Whatup? Had to double back and let you know what I been up to. I just had one of the best weeks of my life, so without any further ado I’m just gonna get into it.
Monday December 4th might go down as one of the days that really changed the course of my career. My homie Cipha Sounds invited me up to MTV for Sucker Free: Straight from the Streets. Basically what they do is take one or two artists every week who are makin’ real major noise on the
streets with their music/mixtapes. I had been on Cipha’s show on SHADE45 (Sirius Satellite Radio) back in September and after being on his show he hit me and invited me to do MTV. I ain’t gonna lie, watching myself on MTV was kinda crazy…that’s an almost immediate jump from being local to being known on a national level. I was gettin’ love from everywhere off of that, people hittin’ me up from Cali, Florida, New York and everywhere in between. You can find the footage on my YouTube channel ESSOtv (www.youtube.com/essotv) along with a couple other videos.
Sucker Free Video Footage
Tuesday I had a photoshoot for the Azzure Denim Spring 2007 ad campaign that’s gonna be running in magazines like XXL, Vibe, King, Complex, Dub, and Rides, that was a real crazy look and I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity. A huge thanks goes out to Shelly Castro as well as the Azzure staff. Make sure you look out for the ad I’m in, the concept is “Men of the Year.”
That same day I also found out that the new issue of The Source was gonna be coming out with me as Unsigned Hype in it. That’s a crazy look to now be able to mention my name among the likes of BIG, Eminem, DMX, CNN, Mobb Deep and some of the other notable Unsigned Hype alumni. I gotta shout Fahiym Ratcliffe (Editor In Chief), Julie Als, Conan Milne who wrote the article, Bum, Camille, Nida and the rest of The Source staff for the honor. (Check page 114 in the December issue of The Source)
Wednesday I picked up the new Scratch magazine and checked the mixtape reviews, and saw they had reviewed ESSOcentric. Now Scratch is notoriously tough on their mixtape reviews, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if I got a lukewarm review as a new artist. Shouts to Omar
Mazariego who wrote the review, I’m not even gonna paraphrase the review, I’ll just let you read it yourself.
Thursday night was the 10th annual Justo Mixtape Awards at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. I was excited to be able to hit the awards and have a chance to network with some of the biggest DJs in the industry. Unfortunately some of the people in attendance didn’t see things the same way that I did, and the awards were cut short. I do gotta shout a couple of the people I did have a chance to talk to though (Chuck T what’s good? Chela, I need to be on that next CD don’t forget about me!
Wiz Hoffa congrats on Noizemob’s wins big homie). I thought it was pretty disrespectful that we couldn’t get a moment of silence in memory of Justo (Justo Faison the creator of the Mixtape Awards who passed in a car accident in 2005) once that happened I knew it was anything goes in
there.
That same night we had a party in Lower Manhattan to celebrate the “Unsigned Hype”, thanks to everyone that came through it really felt like family in there. Let’s just say my family made sure I went home twiiiiiisted. Hahahahaha!
Saturday I was on Kitty Radio (an internet radio show on 1.fm JAMZ) with Maya the Brasilianaire and Jen The Pen who some of you might remember from Dame Dash’s “Ultimate Hustler” show on BET. I got some video from the interview if you want to check it out on the YouTube channel.
Oh, and just in case any of you think I might be sittin’ on my ass feelin’ myself because of some of the things that are goin on’, let me be the first to tell you to think again. I’m already in the process of putting together ESSOcentric Volume II as well as another project that I can’t really speak on yet but trust me when you see it you’re gonna know what it is.
Last but not least…Here’s an exclusive I didn’t want to give away too early, but f**k it now, its already out there…
“The New Government” featuring Nina B and Remo Da Rapstar