Halloween Dedication: Esham’s Red Tape and His Words From Hell

Ironside Hex Talks About A Horrorcore Legend

esham
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####.