.I's vocals were found throughout. Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur, fought for control of her son's music and won. A revolutionary and mother, Ms. Shakur had no real knowledge of the music industry and entrusted the ears of E.D.I and allowed him to rap, produce and executive produce the "R U still Down" album. Released Dec.1997, the second posthumous album would eventually sell 4 million albums worldwide. Then in 1999 E.D.I helped put together along with the rest of the "Outlawz", the classic album 2Pac + Outlawz "Still I RIse". This album also went platinum plus. E.D.I and the Outlawz eventually went on to form their own label and to this day continue to drop top-notch material to their loyal fan base.
Most recently, E.D.I released his highly anticipated album, Edidon Presents: "The Hope Dealer" which is available for download at iTunes as well as all digital retailers. E.D.I also hosts "The Dinner Club" which airs weekly on Wednesday nights, via DASH Radio/XXL and he can also be found writing and producing for other artist. He is the Co-CEO of 1Nation Music and 1Nation Digital. A mogul in the making, E.D.I has plans to write novels, manage other acts and has already started "Outlaw Culture Clothing". 2015, marked the 20th Anniversary of The Outlawz, and the group has been touring various venues across the US and abroad. E.D.I, also worked on the upcoming Tupac Bio-pic "All Eyez On Me", as an Executive Consultant and Music Supervisor during 2016. The movie was produced and directed by LT. Hutton & Benny Boom. With all his many years of experience and knowledge, E.D.I now wants to share his wisdom with younger artist and help them avoid some of the many pitfalls of the music industry.