24: What’s going on with you?
ESG: Grindin. Grindin. Dropping these mixtapes back
to back. I’m the one who did ‘Ballin Home.’ The first shit that
people heard nationwide but didn’t know about me back then. Then I’m
the first nigga that put Lil’ Flip and Slim Thug on. Me and Slim were both
suppose to sign with Interscope and Jimmy Iovine. Like Slim when he was in the
Swisha [House], nobody knew him. What I did was set up a dummy collabo album that
did 100,000. Now everyone was looking for the album and trying to give us deal.
I hollared at Warner Bros, Def Jam and somebody at Sony. Everyone was trying to
sign us to see what we were going to do with Boss Hogg Outlaws. People were backstabbing
me telling Jimmy Iovine I signed with somebody else. So that kind of how we fell
out. Then I regrouped and did away with that label. Now I got my new shit, SFL
(School For Life), fuckin with my people Rock Solid.

24: What advice would you give a young
up and coming artist?
ESG: Don’t try to be a copycat on whatever
you hear on the radio. Don’t try to do the same thing. Stay dedicated.
You got to take your craft seriously. If you’re a basketball player, you
got take your shit seriously. If you want to do this, you got to do it seriously.
You got to be real with it. Be determined in what you do. Hit the streets first,
don’t go to radio. First thing radio is gonna ask is what kind of buzz
you got in the streets. If you’re a new cat, do your mixtape and hit the
streets. The club DJ’s will play in to see what kind of response it gets.
Then radio will be forced to play it.

24: Who are some of the other artist out
of Texas do you feel you have influenced?
ESG: I feel like I have influenced a lot of motherfuckers.
A lot of people weren’t doing the candy paint, the whole street shit.
Like the SouthSide and DJ Screw is the click that really started that shit.
When you hear a lot of the shit that Paul Wall and Mike Jones are doing, samples
a lot mixtapes we already did. I feel like we influenced the whole movement.
Down here first, all you had was Rap-A-Lot and Ghetto Boys and the U.G.K Sound
and that was it. When era came around, the Screwed Up Click sound, we influenced
the screw type shit what you hear the Paul Wall and Mike Jones are doing. I
got a platinum plaqe from Chamillionaire. Shout out to him. He’s a young
cat who’s been working a long time and I’ve known him for a minute.
He reached out to a lot of G’s who first opened the door for him as far
as me and Big Hawk. Rest in peace to him. The whole sound is influenced off
the Screwed Up Click. The flow, style everything is from the Screwed Up Click.
He kind of changed the whole scene. It’s unfortunate that a lot of the
G’s who have been paving the way are finally getting the respect that
they do. Bun B has been doing records for years but you didn’t know him
outside of Texas. Now he’s getting known all around the world and it’s
a good look for the south.

24: What’s coming out the lab from
ESG?
ESG: I’m had dropped a mixtape a few months
ago ‘Chopped and Screwed Movement’ that had Chamillionaire, Bun
B and a couple of my artist on there. Then I got another one called ‘Return
of the Freestyle King.’ Look online for that. Then I got a new one called
‘Family Business Straight Drop.’ My new album is untitled but it
will drop in the first quarter of next year. I got a party with Rick Ross in
Miami for the SuperBowl. Im really just trying to get my name out there. I’m
a legend down here [Texas], but the world don’t know me. It’s just
about grinding and letting me people know who I am.

24: Who are some of the producers that
work with?
ESG: Down here you got these cats called Callin
For Beats and they’re the ones who did stuff with Mke Jones and Paul Wall
and all that. Then I got my partner named Shawn Blaze and he did ‘Blood
Hound’ for 50 Cent, he did 2 joints on Chamillionaire’s album. Production
is serious down here in H-town. Outside of New York and Atlanta, and some of
the bigger markets, Houston is just like Miami. Most times when you think of
Miami, you thought of Luke and 2 Live Crew. Now you can name Rick Ross, Trick
Daddy, Pitbull and Plies and the list goes on. It’s the same in Houston.
You have record companies left and right, all over Houston. You got studio’s
all over Houston.

24: How do you feel about the rise of
the South?
ESG: The way I feel is that niggas down south have
been getting money way before this rap shit. When Jay-Z came out and started
talking about the Bentley’s and everybody is iced out with the jewelry,
niggas down south been doing that. Look at what Ludacris wore at the BET Awards,
his shirt said ‘Hip Hop Isn’t Dead, It Lives in the South.’
Niggas just got to respect that. When Cash Money came out with the blingin and
the ice, it just showed everyone around the world how it is down here. I look
at it like now critics want to hate and talk about the grillz and all that.
This is our life and culture. We don’t need the critics to tell us what’s
hot and what’s not. The streets will tell us that. I just hate that just
cause niggas down south is flashy and getting money, that this isn’t hip
hop. When you take an artist like Kanye West, an artist they may consider real
hip-hop, he is still gonna bitches giving him head, talk about his Benz, about
his diamonds. It’s really just a hate issues that goes on. Niggas from
the south are raw. Niggas from the south aren’t going to sit back and
wait. We don’t need New York. I haven’t signed a deal with someone
from New York yet, and if I don’t, fuck em, I’m still going to be
able to sell 50 – 100 thousand and get rich and keep grinding.

24: Do you have a myspace?
ESG: Yea. It’s myspace.com/esg06

Interview by: Spud