Esso - The Future of Hip-Hop
Words: Elle Capone

When I first decided to do this interview with Esso it was pure instinct; I usually stick to writing columns, and I hadn't done my homework on him yet. We'd shared a couple of emails about Hip Hop as a business, our goals as artists, and then he asked me to listen to his music. I did, and I felt something. That same something that I'd felt the first time I heard Jay-Z on a track as a little girl, that very same tingly, "let-me-pay-attention" feeling. So I sent the man an email on a whim and told him I wanted to interview him on the phone, I'd write everything down exactly how he said it and read it back to him as not to misquote him. It worked out being that I'm in Virginia and he's in New York (and we both have free night minutes!)

After doing my homework on Esso I was impressed to learn about him playing baseball in college (very sexy in a Harlem boy!), and about him being picked up by acclaimed A&R Sickamore and being named the Source's "Unsigned Hype". But I was more interested in who Esso is as an artist and fellow lover of true Hip Hop; I wanted his views and takes on the industry and life. Our interview actually turned out to be more of a 3 hour vent session about Hip Hop as a whole with hot topics on and off the record.

From the beginning to the end of the interview I felt like I was talking to someone I'd known my entire life. Young, poised, articulate, ambitious, educated, humble, charismatic and talented, Esso oozes with the best qualities a Hip-Hop supernova should possess. I'm still trying to figure out why he's still unsigned. With all the charm of a Harlem boy Esso is definitely someone the ladies will love and the fellas will identify with. Check us out on the record....

Elle Capone: Hey darlin'! What's good?! You ready for me?

Esso: (laughs) Yeah. What do you want to know?

Elle Capone: Okay, I've got a little list here so I'll ask a few and just see where it takes us.....If I looked you up in the dictionary what would it say next to your name?

Esso: If you looked me up in the dictionary?

Elle Capone: Yeah, like next to your picture what would it say? Give me the definition of Esso, what would it say next to your name?

Esso: Esso (Es-oh) Hustla. Somebody who understands what they want, how to get it and wont stop 'til they achieve what they want to achieve.

Elle Capone: I dig, that's wussup. Do you have a phrase that you swear by? Like something that your mama told you or your auntie of Big Mama used to say all the time?

Esso: Hmmm let me think.....Not really a phrase but I just look at life like this: Everybody's world revolves around them; they can only see life through their own eyes...Literally. You can't look at yourself...so the world goes around you and once you start living for yourself and not other people you'll get farther because you don't care what other people think.

Elle Capone: I know that's right! New subject, artist to artist, do you listen to the radio?

Esso: Not really. I'm always moving around, and I have my ipod. I have like 30 play lists of instrumentals. I don't want to listen to other artists and feel like my music is influenced by them.

Elle Capone: What are you influenced and inspired by?

Esso: Greatness..... (I'm inspired by) people who did things they'd never be able to do. Look at Jay-Z...'94 he's gettin' doors slammed in his face; now he's CEO. Kanye....now he's rappin'....I was performing at exhibitions and I didn't expect to get signed right off the bat...3-4 months into it I met an A&R and gave him some sh*t I recorded in my bedroom. Every time I heard "no" from a label I wouldn't get mad, I'd ask why, and fix the problem...It inspired me to be better.

Elle Capone: Do you freestyle or are you a writer?

Esso: Nah, I write.

Elle Capone: Everyday?

Esso: Nah, I don't want to force myself into thinking I gotta write a song a day. I might have the same song in my ipod for two months and one day the beat might sound different to me. Or I might see something happen and be like "I need to write about that". It's got to be natural.

Elle Capone: I feel you. So who's your favorite rapper?

Esso: Currently. Present. Past. What? Mmmmm, I don't know.

Elle Capone: (laughs) You're supposed to say "me", silly!

Esso: Huh?

Elle Capone: Every rapper says that they're #1....It's like unwritten law or something....

Esso: Well I'm so critical of myself I wouldn't say me...so I'd say Jay

Elle Capone: I LOVE Jay! But what moves you? Every artist has a moment in their career when they are on that path to stardom when it looks hopeless. What keeps you going?

Esso: I don't want to sound cocky at all because I mean this sincerely; proving to myself and the people that are close to me that I was right, I could do it....I don't want to be wrong.

Elle Capone: Myspace. Everybody's got one, everyone is on there. I feel like it's a perfect place to see millions of people that share the same dream. What advice do you have for artists trying to get deals online?

Esso: GET OFF THE COMPUTER!! (laughs) No, seriously. Get off the computer and actually get out there and grind if Myspace is the only website that you are featured on then the labels are going to look at you like that's all you've got going for you. Physically do something. Myspace is a great place to network, but you have to know what to do with your contacts. You can't just be sittin' up there looking at booty all day, and when you hit people on their pages be professional, because it's the internet and people are more accessible people forget that you are still approaching people in a business...sometimes one shot is all you get.

Elle Capone: Wow.....Okay darlin' I've got one more question and then I'm going to let you get out all of your shout-outs, plugs, thank-yous...whatever....One word...give me one work that sums up the essence of Esso, that tells me who you are.

Esso: Me.

Elle Capone: (giggles) No....Who are you??

Esso: No, that's my word. Me. (laughs)

Elle Capone: (giggles) That's wussup pa, aiight....get ya shoutz out!

Esso: Sickamore, One of Ours Entertainment, my manager, everybody at I Can Make You Famous, DJ Cipher Sounds, Azzure Denim, All the artists featured on my album ESSOBAMA, IV3 and Music World Ent. (laughs) aaaah who else do I wanna shout out a lotta people actin' funny lately..... St. Paul....

Elle Capone: Damn boy! This is an interview you're not acceptin' a damn Grammy! (laughs)

Esso: My fault, everybody that supports me in what I do.

Elle Capone: (coughs) and me!

Esso: (laughs) and you! And look out for the Champagne Campain!!