Press & Interviews

Underground Hip Hop Blog

November 28, 2025

This is the 24th studio LP from Detroit emcee/producer & Reel Life Productions founder Esham. Widely acknowledged as the godfather of horrorcore alongside his former Natas cohorts Mastamind & the late TNT...

Detroit Metro Times

November 27, 2024

There would be no Eminem or Insane Clown Posse without Esham. First busting onto the scene as a teenager in 1989, Esham calls his style of rock-infused hip-hop “acid rap.”

Axios

October 31, 2024

As a teen in Detroit, an originator of a dark hip-hop subgenre left an imprint on the music industry.

MC Lars Podcast

August 23, 2024

n this episode of the MC Lars Podcast, Lars and Snax sit down with the legendary Esham to delve into his latest album, "Purgatory". With a career spanning over three decades, Esham, the pioneer of Acid Rap, remains a dynamic force in hip-hop.

Wayne State University

July 19, 2024

From the legendary tales of ESHAM and DJ Screw selling thousands of tapes directly to fans from their cars or homes to the community building efforts of artist and Detroit Poet Laureate jessica Care moore.

Kid L

March 19, 2024

Esham is a pioneer in Hip Hop and Rap, from Detroit, Michigan. He's known for his contributions in Hip Hop subgenres of horror core and acid rap. He emerged in the late 1980s and is considered a legend in these genres. Furthermore, he's influenced many artists with his dark, violent lyrics, and experimental sound.

Massacre Radio

January 30, 2024

This week Dave sits down with Detroit’s great indie pioneer Esham! They talk through his entire 35 year career including his unorthodox influences, how he created his first album, and how he sparked an entire genre of hiphop

NPR

July 27, 2023

More than any particular sound, lyrical style or historical movement, the true calling card of Detroit hip-hop just might be its underdog spirit. Despite the reign of Motown Records in the 1960s...

DJ Mad Max

July 18, 2023

Thank you to Detroit’s own/Hip-Hop legend Esham for coming on my show for an interview! Esham discussed his new album Purgatory, how the album is a true reflection of who he is as a person today, and why he opened the album up with Active Shooter.

The Coli

October 29, 2022

Esham is a groundbreaking artist on a few levels. Most notably, the Detroit legend helped lay the groundwork for the Midwest to emerge as a viable region in rap music.

AltPress

September 4, 2020

No, those are not death-metal album covers. Neither are the lyrics. Horrorcore, a subversive blend of hardcore hip-hop and horror themes, ventured into new territories in the past decade and continues to evolve.

Far Out Magazine

June 29, 2020

“What up doe, how are you doing? I appreciate the call, man”. The drawl on the phone was unmistakable. I was in conversation with the pioneer of acid-rap and horrorcore.

Far Out Magazine

June 27, 2020

If you spent your adolescent days pawing over lyric sheets and finding the most gruesome example of lyrical murder on the page like we did then chances are you’ll be more than familiar with horrorcore.

Bedroom Beethovens

June 3, 2020

How does a guy get inspired by AC/DC and Prince to become the first cat in Detriot to create a new genre of music? Esham captured people's attention by being different.

New York Times

May 18, 2020

Eminem’s second major-label album was a compelling but lurid whodunit. “The Marshall Mathers LP” wasn’t a murder mystery, per se, though plenty of characters met their demise. It was a mystery of realness.

Hip Hop DX

February 2, 2020

Detroit’s Esham has dropped his new album She Loves Me on Super Bowl Sunday (February 2). The 15-track LP arrives ahead of the veteran MC’s companion piece She Loves Me Not, which is due out later this month.

XXL Mag

October 31, 2019

Hip-hop music takes all types of forms. It can be fun. It can be political. It can be thought-provoking. It can be silly. And, sometimes, things can get downright dark.

Detroit Metro Times

October 23, 2019

When you think about the pioneers of Detroit hip-hop, no one quite compares to Esham A. Smith. As Esham, the then-16 year-old rapper released his iconic first album, Boomin Words From Hell, in 1989 under his Reel Life Productions imprint, at the depths of Detroit’s crack epidemic.

City Beat

June 25, 2019

A pioneering figure in Detroit Hip Hop, Esham’s musical life began in the late 1980s, as he formulated a gritty, dark, and aggressive style that laid the groundwork for Motor City big-timers from Eminem to Insane Clown Posse...

Detroit Metro Times

July 26, 2017

Esham in front of his east-side childhood home; George Clinton at United Sound Systems Recording Studios; Danny Brown on top of the Park Avenue Hote...

Reed Jackson

October 28, 2015

Rise from the dead with Gangsta NIP, Esham, Three 6, Brotha Lynch Hung, and Doomsday Productions.

Westword

August 12, 2013

Chronologically, horrorcore immediately followed gangsta rap, and in many ways, it seems like a logical artistic extension.

RapReviews

November 18, 2008

Esham is running for mayor. Seriously. The man has released a mixtape which all his fans initially thought was little more than a concept album meant to play off the recent presidential election.

Detroit Metro Times

October 15, 2008

Esham is, in conversation, an amicable dude. Not what you’d expect from the pioneer of “acid rap” — a hip-hop subgenre that’s been criticized for its dark...

RapReviews

August 19, 2008

By now everyone in Hip-Hop knows Esham as the purveyor of the “wicked shit.” On August 26th he’ll be supplying his fans with even more of that wickedness with the release of Sacrificial Lambz, his 12th full length studio album.

Drowned in Sound

August 7, 2001

Detroit's underground legends Esham and T.N.T were injured in a brutal attack by Eminem's side project D-12 at a Philadelphia Music Festival.

ABC News

August 6, 2001

It used to be the East and West Coast rappers who couldn't get along. Now it seems the Detroit musicians are the ones throwing the punches.

Eminem's chart-topping group D12 is being accused of attacking rival Detroit rappers Esham and T.N.T. Friday night.