The Red Tape.
Six years before “The Purple Tape,” Raekwon’s classic, got etched into the annals of HipHop history for all eternity there was The Red Tape. That s### is a classic in its own right. I’ll never forget when my man Dalton Robeson showed me The Red Tape. He was a devout member of the Nation Of Islam at the time & had scratched the words “GOD” on one side & “ALLAH” on the other. I had heard rumors about The Red Tape & here one was. Esham was the talk of Detroit. Word on the street was that he was dope. He also professed to be a devil worshiper.
Dalton let me borrow that tape & I probably played it 10,000 times before I was supposed to give it back. As a matter of fact I dunno if I ever gave it back. This tape was f###### crazy. ESHAM & his brother JAMES SMITH had put it out on their own REEL LIFE PRODUCTIONS imprint & somehow secured distribution for this crazy s###. ESHAM coined this s### “ACID RAP” to describe his style & that pretty much explained it. I didn’t really f*ck w/ the satanic joints but he was spitting on this LP. He didn’t sound like a Detroit cat ( born in L.I) but he rapped about Detroit s### & of course devil s###.
He played the role too, driving around Detroit in a hearse. The first time I saw Esham live was a shouted him out on “STILL DONT GIVE A F**K” ( I’m a cross between Esham, Manson, & Ozzy), Esham started a beef w/ Em & D12 which resulted in ESHAM getting lumped up by RunyonAve, D-Tweezy’s military arm. Eventually it all got squashed & ESHAM ended up doing a joint w/ @TRICKTRICKGS, @KIDROCK & PROOF. S**t was cool for awhile, then ESHAM started bugging again, doing interviews & s**t dissing Em & @ROYCEDA59.
Anybody who knows me knows that kinda p##### me off. NOBODY talks s### about 5-9 but ME. I was gonna intervene before somebody got shot in the face, but after talking to ROYCE & @ROSENBERG it was pretty clear that they weren’t thinking about that s### so I said “F**K IT,” & let ESHAM cook. I think ESHAM is still talking s**t about Marshall. Oh well.
ESHAM THE UNHOLY is still legendary & The Red Tape started it all.
Look for this s### & get it if ur not a scary b####.