Esham

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Esham
Esham
Esham
Background information
Birth name Rashaam Attica Smith
Born September 20, 1977
Origin Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genre(s) Horrorcore,Acid Rap
Years active 1988 – present
Label(s) Reel Life Productions, Psychopathic Records
Associated
acts		 NATAS
Website [[1]]
Members
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.

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 a still a student at Osborne High School on Detroits 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.

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.

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 Outter Space Pt. 2.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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 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 can be heard monthly at www.acidrap.com on the Bomb Ass Podcast.

In June, 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." So that's where it is right now.

  • 1992 - Life After Death
  • 1994 - Blaz4me
  • 1995 - Doubelievengod
  • 1997 - Multikillionaire: The Devil's Contract
  • 1999 - Wicked World Wide
  • 2002 - Godlike
  • 2006 - N Of Tha World

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../e/s/h/Esham.html"
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