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

LINK: http://www.zshare.net/download/583361461e359c83/

Tracklist:

1. XV – Vizzy In The House

2. Outasight – What They Say

3. J.Rocwell – Hustlaz Paradise

4. Esso – The Secret

5. Harlem’s Cash – For My Kids
6. Keelay & Zaire – Work (Ft. Slo Mo & AV)

7. Jon Hope – The Same
8. Shawn Chrystopher – Flyer Than
9. Nero – Spaceship

10. Granite State – One Shot’ (Ft. Evidence)
11. BrokNEnglish – Can’t Win For Losing (Ft. Internal Quest)
12. P. Casso – Mr. Hollywood [Remix] (Ft. Senor Kaos)
13. D. Julien – Proving Myself

14. Garcia Vega – Still Thuggin’

More video to come from the Crash Mansion show throughout the week…

HIT THE JUMP FOR MY PERSONAL TAKE ON RUN-DMC’S INDUCTION:

Yes, I know it happened Saturday. Yes, I know it happened Saturday. Yes, I know it happened Saturday Now that we’ve got that out the way.

I’m not simply putting this up as a tribute to RUN-DMC being inducted into the Rock&Roll Hall of Fame, although that in and of itself is reason enough for it to be on my blog. The reason that I’m putting this up right now, at almost 2am on the Monday night/Tuesday Morning after the induction is both to honor the amazing contribution by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels & Jason Mizell to Hip=Hop culture and popular culture as a while, and the profound impact that Hip-Hop’s past has even on it’s biggest current stars.

Seeing Eminem choke up while introducing and inducting RUN-DMC made me think how would I react to one day being asked to induct Nas or Jay-Z into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (or Hip-Hop Hall of Fame if we have one by then). How could I even begin to explain to people how much songs like “The World is Yours” or “Dead Presidents” molded who I was when I heard them, and inspired me to be the artist that I am today? How could I talk about watching Streets is Watching in High School and standing infront of the classroom window when the “Face-Off” scene in the converted strip club came on so that no one would see what was going on if they walked by. How could I possibly explain to anyone being the first person with the Orange Pen&Pixel designed Master P “Ghetto D” CD case or skipping school on Tuesdays to go cop albums.

I think maybe a part of why the video above really touched me so much is because so much of that feeling is gone these days. Nobody cares about Longevity anymore, nobody cares about honing their craft anymore. Rap these days is like Coke in the 80s, Heroin in the 60′s and 70′s and Ecstacy in the 90′s. People treat it like a drug, like a controlled substance, when it’s really something that people have struggled to establish to the point where it can even get the recognition that it does today.

So as I lay here randomly thinking all of this and typing it as I think, I hope that I can do my part to carry on tradition as Nas put it on “Untitied.” What more can I say?

ESSO & Chase on stage during Living Doll (Thanks Elle for playing along)

So last night it went down at Crash Mansion…For those of you who missed it, let me just say, you missed the NYC debut of my new set, which I kinda debuted down in Austin, TX at SXSW. The crowd was definitely into it, and Crash Mansion was definitely an ill venue. We rocked it for that to have been my first time being there. Anyway, check out some of the pics from last night…more pics and video coming soon.

The Post-Show beer…

Pre-Show (PF)Flyer than the Rest of ‘em

After the show outside with my sis VDVL

Shoutout to the bouncer for questioning my temporary license. Shoutout to the Manager Mindy for restoring my drinking privleges and complimenting my glasses…ha!

“Great Is Not Good Enough” -in case you’re wondering what the tat says

Just another action shot…

Somehow or another my Blackberry flew into the crowd…this must have been right before that happened…haha