[gentle music]
- Ed Cage: When Mom was pregnant with you,
I would get right up on her stomach
and beatbox to Mom's belly. [beatboxes]
And you would feel the vibration.
Hell, when I did that, you would just shake.
And one of the greatest joys of my life
was actually seeing you being born.
- Nicole Paris: Were you prepared at all to be a father?
- Ed: No, no, I wasn't prepared.
I was 16 when we had your brother,
so when I said, "Okay, I'm gonna do this,"
I threw everything into it.
- Nicole: You had, like, two, three, how many jobs?
- Ed: I had four jobs.
I had so many jobs at one time, - Nicole: Four jobs?
Nicole, I was going to the wrong job.
- Nicole: You know, you being away so much growing up,
that was hard.
- Yeah, I didn't wanna be the dude that came in and left,
so I had to figure out how I was, as a father,
gonna connect.
And you would always like to hear me beatbox.
So you used to sit up on my lap,
and you would just bang your head,
trying to keep that beat going.
I remember one time,
you was making a whole bunch of crazy sounds,
and I told you, "I don't know what that is."
But then I had to check myself and say,
"Well, whatever you wanna do, Nicole,
that's what you do, okay?"
And now, you go to sleep beatboxing.
When you wake up, we're beatboxing.
When we cooking, when we driving.
So when you and I communicate with each other,
we can do it by beats. - Nicole: Yes.
Let's say, if I don't agree with something that you doing
and I feel angry--
- Ed: Why you just roll your eyes at me?
- Nicole: Because you make me mad.
[Ed laughs] I'll do more of a bass beat.
Kinda like... [percussive beatboxing]
- Ed: Yeah.
I can tell when you're not feeling good
'cause your beats are... [slower beatboxing]
...real down.
But when you are feeling like,
"Oh, I'm ready to take on the world,"
you... [rapid beatboxing]
- Nicole: Right.
Pops, I love the bond that me and you share.
- Ed: You know, baby, it's something, Nickie,
to see you go out into the world,
continually trying to be the best that you can be.
I just absolutely love that about you.
And as a father, that's all I can ask for.
["Beats" by Popz and the Apprentice]