Press & Interviews
In the News
Media coverage, interviews, and press mentions featuring Esham and Reel Life Productions.
DETROIT RAPPER ESHAM CURATES ECLECTIC HOMETOWN SHOW AT HARPOS
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.”
DETROIT'S HORRORCORE PIONEER ESHAM
Axios
October 31, 2024
As a teen in Detroit, an originator of a dark hip-hop subgenre left an imprint on the music industry.
INTERVIEW
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.
"I GOT BEATS IN THESE FINGERTIPS"
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.
INTERVIEW
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.
INTERVIEW
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
HOW DETROIT AND FLINT BECAME HAVENS FOR RAP DARK HORSES
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...
INTERVIEW
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.
ESHAM ON HORRORCORE AND 'THAT WICKED SH*T'
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.
20 HORRORCORE ALBUMS THAT ARE BETTER THAN YOUR FAVORITE SCARY MOVIE
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 MEETS: HORRORCORE PIONEER, THE UNHOLY LION FROM DETROIT, ESHAM
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.
THE 10 GREATEST HORRORCORE ARTISTS OF ALL TIME
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.
INTERVIEW
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.
BEFORE & AFTER ‘THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP’
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.
ESHAM DROPS 'SHE LOVES ME'
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.
25 OF THE MOST DISTURBING HIP-HOP SONGS
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.
WHY ESHAM'S ‘ACID RAP’ IS STILL VITAL
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.
DETROIT HIP HOP PIONEER ESHAM BRINGS HARD ROCKIN' TOUR TO CINCINNATI THIS WEEK
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...
PHOTOGRAPHER JENNY RISHER BRINGS DETROIT HIP-HOP INTO FOCUS FOR ‘D-CYPHERED’
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...
UP FROM THE CHAMBERS OF HELL: 5 OF THE BEST HORRORCORE ALBUMS
Reed Jackson
October 28, 2015
Rise from the dead with Gangsta NIP, Esham, Three 6, Brotha Lynch Hung, and Doomsday Productions.
HORRORCORE: FROM ESHAM TO HOPSIN, A LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF RAP’S MOST TERRIFYING SUBGENRE
Westword
August 12, 2013
Chronologically, horrorcore immediately followed gangsta rap, and in many ways, it seems like a logical artistic extension.
ESHAM: DETROIT MAYORAL CAMPAIGN MIXTAPE
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.
MAYOR ESHAM? WHAT?
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...
INTERVIEW
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.
EMINEM AND D-12 THROWN OFF NATIONAL TOUR FOR DEADLY ASSAULT ON UNDERGROUND RAP LEGEND ESHAM
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.
MUSIC NOTES: RIVAL RAPPERS KICKED OFF TOUR
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.