Son of SAMO drops tomorrow 1/19/12 via DJBooth.net & TheESSOexperience.com

NY rapper Esso sits down with us to talk about the creation process for his next project, as well as what artists he’s currently listening to. He also dropped an exclusive freestyle, which you can view below.

ESSO – What If it Was You [Dear Anne Cover] by Esso

Big shouts to Latasha and Dopefiles.com for coming by the studio and chopping it up for a while. I’m not gonna lie, that whole “Off The Record” segment was actually supposed to be off the record, but fuck it…it’s my opinion, and you dont have to agree. The Freestyle is a freestyle in the purest definition of the word, meaning it’s whatever came to mind at that particular moment over the beat. #yandilife

via BlowHipHopTV

Check out the full interview HERE

(Yes, I’ve been waitin to get back to Roscoe’s forfuckingever at this point…lol)

Big shouts to my dude Zeke The Freak for chopping up the interview and sending it over. Last night I called into Chicken and Waffles on Radio DePaul in Chicago with host P welbs (@pwelbs) and Q (@Qisfreshnproper). I said it on aire a couple of times last night, but Chicken & Waffles Radio has to be one of the best College Radio Show names in the history of College Radio.

Part 1: Who is ESSO? What is an Anti-Socialite? What is the meaning behind New York, New York?

Part 2: What does Harlem means to Esso? What artists influence him? What do the blogs and internet mean to him?

Part 3: Who is Rena1ssance(@iamrena1ssance)? how did esso linked up with Woody (@WoodysProduce)? Whats next with Anti-Socialite and ESSO?

Via HiZeke.com

Big shouts to Pete Verry and The Lifestyle Connoisseur

One of the things that I just realized is that in the digital age where artwork is only 2 panels and most people never really see anything other than the front cover in iTunes, the are of the Thank You has been completely neglected. I wanted to take a few seconds here to thank the people that helped to make this project happen.

The Y&I Family:

What can I say? I’m sure there were times that you’ve hated me throughout this (especially in the past week or so) but y’all are the catalyst to everything I do. Saint Paul (who I never call Saint Paul) you’ve seen this shit from the absolute beginning…long way from the Platinum Lounge eh? Tory & Anabelle, I know I’ve prolly stressed y’all the most and vice versa, but isn’t that our jobs? Renny, Woody & NvMe, this project is as much each of yours as it is mine. Thank’s for stretching the canvases for me to paint on. Chase, 3 words: Budweiser 24 Pack.

To the person that I told that I wanted to write the new project in her apartment, thank you for not looking at me like I was crazy when I said that, despite however crazy even I acknowledge that must have sounded. And thanks for admiring my Usain Bolt (run on) sentences.

To everybody that’s kept me sane since June 25th, 2009 from the bottom of my heart, Thank You.

To Shake, let this serve as a public apology for the way that the cover situation was handled. You’ve had my back since none of your audience even really knew who I was. We’re supposed to let the commenters on 2DBz hate me, they don’t need any help haha!

To everyone that I let hear The Anti-Socialite before today: I’m glad your reactions were what they were when you heard it because I dont know what I would have done with myself if they weren’t what they were.

To the person whose words led to the title (ironically you were the first person to hear the idea), I told you I was gonna turn this shit into something epic!

To Imagination, Creativity, Faith, Critical Thinking and Intelligence: Thanks for never leaving me to defend myself alone.

First of all its 5:22am and I’m not really tired so I’m gonna attempt it. Don’t judge me for grammar on this one. Thanks in advance…LOL

Thank You’s (trying to do this from memory so forgive me)

First and foremost to the Y&I Team (Tory and Anabelle) and Martin y’all definitely held me down and I appreciate it more than you know. Besides the still as yet unfound Digital Camera everything ran pretty much as smoothly as could be expected. What a difference a year makes huh?

To IB, Chris, Jeanette, The Bamaz & the Houston side of things… ALREADY!

To all the artists and folks that I ran into:

DJ RTC from RubyHornet and the session engineer at Closed Sessions (his name escapes me right now), Last Rights, Dave & Rikers at Beyond Race Magazine, Crosby & Miz Metro & Hip Hop Howl, TC & David D from TheSmokingSection, Shake and Meka from 2dopeboyz, Eskay, Dominique from Leaders of the New Cool and Hollywood East, Ashley Outrageous, Shanell (#welldamn), Killer Mike, Chip The Ripper, Wiz Khalifa, Curren$y, Fashawn, XV, Stalley, El Prez, Sean Falyon, Shawn Chrys, Tiron, Diz Gibran, Curtains, Curtis Santiago, Buff1 (who I havent run into since we battled randomly in College), Steve-O from GFC, Cherry Pop, of course the New York side of things (we were pretty heavy this year): Game Rebellion, Donny Goines, Mickey Factz, Emilio Rojas, Skyzoo, Nina B, Gordon Voidwell, CL, Alice, Neil & everyone at Digiwaxx, DJ Harry Chronic for rocking with me for a couple extra shows (heard Torae was in Austin but I didnt run into him), Dara & Billy from SubCon (I rocked the Navy Blue & Cranberry Y&I’s ALL WEEK), Rocksmith Tokyo, Vince from IM King. I definitely need to thank my phone charger for being with me for almost every minute that I wasn’t in the house or hotel room, and flash drives and serato for making show CD’s almost completely obsolete…

I know I left a lot of people out, but as we speak I’m in Houston working on a project with my twin IB3 so for now this is gonna have to do…

For anyone I left out, blame it on mental exhaustion and not my heart

E