At 25 years of age, he had a longer career in Hip-Hop than any other artist to ever come outta Detroit.  A rap overachiever, his resume is a litany of unrecognized accomplishments. Esham writes, produces, engineers, and performs his own albums. All of his records are independent releases. Between Esham, his affiliate group NATAS and his ex-associate Dice, he's put out 13 LP's, 5 EP's, and 3 singles since his debut, Boomin Words From Hell. He did what would come to be called "horrorcore" before the Gravediggaz dig their first ditch and before the Flatliners came, saw and ultimately went in their in their own direction of their name. Esham even steals some of 2pac's thunder. All Eyez On Me is falsely credited as Hip-Hop's first double cd, but Judgement Day preceeded it by 4 years, as did Master P's Down South Hustlers. These kinds of credits made people like 2pac, Master P, and Luke Skywalker common household names in their own regions. Esham sold 500,000 units before Soundscan even thought about tracking his product. And even though efforts to promote his own product have matched the caliber of of the aforementioned superstars, Esham is still very much underground. He has a legitimate beef with the industry neglect of Midwestern cities like Detroit. He feels that his hometown artists have been rejected, hometown styles have been bitten. "Horrorcore is somethin fictious. Other groups in other regions, when they pass through this area, they lookin and listening too. They just tried to steal what we were doin, which was "acid rap". That's what we call it. They took it back to their superiors, and they called it horrorcore. We dont even like to be affiliated with that." Esham speaking. Esham has worked his plan since 1988, when he started his former label, Reel Life Productions. He was a ninth grader at Osborn High when he released his first record.  While the school boasted on other rap talent like Proof, Esham has the distinction of being the only one clocking from it. His style built on Detroit's reputation for Detroit's rough streets and tough politics.  He has spent more than a decade pushing his own product, being his own regional and national distributor. This level of consistency has earned him a large following in Michigan, as far north as Boston and as far south as Dallas. Certain crowds have endeared themselves to Esham's acid from some of the most uncommon, unknown hotbeds for Hip-Hop: Albuqerque (NM), Wichita, Denver, Phoenix, Indianapolis and Columbus. "We've had our ups and downs." Esham "But we've been pretty sucessful." Esham now speaks on major label companies "They just hypocrites, ya know what I'm sayin? They'll let anybody else come in a pump any fuckin thing they want to the people in Detroit. Buts its not the same standard for artists living in this region. Ya gotta go kiss they ass, they wany you to be on your best behavior. But they'll let Fozy Brown out her pussy all in the camera. Whatever!" The graphic, ultraviolent style that made Slim Anus the country's largest pop phenom was considered too intense to digest when Esham first served it. The 1988-92 years were a period of very high contreversy for hardcore rap. The Tipper Gores, Calvin Buttes, C. Dolores Tuckers of the world were just mounting their assaults on music mainstream critics coined "gangsta" rap. It was new. And because it tapped into the pulses of the cats in america's hoods and ghettos, it carried a more shock value. Esham's music fit into this genre. His boomin words represented the extreme. What censure might Esham have been forced to endure had has music reached above ground? What if the detractors had heard him declaring allegiance to the sucidialists on Detroit's Dog Shit? What if they'd caught wind of the rumors that his group Natas was Satan spelled backwards and that Esham was really a Devil worshipper? What if they had recieved information that he reportedly researched what type of album imagery attracts fans of sinister music? They undoubtedly would have tried to rip his career apart. In that regard, swimming away from Hip-Hop's regular current prolly helped him. At sometimes he has had to reinvent himself just to stay relevant. Take the Spring of 1997,  when stickers began appearing all over Detroit. They were plain with black lettering on white paper asking "Who Is Bruce Wayne?"  Little did the fans know that the stickers were a campaign for Esham's album of the same name. He used the sticker promotion and the album to introduce a new production Gothom/Overcore. The graphic nature of his music had only gained momentum.  "It's the real shit. Its the wicked shit. Its the shit that started everything." Esham says. "Everybody thats out there with dark imagery, being hard- like rock n roll, heavy-metal-type hard- they got all that shit form us! Its the truth. Even these East Coast acts." All Esham wants to know is are u down ta ride muthafucka??