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Esham

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Esham

Esham (born Rashaam Attica Smith on September 20, 1977) is a hardcore rapper from Detroit, Michigan. He calls his style of rock-influenced rap "acid rap". He released his first album, Boomin' Words from Hell, in 1990 at the age of 13.

Biography

Acid Rap

Reel Life Productions/Gothom Inc. is an independent record label based out of Detroit, Michigan. Originally conceived by Esham A. Smith and his brother James, RLP set a new precedent in rap music from the Midwest. Esham created the music which he calls "Acid Rap", a blend of violent reality raps and tales of vivid drug use over hip hop beats that sampled everything from Heavy Metal to Japanese flutes. James handled the back of the office business. Together they were successful in creating a genre that would eventually become the cornerstone of the hardcore sound Detroit is known for throughout the industry through other artists like Eminem, D12, Street Lord'z and Royce Da 5'9". What began as a small operation out of their mothers house (coined as "Hells Doors" on inside album cover art) quickly exploded into a full fledged record label while Esham was still a student at Osborn High School on Detroit's east side.

With a back catalog of over 30 albums, Esham drops controversial projects at a frantic pace with each album offering a dramatic difference in creative vision and sound from the last. The lyrics drip with scathing religious and political commentary and often delve deep into the description of the dangerous Detroit underworld. Esham consistently pushes the envelope by incorporating a vast array of lyrical styles into his music while taking chances that many other emcees wouldn't take. This often results in a love/hate relationship with music fans and media alike. To this day he is labeled as "horrorcore" and a "shock rapper" by some media and music fans but he denies any similarities to those genres.

Early Career

A gloomy, post-industrial and decaying Detroit helped Esham to formulate a career based on discussing the darker aspects of life. During adolescence, Esham attended Detroit schools during the school year while spending his summers back in Long Island, New York, not far from the Amityville Horror House. The perfect storm so to speak for someone often referred to as the Stephen King of hip-hop. The anti-organized religion tones in many of his albums were quite bold considering the overwhelming Christian community in Metro Detroit. Esham pioneered in-depth rhymes detailing accounts of all kinds of mayhem including death, suicide, murder, illicit drug use, drug dealing and mental illness among countless other topics many considered to be too horrific for a recording album. In fact, lyrics from Esham and his group Natas were linked to a teenage suicide in Tennessee back in 1992. Anti-Abortionists protested his 1993 solo album, KKKill the Fetus to the point where his life was threatened repeatedly.

Producing

While Esham is known best for his hardcore concepts and controversial subject matter, his comprehensive work behind the boards as a producer has served as the backbone of his music career. Each and every Esham album since his first release "Boomin Words from Hell" has been almost exclusively self-produced. Advanced production techniques were learned at an early age and afforded him the opportunity to explore and eventually build a multitude of lush soundscapes for all of his albums. His production resume includes work with Kool Keith, Bone, MC Breed, Dayton Family, George Clinton and countless projects with local Michigan talent including East Side Chedda Boyz, Big Herk, Street Lordz, Boss, Proof of D12, ICP and Twiztid among others. Esham was once an artist on Psychopathic Records, but is not currently on the label. One of his better works was Psychopathics from Outer Space Pt. 2.

Reel Life Productions/Gothom Inc

Esham along with his brother James cemented their reputation as self-made men and independent pioneers with Reel Life Productions/Gothom by taking their music and merchandise nationwide which garnered great financial success and sales not to mention a cult army of fans who call themselves “suicidalists”. Reel Life Productions also set new standards in music & production quality from independents while also kicking down the doors for Detroit hip hop to be heard nationwide. Unfortunately, things went bad in 1996 when James Smith was sent to prison, convicted on a rape charge by his own wife. This left Reel Life Productions in shambles financially and the label eventually folded later in 1997. That same year, Esham started a new business named Gothom Inc, a company that is still in business today.

Novi

In 1998, Esham decided he no longer wanted to run a label by himself. He soon inked a deal with Novi, Michigan based label Overture Records which was run by Scott Santos. With Esham on the label, they created a new division called Overcore Records which quickly secured a lucrative distribution deal with indendendent giant TVT Records NYC (Lil Jon, Pitbull, Ying Yang Twins). This allowed Esham and his group Natas to have their music in stores worldwide. From 1998 until 2001, Esham released a total of 3 solo projects on Overcore and 1 album with his group Natas.

Eminem Fued

During that timeframe, Esham and Eminem were feuding behind the scenes which led to Esham dissing Eminem on his 2001 release Tongues. Eminem's rap group D12 responded by attacking Esham and fellow bandmate TNT a few months later in August 2001 at a Warped Tour stop in Camden, New Jersey, which led to both Esham and D12 being kicked off the tour. In 2002, Esham and TNT caught up with Proof and the D12 entourage in Hollywood which led to an attack in broad daylight (Esham and Proof later settled their differences at Proofs record release party late in 2005). It was in this timespan that Scott Santos could no longer take the violence and death threats which led to him leaving overcore Records behind to start an adult magazine in Las Vegas.

Psychopathic Records

In 2002, Esham would make a controversial but lucrative move by signing with Psychopathic Records of Novi, MI. By contract, he could no longer refer to himself as the "Unholy" instead going by the moniker "The Boogieman" which was reprised from his Judgement Day Volume 1 album. The next year in 2003, Esham released the solo album "Repentance" on Psychopathic Records which spawned the marginal hit "Woo Woo Woo". In 2005 after his second solo album "A-1 Yola", turbulence behind the scenes between Esham and Violent J let to Esham parting ways from the label in the fall of 2005 following the August release of the long-awaited Soopa Villainz project alongside ICP and Lavel. Lavel left Psychopathic on semi-bad terms and began a beef with Violent J on a mixtape. During an interview he discussed Esham saying, "It's common knowledge that Esham and Joe didn't like each other the whole time he was there. He feels Psychopathic copied his business strategy." Esham had recorded a track with Violent J for his Tongues album but then later dissed Violent J on a different track. Esham called Violent J a racist and Violent J responding that, "Esham has always blamed his problems on race." When he had to close up his own label temporarily and went to Psychopathic, the supposedly squashed beef with Violent J along with the belief that his joining the label was never truly sincere are considered two main reasons Juggalos for the most part never took to Esham or expressed much disappointment with his departure beyond anger at the loss of the Soopa Villainz project. While there are still underlying issues unresolved from both camps, Esham and ICP agreed to settle their differences in an April 2006 press release as part of a settlement agreement. In interviews given after leaving Psychopathic, Esham declined to comment on the reasons for his departure or on anything related to the matter saying he was not able to make any comments. Conduct during interviews, video footage, and tours lead many to believe Esham got along very well with everyone except Violent J.

In June 2006, on another Podcast, Esham released 2 new songs, both of which were clearly hate-filled disses towards Psychopathic, one of which included a line that said something along the lines of: "I know I said we squashed the beef but I lied."

Present Day

In the fall of 2006, Esham released hip-hops first $100 box set to much fanfare. Currently, Esham is working on his new studio album "Sacrificial Lambs" which is scheduled for a 2nd Quarter 2007 release through the Gothom Records imprint. He has currently released a video off his new album: "The Fortune Teller." He can also be heard monthly on the Bomb Ass Podcast at www.acidrap.com.

Esham Releases

Natas releases

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